Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman, Jihadic Style. Obama needs to read this!

from Pajamas Media
May 1, 2009
by Phyllis Chesler

While I was enjoying some sunshine in Savannah, (more to come about that), World War Four continued to rage blithely on.

Al-Qaeda in Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and North Africa, threatened terrorist attacks against Germany and Holland and threatened to kill a British hostage (captured on the border between Niger and Mali), if Britain does not release a radical Muslim preacher.

The Pakistani Taliban shot a couple dead for alleged adultery and their execution in Islamabad was captured on a cellphone; Egyptian police arrested a Muslim woman for having married a Coptic Christian; in Lahore, a Muslim husband killed his wife for failing to bear a son; in the Punjab, a Sikh physician-husband amputated his wife’s hand and that of her cousin with whom he suspected she was having an affair.

So much for male terrorists in foreign lands.

Last week, as I carefully smelled the roses in Georgia, there were three carefully organized explosions on one day in Iraq, which killed a total of 80 civilians. One explosion was carried out by a woman in a black abaya, holding a 5 year-old child’s hand, (probably not her own). She killed herself and 28 other Muslims in a crowded market in a Baghdad slum. The civilians, many of whom were other women, were waiting on line for free flour, cooking oil, tea, macaroni, and other staples that the police were handing out. Of course, police officers died as well.

Many people have written to me, surprised, outraged, perhaps demoralized by the fact that this latest Muslim-on-Muslim atrocity was committed by a woman and mainly against other women.
As the author of Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman, which is just now being released in a new edition with a new Introduction, I am, unfortunately, not surprised. Please recall how quickly the mainstream media covered the “sensational” use of rape by the male members of Al-Qaeda as a way to recruit female human bombs. At the time, people seemed surprised by the fact that Samira Jassim, an Iraqi woman, played an essential role in the further exploitation of these rape victims.

Although women depend upon each other for emotional intimacy and social stability, they are also highly competitive with, mistrustful of, or hostile towards other women. Like men, women have also internalized sexist beliefs. Are women really sexists? Of course they are. A study of 15,000 people in nineteen countries on five continents found that women hold sexist views just as men do. However, some studies suggest that women with low self-esteem are more likely to internalize negative views of women which may account for how such women treat other women: With cruelty rather than kindness.

In addition, women are expected to compete mainly against other women, not against men, and they do so both directly and indirectly (through slander, shunning, and “backstabbing.”) In the Third World, especially in war zones, the female-female aggression is far more direct, often fatally so.

I have written a number of articles about Muslim mothers who have participated, both directly and indirectly, in the honor killing of their daughters; and about female Muslim suicide-homicide bombers who have specifically targeted other women and children.

For example, in 2008, in Iraq, one of four female homicide bombers entered a tent that provided shelter to weary female religious pilgrims. She sat down, read the Koran with them, and left a bag behind that, moments later, blew them all up. Please note that she targeted weary, religious Muslim women.

Thus, I was dismayed but not surprised when a Sunni, Al-Qaeda plot emerged, one in which male terrorists raped eighty Muslim girls and women, then turned them over to Samira Jassim who patiently, persistently, “maternally,” persuaded the rape victims, (many of whom had been targeted because they were depressed or mentally ill), to “cleanse” their shame by blowing themselves and other Muslims up. Twenty eight women did so.

In an interview with Dr. Anat Berko, the author of The Path to Paradise. The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers, she pointed out that there is “always a woman” behind the female suicide bomber, who functions like a “pimp or a Madam in a brothel.” Potential women suicide bombers are never alone again, they are always accompanied by at least one, usually older woman, who encourages, manipulates, guards, and supports the potential shaheeda–just like a mother might do.

In a culture in which girls are raised by women whose own mothers did not value them as they did boys, women may hunger for attention from an older woman–even one whose sole purpose is to ensure their jihadic death. In Dr. Berko’s book, there is a frightening example of how all the jailed, intercepted Palestinian female suicide bombers obeyed and respected one of their own: a woman who was the harshest, angriest, most mentally ill amongst them. Sadly, perhaps this most reminded them of their own mothers.

In a terrible sense, “Madam” Jassim, only exaggerated, by a bit, what is routinely and normatively done to many girls and women today in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and increasingly in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, etc. After all, Jassim played the Evil Stepmother in a culture which fears, despises, shrouds, genitally mutilates, force-marries girls to their first cousins, and perpetrates honor killings. How different is collaborating in their rape and helping them find glory through jihad? In a sense, some may actually view this as a quantum career leap for women.

Like Madam Jassim, when women are trapped in highly patriarchal cultures, they may gain the only approval and power possible for a woman by vigilantly policing themselves and other women to extol and support the patriarchal status quo. This is true in terms of issues such as veiling which, for women, is the visual shorthand for “jihad” and extreme religiosity. I fear that we will see many more Evil Stepmother/mothers like Samira Jassim and many more raped, traumatized, exploited, ideologically empowered, and ultimately suicidal-homicidal daughters.

Attention President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton: Supporting the pro-democracy and pro-woman’s rights forces within Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and on the West Bank and in Gaza, might go a long way to reversing such ongoing tragedies. If America genuinely believes that women are human beings entitled to certain, God-given and “inalienable rights,” now is the time to share that view with the leaders of these countries.
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Court grants divorce to 8-yr-old Saudi girl

from The Times of India
1 May 2009

An 8-year-old Saudi Arabian girl was granted a divorce by a Saudi court after the case increased international and local criticism of child marriage in the oil-rich kingdom.

The marriage of the girl to a man in his 50s was dissolved on Wednesday. The girl’s mother had been seeking a divorce for her daughter but a Saudi judge had twice rejected the mother’s request. The girl’s lawyer says he reached an out-of-court settlement with the man allowing the girl to divorce him.

