LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 08/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12,38-44. In the course of his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation." He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Harems and Hypocrites -By: Stephen Brown (Liberals ignore Muslim imam’s performing 30 polygamous marriages in Toronto-Canada) 07/06/08.
Good Jihadists and Bad Jihadists. By: Dr.Walid Phares Wednesday, June 07, 2008
Symposium: Islamic Cultural Genocide. FrontPage.By: Jamie Glazov 07/06/08
Rejecting Terrorism, But Not Jihad-By: Robert Spencer. FrontPage 07/06/08
A Muslim Hate Crime is in Your Future.By: Michael Reagan. FrontPage 07/06/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 07/08
Maronite Bishops Hail Suleiman Election-Naharnet
France to send envoys to Syria-Independent Online
French president ends talks by affirming Lebanon's unity (Roundup)Monsters and Critics.com
Sarkozy: New Page between France and Syria, Yet No Back Down on Tribunal-Naharnet
Sarkozy urges reconciliation on Lebanon visit-Reuters
Sarkozy stresses France's support, commitment to Lebanon-Xinhua
France promises to resume contacts with Syria if positive ...Xinhua
Water crucial to Golan talks-BBC News
Italian FM: No Government, No Army in Lebanon-Naharnet
March 14 for Weapons-Free Beirut -Naharnet
Egypt Concerned About Lebanon -Naharnet
Aoun Accuses Hariri of Play Acting -Naharnet
Kouchner in Beirut -Naharnet
Petrol Pricing Problem Results in Market Confusion -Naharnet
Oghassapian for Arab Observers to Monitor Security-Naharnet
Syria, Lebanon forging new relationship-Middle East Times
A chance in Lebanon; No place for tyrants-International Herald Tribune
French opposition joins Sarkozy on Lebanon trip-Middle East Online

French president arrives in Lebanon in show of support for country's peace efforts
07/06/2008
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged strong support for Lebanon's new president and the country's peace efforts shortly after he arrived here Saturday at the head of a large delegation for a one-day visit.
Sarkozy is the first Western head of state to meet President Michel Suleiman since the former army chief was elected as compromise president on May 25. The election was part of an agreement signed in Qatar last month to end an 18-month political crisis that had pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war.
Sarkozy arrived from Athens and was received at Beirut airport by Suleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. His office has described the visit as an "unprecedented" effort to show French support for the Lebanese people.
The French president was accompanied by Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, but the three arrived in separate planes apparently for security reasons. He is also accompanied by the heads of all France's main political parties.
Lebanese army cannons fired 21 shots to salute Sarkozy as he descended from the plane to a red carpet welcome. A brass band played the Lebanese and French national anthems.
In brief comments at the airport, Sarkozy said Suleiman's election was "a synonym for hope" for all the Lebanese and called on leaders to follow through on commitments made in Qatar. He also pledged French and European support. "Mr. President, dear Michel, you know you can count on the engagement of France, political engagement and economic engagement," Sarkozy said.
"President Suleiman has a big responsibility to achieve national reconciliation," he added.
Outside the airport, about three dozen people gathered for a sit-in to demand the release of a Lebanese citizen serving a life sentence in France. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah was convicted in 1987 of complicity in the 1982 killings in France of a U.S. and an Israeli diplomat and in the attempted murder of another American diplomat.
Suleiman and Sarkozy's convoys drove later through streets decorated with the French and Lebanese flags to the suburban presidential palace in Baabda as army helicopters flew overhead.
In comments to three local Lebanese newspapers on the eve of his visit, Sarkozy said "France is the friend of all Lebanese without exception." He described the agreement reached in Qatar as "a victory for dialogue against violence."
Sarkozy's visit is the first by a French head of state to Lebanon since the 2005 trip by then-President Jacques Chirac who came to Beirut to pay condolences for the family former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was assassinated in a massive truck bomb in central Beirut on Feb. 14 that year.
Relations between France and Lebanon deteriorated since the assassination of Hariri, who was a close personal friend of Chirac.
Sarkozy will first hold a closed meeting with Suleiman before meeting with representatives of the main 14 Lebanese political factions, including delegates of the militant Hezbollah group, at a lunch at the presidential palace.
France, a former colonial power with strong ties to Lebanon, hosted representatives of the 14 groups at a conference last year meant to encourage dialogue between them, but the meeting did not achieve any results. Kouchner had made several trips to Lebanon to try and bring Lebanon's rival leaders together.
Sarkozy is also expected to give a speech to members of the French community at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, before wrapping up his visit. He had been scheduled to travel to south Lebanon by helicopter to meet around 1,100 French troops serving with the U.N. peacekeeping group but it was announced Friday that he would dispatch his defense minister, Herve Morin instead.
Sarkozy's office said he canceled the south Lebanon visit because he wants to keep the trip "exclusively political." The trip is also seen as sending a French message to Syria that Damascus should back the Doha accord.
Sarkozy called Syrian President Bashar Assad on May 29, breaking a long chill in French-Syrian relations. Syria suspended contacts with France in January, retaliating for a similar move made earlier by Sarkozy, who had accused Syria of blocking the election of a Lebanese president. Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943.