The child’s former husband arranged the marriage with the girl’s father by agreeing to forgive his $8,000 debt. The Saudi Shoura Council, an advisory body that makes recommendations to the king, is considering drafting of a law to make 18 the minimum age for marriage in the kingdom, says al-Riyadh newspaper.
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Female Pakistani Singer Killed "In The Name Of Honor"

from Radio Free Europe
April 29, 2009
By Kristin Deasy, Sharifa Esmatullah

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Ayman Udas, a rising female vocalist in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, was shot at her home, allegedly by her own brothers.

Her death has rattled the city's jittery artistic community, as local musicians and dancers in Peshawar -- a city renowned for its vibrant artistic life -- face increasing pressure as the region falls under greater Taliban influence.

Some attributed Udas's death to the Islamist militants, but her husband told reporters that his wife was killed because she broke family traditions.

A beautiful woman in her early 30s and mother of two, Udas recently remarried after a divorce. Her two brothers, Alamgir and Ismail, disapproved of her divorce, remarriage, and her artistic career, all of which disgrace a family's name in conservative Islamic society.

The honor killing, an ancient tradition in which a male family member kills a female to "save" the family name, took place on April 27 at the family's home while Udas's husband was out picking up milk. He immediately took the case to the authorities, who have made no arrests but raided several locations in search of the suspected killers.

Udas -- poet, lyricist, and popular Pakistani singer -- had recently given her first television appearance. In one of her more popular songs, "Mra shum ashna khu pa jwando ki usam, janana sta pa waswaso ki usa," she sings about the importance of courage, even to the point of defying death.

Her death "is absolutely unacceptable," Ahmad Ali Adil of the University of Peshawar told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, calling the crime "a murder of humanity." He said that unless society changes, several other female performers will face similar problems.

Meanwhile, Artists are coming under direct threat in Taliban-controlled areas. In January, a dancer's bullet-ridden body was left in the center of Swat Valley's capital of Mingora -- not far from where Udas grew up -- with a note warning locals that "un-Islamic voices" will no longer be tolerated.
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US sea capt. freed from pirates in swift firefight

Update: Captain Phillips was tied-up with ropes at the time the snipers shot the pirates. The U.S. Navy Seal snipers saved the life of Captain Phillips and sent a message to all pirates monitoring the situation.


God Bless The United States Navy!
Deadly Force is the only way to deal with these scumbag terrorists. It's too bad the 4th pirate wasn't able to join the other three in their Muslim paradise.
Rees

photo of Maersk-Alabama captain Richard Phillips, (right), stands alongside Cmdr. Frank Castellano, the commanding officer of USS Bainbridge

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and LARA JAKES
Associated Press Writers
April 12, 2009

MOMBASA, Kenya – An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, U.S. officials said.

Capt. Richard Phillips' crew, who said they escaped after he offered himself to the pirates as a hostage, erupted in cheers abroad their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya, waving an American flag and firing a flare in celebration.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips was resting comfortably on a U.S. warship after receiving a medical exam.

The Navy said Phillips was freed at 7:19 p.m. local time. He was taken aboard the Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for the medial exam, 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said.

Christensen said Phillips was now "resting comfortably." The USS Boxer was in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, Christensen said.

The U.S. did not say if Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was receiving medical care because he had been injured or if he was being treated for exposure after his ordeal.

U.S. officials said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat during the rescue was in military custody. FBI spokesman John Miller said that would change as the situation became "more of a criminal issue than a military issue."

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said prosecutors were looking at "evidence and other issues" to determine whether to bring a case in the United States.

Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart said in a news release that the U.S. government informed the company around 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday that Phillips had been rescued. Reinhart said the company called Phillips' wife, Andrea, to tell her the news.

The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment.

When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship.

"We made it!" said crewman ATM Reza, pumping his fist in the air.

"He managed to be in a 120-degree oven for days, it's amazing," said another of about a dozen crew members who came out to talk to reporters. He said the crew found out the captain was released because one of the sailors had been talking to his wife on the phone.

Capt. Joseph Murphy, the father of second-in-command Shane Murphy, thanked Phillips for his bravery.

"Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday. I have made it clear throughout this terrible ordeal that my son and our family will forever be indebted to Capt. Phillips for his bravery," Murphy said. "If not for his incredible personal sacrifice, this kidnapping and act of terror could have turned out much worse."

In the written statement, Murphy said both his family and Phillips' "can now celebrate a joyous Easter together."

Terry Aiken, 66, who lives across the street from the Phillips house, fought back tears as he reacted to the news.

"I'm very, very happy," Aiken said. "I can't be happier for him and his family."

A government official and others in Somalia with knowledge of the situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' release had broken down.

Talks to free him began Thursday with the captain of the USS Bainbridge talking to the pirates under instruction from FBI hostage negotiators on board the U.S. destroyer. The pirates had threatened to kill Phillips if attacked.

Three U.S. warships were within easy reach of the lifeboat on Saturday. The U.S. Navy had assumed the pirates would try to get their hostage to shore, where they can hide him on Somalia's lawless soil and be in a stronger position to negotiate a ransom.

Maersk Line said before news of the rescue broke that "the U.S. Navy had sight contact" of Phillips — apparently when the pirates opened the hatches.

Before Phillips was freed, a pirate who said he was associated with the gang that held Phillips, Ahmed Mohamed Nur, told The Associated Press that the pirates had reported that "helicopters continue to fly over their heads in the daylight and in the night they are under the focus of a spotlight from a warship."

He spoke by satellite phone from Harardhere, a port and pirate stronghold where a fisherman said helicopters flew over the town Sunday morning and a warship was looming on the horizon. The fisherman, Abdi Sheikh Muse, said that could be an indication the lifeboat may be near to shore.

The district commissioner of the central Mudug region said talks went on all day Saturday, with clan elders from his area talking by satellite telephone and through a translator with Americans, but collapsed late Saturday night.

"The negotiations between the elders and American officials have broken down. The reason is American officials wanted to arrest the pirates in Puntland and elders refused the arrest of the pirates," said the commissioner, Abdi Aziz Aw Yusuf. He said he organized initial contacts between the elders and the Americans.

Two other Somalis, one involved in the negotiations and another in contact with the pirates, also said the talks collapsed because of the U.S. insistence that the pirates be arrested and brought to justice.

Phillips' crew of 19 American sailors reached safe harbor in Kenya's northeast port of Mombasa on Saturday night under guard of U.S. Navy Seals, exhilarated by their freedom but mourning the absence of Phillips.

Crew members said their ordeal had begun with the Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.

As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.

Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff. On Friday, the French navy freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by other pirates, but one of the five hostages was killed.

Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat Friday and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to U.S. Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the unfolding operations.

Early Saturday, the pirates holding Phillips in the lifeboat fired a few shots at a small U.S. Navy vessel that had approached, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The official said the U.S. sailors did not return fire, the Navy vessel turned away and no one was hurt. He said the vessel had not been attempting a rescue. The pirates are believed armed with pistols and AK-47 assault rifles.

"When I spoke to the crew, they won't consider it done when they board a plane and come home," Maersk President John Reinhart said from Norfolk, Virginia before news of Phillips' rescue. "They won't consider it done until the captain is back, nor will we."

In Phillips' hometown, the Rev. Charles Danielson of the St. Thomas Church said before the news broke that the congregation would continue to pray for Phillips and his family, who are members, and he would encourage "people to find hope in the triumph of good over evil."

Reinhart said he spoke with Phillips' wife, who is surrounded by family and two company employees who were sent to support her.

"She's a brave woman," Reinhart said. "And she has one favor to ask: 'Do what you have to do to bring Richard home safely.' That means don't make a mistake, folks. We have to be perfect in our execution."
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Mohammed Cartoons redux

The above phrase in Arabic is “lan astaslem.”
It means “I will not surrender/I will not submit.”

These are the cartoons that got the Muslum world in a big uproar.

There is a reason we call Muslim mau-mau-ers the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. Three years after the Mohammed Cartoon conflagration, the grievance-mongers are still trying to extract contrition out of the Danes and others who stood up for the West and for free speech.

Unfortunately, the ROPO bullies squeezed conciliatory remarks from Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He didn’t say the exact words “I’m sorry,” but he might as well have tattooed it on his forehead:

New NATO chief pledges conciliation with Muslims

Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday he would pay close attention to religious sensibilities in his new role as NATO chief in comments aimed at allaying Muslim concerns at his appointment.

Turkey had threatened to veto Rasmussen’s appointment over his handling of a 2006 crisis triggered by cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper. His comments fell short of the outright apology which Turkish officials had hoped for.

“I respect Islam as one of the world’s major religions as well as its religious symbols,” Rasmussen said during a panel discussion at an Istanbul conference aimed at building bridges between the Muslim world and the West…

…”I was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by many Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectively toward Islam or the Prophet Mohammad. Nothing could be further from my mind,” Rasmussen said…

…”During my tenure as the secretary general of NATO I will pay close attention to the religious and cultural sensibilities of the different communities that populate our increasingly pluralistic and globalized world,” Rasmussen said.

How about telling the thugs to start paying attention to the sensibilities of civilized people who don’t wage riots, murder people, and issue death threats over cartoons?

How about a reminder of the cultural insensitivities of the Mo mob to tolerance and free speech?
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Danish cartoonist remains defiant

This is one of the cartoons.

The row over publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper resurfaced this week as Turkey held up the appointment of Danish prime minister as the new Nato secretary general. But as the BBC's Malcolm Brabant reports from Denmark, the impact of that 2006 controversy has never gone away for those closely involved.

Dusk was falling, the curtains were open and the house was hyggelig - a Danish word that means cosy, welcoming and enticing - with scores of candles flickering around the open-plan sitting room.

Dressed in his favourite "anarchist" colours of red and black, Kurt Westergaard sat down to a nourishing Nordic repast of black bread, plaice and prawns.
Unwinding after a day at the coalface of his profession, the bohemian grandfather with a seadog's beard and Father Christmas trousers appeared to be the epitome of Scandinavian tranquillity.

Except relaxing completely is something that this cartoonist can never afford to do.

Islamic extremists placed a $1m price on his head after he dared to mock Muslim suicide bombers by depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

For three years he was forced underground to avoid would-be assassins.

But Mr Westergaard has decided that he will hide no more.

"I am 73 years old," he says.

"Most of my life is over. I am too old to be afraid. I have complete faith in PET [the Danish Secret Service]."

Not only has he emerged from hiding but he has also gone on the offensive, contributing to a recently published Danish book. His latest cartoons are not as provocative as the Muhammad bomb but they satirise Islam and politicians who appease the mullahs.

"It is the question of freedom of speech, freedom of expression," he says.

"I think we are in a period in which this democratic value is under pressure, so it has to be defended."

Political repercussions

The re-emergence of Mr Westergaard has the potential to reinvigorate the argument over what is more important - respect for religion or absolute freedom of expression.

The furore over the cartoons, which reached a zenith three years ago with Danish embassies being burned and Danish products boycotted in Muslim countries, has subsided.

The debate has simply lain dormant and has never been resolved.

But the cartoons issue dominated last week's Nato heads of government meeting, attended by US President Barack Obama.

Turkey threatened to veto the appointment of Denmark's Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as Nato secretary general because he had refused to apologise for the cartoons.

The charm and intervention of President Obama was required to persuade Turkey to back down. [I think I just threw-up in my mouth]

As the alliance's new chief executive, one of Mr Fogh Rasmussen's prime tasks will be to try to heal the wounds between the West and the Muslim world.

Turkish newspapers say one of the key concessions obtained by President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is that Mr Fogh Rasmussen will be forced to apologise for the cartoons crisis.

According to the Danish press, one of his first acts of conciliation will be to publicly acknowledge that the 12 cartoons could have caused offence to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

The U-turn is certain to upset a large percentage of the Danish population.

It is not widely appreciated that the explosion of worldwide Muslim anger in 2006 followed a visit to the Middle East by a delegation of Danish imams.

In a 2006 BBC Radio Four documentary called Denmark In the Eye of the Cartoon Storm, one of the imams, Ahmed Akkari, admitted to me that the delegation had carried three extra images that were even more inflammatory than the bomb in the turban.

"We took them to show that Muslims were being provoked," said Mr Akkari.

These extra pictures had apparently been produced by right-wing extremists and not by Jyllands Posten. They included drawings of Muhammad with a pig's head and the Prophet as a paedophile.

Following the imams' intervention, the lives of the 12 cartoonists changed irrevocably and they paid the same price as author Salman Rushdie.

Only Mr Westergaard has come out of hiding. The 11 others have followed Danish secret service advice and either have round-the-clock protection or maintain low profiles. One of them is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Still wary

Mr Westergaard's critics accuse him of being a right-wing "islamophobe" and of using the cartoons to bully Denmark's 250,000-strong Muslim minority.

Tim Jensen, a professor of comparative religion at the University of Southern Denmark, said: "I think it is simply pathetic.

"I don't think there is any need for that [new cartoons] right now. I think Muslims have to develop a thicker skin.

"But as long as they have not, let us deal with this in as a civilised manner as possible, let's have our dialogues."

Abdul Wahid Pedersen, a Dane who converted to Islam and now sits on the country's Muslim council, denies that his religion is trying to exert a veto on a fundamental Western freedom.

"If I insult you, I don't have the freedom of speech as my protector any longer," he says.

"It is a matter of finding this balance and we have got to find it, not only in Denmark but in the rest of Europe. If we want to keep our dialogue on the level of insult then we are bound to go down a real dirty track."

Mr Westergaard denies that he bears any hostility towards Muslims.

"But of course I have an anger against those who want to kill me," he adds.

Although special security measures have been installed at his hyggelig home, he closes the curtains, just in case an assassin is lurking.

The great irony is that the new Nato secretary general is about to effectively apologise to the Islamic world for Mr Westergaard's drawing while he, as Danish prime minister, was part of the Bush-Blair alliance which alienated Muslims by invading Iraq.

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Motoonist says BBC "appeasing Muslim fanatics"

from Jihad Watch.com
April 3, 2009

Striking fear in the hearts of the BBC

The BBC? Appeasing Islamic jihadists? Naaah -- that couldn't happen! "Mohammed cartoonist accuses BBC of 'appeasing Muslim fanatics by not showing interview,'" by Paul Revoir for the Daily Mail, April 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The BBC has been accused of appeasement of radical Islam by the artist behind one of the infamous cartoons of Mohammed.

Kurt Westergaard claims the corporation's decision not to air a recent interview with him came because they are petrified of upsetting Muslims extremists.

Westergaard was one of the 12 cartoonists commissioned by the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005 to produce caricatures of the Muslim prophet.

Islamic tradition says no image of him should be produced or shown....

Mr Westergaard, 73, gave his first-ever English interview to BBC journalist Malcolm Brabant four weeks ago.

It had been expected to go out on BBC World, the BBC News channel, across radio services and on its website. But the corporation has kept the report under wraps amid claims it is frightened that it will 'inflame' Muslims around the world.

Mr Westergaard told the Daily Mail last night: 'I am disappointed on behalf of the freedom of speech. Every time you are afraid I think you make a step backwards. That is depressing me.'

He compared the BBC's behaviour with the way countries tried to appease Hitler before the Second World War and added: 'If you have an appeasement policy towards the radical Muslims then you are on a very wrong way and you have to
start marching backwards.'...

Uh, yeah.

Click to read the article and comments

Axe-wielding terrorist kills boy, wounds 7-year-old in Bat Ayin

from The Jerusalem Post
April 2, 2009

Government spokesman Mark Regev condemned the attack as a "senseless act of brutality against innocents."

Speaking by phone from the scene, Magen David Adom paramedic Ronen Bashri told The Jerusalem Post that ambulances and emergency response teams were called to the settlement after receiving a report of an axe attack.

"We found a seven-year-old boy fully conscious with a head injury caused by a sharp object," Bashri said. "And we found a 16-year-old whom we had to declare dead on the scene."

Nativ's funeral will be at 5:00 p.m. in Kfar Etzion.

Magen David Adom chairman Eli Bin told the Post, "I can confirm that an axe caused the fatal head injury." He added that the injured boy was struck by a sharp object, possibly the same ax. "Both victims sustained head injuries," he said.

The attack ended after one resident who saw the younger boy running from the terrorist stepped in and disarmed the man.

Roadblocks were set up throughout the area in an effort to capture the attacker, and security forces immediately launched an investigation to determine how he entered the community. The initial assumption, that the terrorist was an Arab laborer and had therefore not aroused suspicion, was refuted when it became clear that the settlement only employed Jewish laborers.

The IDF said the possibility that the terrorist was holed up in one of the houses in the settlement had not been ruled out, while Palestinians reported that after the attack, Israeli security forces surrounded a house in the Arab village of Kherbat Tzafa.

IDF sources also said that the army was preparing for the possibility that Jewish settlers would avenge the attack by striking back at Arabs in the West Bank.

Bat Ayin is home to religious settlers who have refused to build a security fence around their community, as is the rule in most other settlements, saying fences are a sign of insecurity.
There was no word on whether the attacker acted alone.

Less than an hour after the attack, the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. A murky terrorist group calling itself the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh also claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail sent to the Associated Press.

THE FOLLOWING REFLECTS JUST HOW SICK HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD ARE:

For its part, Hamas called the attack a natural response to the "occupation."

"This attack was committed in the framework of the resistance," Ayman Taha, a spokesperson for the group said. "This is a reaction to the continuing occupation and the continued building of settlements."

"This is a natural reaction," he said, "especially against the backdrop of Israeli attacks. We are a people occupied, and it is our right to defend ourselves and to act in every way and with every means at our disposal in order to defend ourselves."
Following the attack, Magen David Adom went on its highest level of alert across the West Bank.

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Obama courts 'West-haters'

Plans to attend conference 'seeking Islamic interests'

March 31, 2009
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Concern has been mounting over President Obama's scheduled participation in the U.N.'s Alliance of Civilizations summit in Turkey next month, with some critics painting the organization as anti-Western and advocating Iranian interests.

"The Alliance might more appropriately be called a U.N.-approved Slush Fund for Advancing Iranian and Other Islamic Interests," wrote Claudia Rosett, a Forbes contributor and journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

A separate report by the Heritage Foundation labeled the Alliance forum "well-intentioned" but with little prospect for success due to "bias and objectionable proposals to freedom of expression." The report was titled "Why President Obama should not attend the Alliance of Civilizations forum."

Obama is reportedly due at the Alliance April 7. The organization was formed in 2005 as an offshoot of the Dialogue of Civilizations, an earlier U.N. project founded by former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who is still a member of the Alliance.

Other Alliance member states or participating organizations include China; the Organization of the Islamic Conference; the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the Arab League; Turkey; and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization. Not on the list is Israel.

In 2006, the Alliance released a 63-page official report largely laying blame on the West for negative perceptions of Muslims and Islam. The report only mentioned Islamic terrorism once – in its recommendations section where it suggested the Western media should not use the term terrorism.

The Western media should refrain from using certain terms in reporting on Muslims and Islam, the report recommended, "including the use of terms such as 'Islamic terrorism' and 'Islamic fascism' – [which] have contributed to an alarming increase in Islamophobia which further exacerbates Muslim fears of the West."
Click to read the rest of the article - If you have a strong stomach

200 UK schoolchildren identified as potential terrorists

A police scheme has identified two hundred schoolchildren in Britain – some as young as 13 - as potential terrorists.

By Daily Mail Reporter

The programme aims to spot children who are vulnerable to Islamic radicalisation and was revealed by Sir Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police and Britain’s most senior officer in charge of terror prevention.


The ‘Channel project’ has intervened in at least 200 cases of children thought to be at risk since it began 18 months ago.

It is run by the Association of Chief Police Officers and asks teachers, parents and community figures to watch for signs of extremist views or whether a child is being ‘groomed’ by radicalise rs.

Sir Norman told The Independent: ‘What will often manifest itself is what might be regarded as racism and the adoption of bad attitudes towards “the West”.
‘
One of the four bombers of July 7 was, on the face of it, a model student. He had never been in trouble with the police, was the son of a well-established family and was employed and integrated into society.

‘But when we went back to his teachers they remarked on the things he used to write. In exercise books he had written comments praising al-Qaeda.

‘That was not seen at the time as being substantive. Now we would hope that teachers might intervene, speak to the child’s family or perhaps the local imam who could then speak to the young man.’

‘We are targeting criminals and would-be terrorists who happen to be cloaking themselves in Islamic rhetoric. That is not the same as targeting the Muslim community.’

‘That said, clearly in recent years some people have been lured by terrorist propaganda emanating from al-Qa'ida-inspired groups.

'It would seem that a number of Muslim youngsters have been seduced by that narrative and all of us, including the Government, have a role to play in making sure that narrative is seen for what it is: a nihilistic one which offers no hope, only death and destruction.’

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The aim of the Channel project is to directly support vulnerable people by providing supportive interventions when families, communities and networks raise concerns about their behaviour.’
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UN panel passes a One religion-defamation resolution

from Hot Air

March 27, 2009

by Ed Morrissey

The UN Human Rights Council (oxymoron) has passed the resolution calling for an end to critcism of religion around the world. Actually, to be fair, that’s not entirely accurate. They want an end to criticism of one particular religion — and we all know which religion that will be:

The U.N.’s top human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from Criticism.

The proposal put forward by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic countries — with the backing of Belarus and Venezuela — had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.

A simple majority of 23 members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council voted in favor of the resolution. Eleven nations, mostly Western, opposed the resolution, and 13 countries abstained.

Opponents of the resolution included Canada, all European Union countries, Switzerland, Ukraine and Chile.

“It is individuals who have rights and not religions,” Canadian diplomat Terry Cormier said.

India, which normally votes along with the council’s majority of developing nations, abstained in protest at the fact that Islam was the only religion specifically named as deserving protection.

I wrote about this earlier in the month, so this resolution comes as no shock to Hot Air readers. Nor should its passage surprise anyone who has kept abreast of the UN’s efforts on “human rights”. The HRC and its predecessor have obsessed themselves with anti-Israel and pro-Islam initiatives, and have made a mockery of efforts to oppose racism at its Durban conferences.

Cormier provided one of the few voices of sanity at the HRC. As I noted on March 3rd:

Where does this stop? Will the UN next declare monarchy as a protected class of beliefs, about which criticism should be treated as a hate crime? Fascism? White supremacy? How about American exceptionalism? What about Hinduism, a polytheistic belief system that Islam frequently and bitterly criticizes? …

The notion that ideas and belief systems have “rights” goes against
every step towards liberty that mankind has taken. Individuals have
rights; ideas and belief systems have values and policies that should remain
open for debate, criticism, satire, and ridicule. Without that essential
freedom, people will fall under the thrall of whatever belief system or ideology
can exert the most force over them — a strategy practically designed by and for
the radical Islamist extremists to whom the UN panders in this declaration.

This also gives us another reason to oppose initiatives like Kyoto and Copenhagen. Along with endemic corruption and a chronic lack of accountability, the UN’s values are flat-out antithetical to America’s. We value individual rights and free speech, and the rights of people to speak trump the nonexistent right to be free from offense — as they must, if we value free speech at all. Pakistan and the other Islamic nations want to silence the opposition to Islam. They’re not interested in “human rights” in the sense that Westerners see them (as individually based).

The resolution carries little effect, but it reveals the wide chasm between the West and those who hate freedom and liberty. The latter won at the HRC, but they can only beat us here if we let them.

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Christian extremist kills 48 at Pakistan mosque -- no, wait...It was actually a Muslim

More Muslims Killing Muslims
from Jihad Watch.com
"A government official accused Islamist militants of carrying out the bombing in revenge for a recent offensive aimed in part at protecting the major supply route for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan that passes in front of the mosque."

Remember this one the next time you hear a story about Muslims outraged over Americans, or Israelis returning fire from a mosque, or over alleged desecration of a Qur'an, etc.

by Riaz Khan
from Associated Press
March 27, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bomber demolished a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers attending Friday prayers close to the Afghan border, killing at least 48 people and injuring scores more, officials said.

The attack in the Khyber region was the bloodiest in Pakistan this year and came hours before President Barack Obama was due to unveil a revised strategy expected to emphasize the need to eradicate militant havens along the Pakistan-Afghan frontier.

A government official accused Islamist militants of carrying out the bombing in revenge for a recent offensive aimed in part at protecting the major supply route for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan that passes in front of the mosque.

"Residents of this area had cooperated and helped us a lot. These infidels had warned that they will take revenge," said Tariq Hayat, the top administrator of the Khyber tribal region. "They are the enemy of Pakistan. They are the enemy of Islam."

Rising violence in Pakistan is fueling doubts about the pro-Western government's ability to counter Taliban and al-Qaida militants also blamed for attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.

The bomber hit the mosque, a popular stop for travelers motoring between Pakistan and Afghanistan, when about 250 people were attending Friday prayers, said Hayat....
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Can We Win The War In Afghanistan? Yes! But Will Obama Allow It To Happen?

from The National Review

by Rich Lowry

March 24, 2009

The War Hasn’t Been Tried

Nothing will be possible in Afghanistan without a fight.

Kabul — Could Afghanistan become another Iraq? A few years ago that would have been a question full of foreboding. Now, it expresses an aspiration.

The Afghan war has, as any American officer will tell you, long been “under-resourced,” a word that in a counterinsurgency war is almost always a synonym for failure. While Iraq had 15 American combat brigades before the surge and 20 during it, Afghanistan was in the low single digits and will only reach six brigades with the addition of the 17,000 American troops just ordered by Pres. Barack Obama.

An American general has a pointed formulation for the relative priority of the two wars over the last seven years: “If you needed it in Iraq, you got it; if you needed it in Afghanistan, you figured out how to do without it.” That has changed, but by how much and for how long will be defining questions for the Obama administration.

The challenges in Afghanistan bear an uncanny resemblance to those in Iraq prior to the surge — insufficient coalition force levels, making it impossible to secure the population; a population that is sitting on the fence, waiting to see whether the insurgency or the coalition has more staying power; an indigenous army that is too small and a police force plagued by incompetence and corruption; and a weak political leader at the top who is triangulating between the coalition and its enemies and too parochial in his outlook. (President Hamid Karzai is both unpopular and likely to win re-election in August.)

On top of all of this, Afghanistan is a broken country, shattered by the Soviets, who did their utmost to wipe out the traditional social structure, and then by years of civil war. It would be a poor and ramshackle nation — a complex patchwork of ethnicities and tribes — even without the serial catastrophes that have befallen it. It has the socio-economic profile of a poor African country.

In the Pashtun areas of the south, where the insurgency is strongest, 25 percent of children live less than five years, the average life expectancy is 45, and half of men and more than 80 percent of women are illiterate. One police sub-station in Kandahar has 45 officers — only two or three of whom can read. The opium trade equals more than half of the GDP of Afghanistan, with as much as $500 million a year of the illegal largesse going to the insurgency. By way of comparison, the operating budget of the ministry of defense is just $58 million.

All of this calls for realism about what can be achieved here, but doesn’t justify ill-informed, all-consuming despair. Afghanistan is not about to fall to a revitalized Taliban.

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Israel May Be Seeking A New Best Friend

When I started reading this column, my first thought was that the U.S. has too close of a relationship with Israel for something like this to ever happen.

However, I've been following Obama for quite some time and I believe I understand who he really is. I've watched closely as he has positioned anti-Israel people on his foreign policy staff.

The first thing he did after his inauguration was make a call, not to any of our European friends, not to Israel, our closest friend in the Middle East, not even to Russia or China. No, he called the Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Right out of the gate he made a statement about where his allegiance would be.

After reading the entire article, it was clear to me that if Obama's foreign policy should continue on its current course, the scenario outlined in the article could very well happen.
Rees

from Joshua Pundit
March 23, 2009

The Obama Administration has made it crystal clear that they regard Israel as a problem rather than the loyal ally it's been since the Nixon Administration.

Some very influential Israelis are thinking ahead and saying that it's time Israel had a new best friend. No less than Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's presumptive foreign minister has said that Israel's ties with Russia "must rise to the level of a strategic partnership" :

Relations between Russia and Israel must and can rise to a level of strategic partnership, said Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israel is Our Home party and a future member of Israel's new coalition government in an interview with Interfax.

"I've been saying all along that relations between Israel and Russia must rise to a level of strategic partnership. This is even more relevant today, then previously," Lieberman said.

The Israel is Our Home party won the third largest number of votes in the parliamentary elections and it is involved in the talks on the formation of Israel's new government.

"However paradoxical it may seem, the global economic crisis gives Israel new opportunities to reach the Russian market, after many of the Western companies abandoned it," the Israeli politician said.

Lieberman, who co-chaired the Russian-Israeli intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation in 2003-04, said that, the two countries have accomplished "a real breakthrough" in this area, but the potential is far from being exhausted.

The same refers to military-technical cooperation between Israel and Russia, he said.

"Israel has quite a few things to offer Russia in this sector - from the electronic stuffing for fighter jets to drones," Lieberman said.

Could it happen? Possibly. Russia, after all does not really need oil and gas, which is what Iran and the Arabs have to sell. And as the price of oil goes down, countries like Iran have less money to buy what Russia has on offer.

And while it's not evident yet, there could be significant conflicts in the future between Russia and Turkey, who are traditional antagonists and Russia and Iran, as the three countries attempt to expand their influence into the gas and oil regions in the old Soviet empire in central Asia.
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Obama's Mistaken Persian Gambit

This is an excellent article.
Rees

from Joshua Pundit
by Rob Miller
Monday, March 23, 2009



As you all know by now, President Obama broadcast an extraordinarily video to the government and the people of Iran, ostensibly in honor of Nahruz, the Persian New year, which is celebrated annually at the spring equinox:

I avoided writing about this thus far because I wanted to see the reaction...both from the Mullahs and from several other players in the region.

The extraordinary spectacle of the president of the United States, a nation Iran has considered itself in a state of war with for thirty years grovelling in this fashion shows that President Obama has absolutely no clue as to how to deal with these people.

In particular, it's noteworthy that this was addressed not only to the Iranian people, but to the regime.He specifically referred to Iran as an Islamic Republic and called for it to 'take it's rightful place among th4e nations of the world.'

The mullahcracy of Iran is a brutal, totalitarian regime that cheerfully hangs homosexuals, beats women on the streets who the basij , the regime's brown shirts, feel are immodestly dressed and `uppity', and leads the world in juvenile executions. Torture and beatings in secret prisons are the norm.

They train, support and finance terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, who like Iran are officially committed to annihilating Israel, teaching children the glories of 'martyrdom' and in the case of Hamas and Hezbollah, committing genocide against Jews world wide.

And they've been in a declared war for thirty years against the 'Great Satan' - that would be America - that has included targeting America servicemen and civilians over the years, including the bombing of a marine barracks in Beirut that cost 240 lives, the torture murder of Colonel William Buckley, the abduction and execution style killings of four American officers and arming and training our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not only is Obama prepared to ignore all that, but he's also apparently prepared to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and expressly took any forceful response off the table stating that the US was 'fully committed to a diplomatic solution'.

Obama in his video talked a great deal about our “common humanity,” and made a point of discounting dismissed “those who insist we be defined by our differences..”

There are striking resemblances to a speech made a long time ago by another world leader attempting to placate a militant dictatorship : “We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace… “ That was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, when he returned from Munich in 1938 — in the statement Chamberlain made that promised “peace for our time.”

The Iranian response was swift and fairly predictable, as Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran responded:

Khamenei set the bar impossibly high, demanding an overhaul of U.S. foreign policy, including giving up "unconditional support" for Israel and halting claims that Iran is seeking nuclear arms. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.

"Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials?" Khamenei said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The crowd chanted "Death to America."

"He (Obama) insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed..

"Still, Khamenei left the door open to better ties with America, saying "should you change, our behavior will change, too."

This is far from a kiss off, by the way. There would be absolutely no value in that for Iran. Khamenei is using a classic Persian bazaari gambit of tossing the first offer to do business back at Obama and in essence asking him how far Obama is prepared to go to make a deal.

What the Mullahs want at the very least is to eat up additional time in 'negotiations' to allow them to finish nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Once that's done, the regime is going to be solidly in place, with the ability to black mail the west by threatening to shut off Persian Gulf oil at any time.
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All In The Name of Honor? - Jordanian Father Beats To Death His 19 Year Old Daughter For Wearing Makeup!

Having two children of my own, it is inconceivable to me that a Father can consciously kill their daughter, all in the name of honor. This ‘honor’ thing is obviously part of their religion. It goes along with their willingness to sacrifice their children as suicide bombers. If these Muslim men believe so strongly in killing all the infidels, why don’t they become a suicide bomber and let their children live longer? They’ve obviously been on this Earth a lot longer than their children.

These Muslim men supposedly believe life after this existence is Paradise, and that there will be 72 virgins waiting for them. They profess that they are willing to martyr themselves for Allah. If they truly believe in that mythical hereafter, why are they still here? Why? It’s because they love life more than their religion and they are afraid to die!

Bottom line about Muslim men is this:

- They love their religion more than they love their children!
- They love their own life more they love their religion!
- They want everyone else to be the suicide bombers!
- They are cowards who are afraid to die!

One more question. Why don’t we hear about honor killings that involve their sons? Is there nothing there sons can do to dishonor them?
Rees

Sunday, March 22, 2009
from Holger Awakens

by Holger Danske

And wouldn't Mohammed be so proud. The disgusting news came out yesterday, seen here in this article at Yahoo News, that a Jordanian father (with the help of his two sons) beat to death his daughter for leaving the house with makeup on and for speaking to a stranger. Once again, upholding the "honor" of Islam has taken the life of one of the world's innocents. Here's some of the disgusting details:

Jordan's prosecutor has charged a man and his two sons for the premeditated murder of his 19-year-old daughter Saturday, in the latest "honour killing" to take place in this conservative desert kingdom.

The man and his two sons were charged with beating to death the daughter for leaving the house in makeup and talking to a stranger, according to prosecutor Salah al-Taleb's indictment sheet.

The father brought his daughter to the hospital after she lost consciousness and turned himself in.Autopsy showed severe injuries to the head which caused brain hemorrhage and the body was covered with bruises.

Now, I don't know when the last time was I heard of an honor killing in Jordan so one might think this is a bit out of the ordinary....well, look at this line from the article:

In Jordan, an average of 20 women are killed by male relatives each year.

And that's REPORTED figures - I wonder how many young women and girls are killed in Jordan in this same manner and their deaths are reported as murders by strangers? And since we are talking about this maniacal killing of these innocents, these young girls and women...just where is the outrage from the women's groups in America? Are they scared of taking on Islam? I don't see American women's groups backing down from attacking Christians in America who may have objections to abortion in this country but I hear crickets when it comes to them attacking the islamists for this 8th century practice of honor killings.

Let's face it...these groups in America will march in the streets in defense of a woman's body in respect to her reproductive "rights" but when it comes to defending a woman's right to live, they are no where to be found. And that, to me, is even more disgusting than this poor woman's murder.

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The Afghanistan War Story That MSNBC 'Missed' This Weekend

from Holger Awakens

Taliban Halts All Polio Vaccinations In Swat Valley of Pakistan

from the website Holger Awakens
by Holger Danske
March 23, 2009

The people of Pakistan are starting to find out exactly why the people of Afghanistan are clinging to every hope that the Taliban do not regain control in their country. The Taliban in the Swat Valley (this is where the Pakistan government has signed several peace agreements, one giving the Taliban sharia law in the district) are throwing out all organizations in the area that are not Pakistani government oriented and included in that are the outside organizations that help vaccinate the children of Pakistan against polio. Here's some of the details from the Daily Times:

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday ordered all non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) to immediately leave Swat. In an exclusive chat with IRIN,
TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said, “They come and tell us how to make lavatories in mosques and houses. I’m sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this.”“NGO is another name for ‘vulgarity and obscenity’,” Khan said. He said NGOs hired women who worked with men, in the field and in offices. “That is totally unIslamic and unacceptable,” he said

As for the specific banning of the NGO's that provide the polio vaccines, here's the brilliance of the Taliban:

Infertility: When asked why the TTP was against the polio vaccination, Khan said, “The TTP is against polio vaccination because it causes infertility.”“I’m 45 and have never had one drop of the vaccine and I am still alive,” he said, adding that another reason the TTP was against polio vaccination was that the campaign was run by NGOs and the vaccine was imported.

So, what does this all add up to for the children in the Swat Valley of Pakistan? Well, if a child does survive not being vaccinated from polio, they can look forward to a young life of no education since many of the schools have been destroyed and the Taliban don't allow school...and then of course, there's always the jihadi training camps for the young Pakistani boys and the forced genital mutilation for the young girls. Ask the children of Swat if they were for signing the peace agreements with these misfits.
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Intelligence services have embarked on a crash program to secure the G-20 summit

photo of Mumbai Taj Hotel

World agencies gearing up to thwart upgraded Islamist terror

DEBKAfile Special Analysis
March 21, 2009

Using novel, upgraded tactics, Al Qaeda and fellow Islamist terror groups are outperforming anti-terror agencies in their attacks on targeted countries. International counter-terror agencies are worried enough to start retooling their counter-measures after viewing terrorist performances in Mumbai on Nov. 2008, killing 172 people, Lahore on March 3, causing 8 fatalities, and the Jordan Valley, shooting dead 2 Israeli policemen.
India, for instance, is overhauling its special forces from top to bottom and preparing to launch the world's first anti-terror satellite RISAT 2 on short-order delivery from Israel.

British intelligence and anti-terror services have embarked on a crash program to secure the G-20 summit opening in London on April 2,fearing the posh hotels hosting the leaders and their retinues are designated for a Mumbai-style massacre.

Western terror experts have detected common traits in the recent spate of attacks:

1. Preparation and execution straddle several countries as attested to by the highly-polished, coordinated attacks in separate places – India, Pakistan, Jordan and Israel.

2. Select jihadis are extensively trained to operate in large teams, using elite tactics and skills superior to existing combat techniques practiced by the special operations units of regular armies and security service SWAT teams in the targeted countries.

3. They may undergo training for as long as six months, a testament to the kind of long-term operational planning which is beyond the capabilities of most local law and order services – even in high-profile centers like Mumbai, London, Tel Aviv or Paris.

4. Al Qaeda and its ilk are now going in for large-scale attacks carried out by small armies of terrorists trained to operate in fully compartmentalized conditions.

The ten gunmen who carried out the Mumbai atrocity had support teams of hundreds deployed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and other parts of India.

The Lahore attack was perpetrated by 14 men.
Both teams operated like well-oiled machines on terrain which they had studied thoroughly.

5. The new terrorists are trained to carry large quantities of ammo, transportable missiles, grenades, rockets and explosives.

This enables them
- to maximize the lethality of their mission;
- to commandeer targeted sites at top speed. In Mumbai, they swiftly seized three large hotels, a main train terminus and the Habad Center;
- to outgun the local security forces in the first moments of the attack. In Mumbai, the local forces took two days to rally and muster enough firepower to suppress the attack. In Lahore, the terrorists effectively silenced Pakistani security personnel for long enough for them all to escape without a scratch.

6. Islamist terrorists have learned to operate long distance, preparing assault teams in one country to hit another and moving them in fast, even taking over ships, planes, vehicles or trains.

As much effort and resources are invested in transport as in other facets of an operation. The Mumbai assailants were smuggled in from Pakistan; for Lahore, they came from the Pakistan-Afghan border region; for the Jordan Valley, they stole in from the Hashemite Kingdom.

In that last attack, it is now estimated that 5 or 6 gunmen, members of al Qaeda, took part.

The highly-enhanced tactics now employed by Islamist terrorist organizations are being met with improved counter-measures by potentially vulnerable countries.

The Israeli spy satellite acquired by India in an extra-fast transaction is capable of day-and-night viewing and all-weather imaging, which enables Indian forces to keep track of terrorist movements through the low-cloud cover prevailing in the monsoon season. India is the first country in the world to acquire a surveillance satellite tailored specifically to counter terror.

The British authorities are in high gear for securing the G-20 summit to be kicked off on April 1 by the first face-to-face encounter between US president Barack Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

They are also preparing for the 2012 London Olympics.

The London Daily Telegraph reports that British security services officials are judging the threat against the UK to be at the "severe end of severe." Previously focused on preventing bombings, they are most concerned since the Mumbai massacre about attacks using automatic weapons on major hotels and public buildings.

They are considering issuing guidance to the managements of places where people gather in large numbers and are watching for small arms being smuggled in to the UK through ports or remote airfields.

Cagey about their preventive tactics, British officials are working to the slogan of the four "Ps – Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare."
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