Maronite Bishops Hail Suleiman Election
Naharnet/Maronite bishops on Saturday welcomed the election of President Michel Suleiman and saw good governance program in his inaugural speech. "Lebanon's supreme national interests are being ensured and the constitution respected after the election of Suleiman," the bishops' statement said. The statement came at the end of the bishops' annual assembly under the chairmanship of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. The bishops also praised Suleiman's inaugural speech, saying they see in it a "good national and objective governance program.""Suleiman's speech sets the stage for true partnership in the decision-making process," said the statement, adding that it also "consolidates Lebanon's sovereignty and independence." The bishops expressed hope that the Lebanese will "preserve the Doha agreement and support President Suleiman." The statement also called for national unity in order to settle economic, social and political issues. Beirut, 07 Jun 08, 16:42

Kouchner in Beirut
Naharnet/French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner flew into Beirut Friday to prepare for his president's state visit to Lebanon.
Kouchner arrived at Beirut's Rafik Hariri Airport aboard an executive jet to a reception by French Embassy diplomats and foreign ministry officials.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to make a state-visit to Lebanon on Saturday to be the first foreign head of state to meet newly-elected President Michel Suleiman. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 20:15

Petrol Pricing Problem Results in Market Confusion
Naharnet/Acting Minister of power and hydraulics Mohammed Safadi discussed on Friday with representatives of oil importing firms a new pricing list to cope with hiking prices in international markets. Representative of petrol importers Bahij Abu Hamzeh told reporters after the talks the minister was "positive in dealing with the problem." The problem, according to Abu Hamzeh, is that the ministry failed early in the week to issue a pricing list for June, despite the price hike registered in international markets. "We have enough petrol stocks," Abu Hamzeh said. But the problem is that "we don't have a pricing list to sell the commodity accordingly," Abu Hamzeh added. The confusion has led to a limited shortage of fuel at service stations, but Abu Hamzeh reassured clients that the commodity is available and there is no reason to panic. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 18:45

March 14 for Weapons-Free Beirut
Naharnet/The March 14 majority alliance said Friday recent acts of violence in Beirut and other area aim at stripping the Doha accord of its steam and confusing President Michel Suleiman's rule. The March 14 secretariat, in a statement, paid tribute to the stand adopted by Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri of focusing on implementing the security chapter of the Doha Accord as the intro to implementing the political clauses of the agreement.
The statement also declared support to Hariri's call for a fact finding Arab committee to look into recent developments in Lebanon.
The statement said Beirut should be declared a demilitarized city, reiterating that implementing the security chapter of the Doha Accord in the intro to applying other terms of the agreement. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 20:35

Aoun Accuses Hariri of Play Acting
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Friday accused Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri of using the security deterioration in Beirut as a non-justified pretext to delay efforts aimed at forming the new cabinet. Aoun, talking to reporters, said "the general belief is that this pretext is mere play acting to avoid implementing the Doha Accord."Aoun said "serious security developments had taken place in the north and Beqaa, but the opposition did not say revealing the truth is a condition to forming the cabinet."He reiterated his standard policy that the care taker cabinet of Premier Fouad Saniora is responsible for the security situation. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 20:57

Egypt Concerned About Lebanon
Naharnet/Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Friday Lebanon's recent scattered acts of violence raise concern about prospects of implementing a political settlement that aims at stabilizing Lebanon. Abul Gheit said the situation in Lebanon "remains very fragile due to the use of weapons by certain factions."
"Such repeated security tension shatter efforts that should focus on forming the new cabinet," Abul Gheit noted. He said Egypt would maintain contacts with all the sides to facilitate implementation of the Doha Accord. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 21:27

Hariri Rejects Meeting with AMAL-Hizbullah Security Committee
Naharnet/Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri has rejected the idea of holding a coordination meeting along with Hizbullah and AMAL Movement at the headquarters of the Lebanese army intelligence to deal with security breaches and called for referring the matter to the Central Security Council.
Hariri believed the coordination committee was an attempt to portray Mustaqbal Movement as a "militia." Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri promptly summoned army intelligence chief Brig. Gen. George Khoury. He also contacted caretaker Interior Minister Hasan Sabaa and urged him "to take any measure without reservation," stressing that he was talking on behalf of himself as well as Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The Central Security Council on Thursday decided to upgrade police deployment in Beirut and ordered the removal of posters and party flags in an effort to contain the tense situation. The council also called for halting agitation campaigns by the various feuding factions and urged citizens, who had fled during recent clashes, to return to their homes in contested areas of Beirut. The council met after Hariri vowed to suspend cabinet line-up talks in protest over an attempt by assailants wearing Parliament police uniforms to assassinate Beirut citizen Imad Zaghloul.
Sources close to Berri said investigation into the security breaches "should take its course," adding that security authorities will arrest those involved, particularly after description of the car had been given. The sources confirmed there is "no political cover-up" for the criminals.
Parliament Police also issued a statement on Thursday denying any relation to the shooting. The statement also said "the incident was being politically manipulated by some parties." "We care to clarify that Parliament Police members do not have special uniforms ... their uniforms are nothing but those of the Internal Security Forces (ISF)," said the statement. It urged media outlets not to publish any news about the force without verifying it.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah and AMAL leaderships accused some leaders from the pro-government March 14 ruling majority of "trying to torpedo the positive atmosphere that had prevailed following the Doha agreement." They cited "personal as well as other reasons related to the new cabinet line-up within this (majority) team and their desire to obstruct implementation of the rest of the terms of the Doha agreement."
They also accused some March 14 leaders of "continuing their campaign aimed at instigating sectarian strife as the opposition is handling this matter with ultimate responsibility." A March 14 source, however, swiftly hit back, accusing the opposition of seeking to hinder the Doha settlement by not respecting the security part of the agreement. The source said that more than 300 pro-Mustaqbal families had fled their homes in Beirut and the mountains during the May battles over fears for their lives. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 08:03

Petrol Pricing Problem Results in Market Confusion
Naharnet/Acting Minister of power and hydraulics Mohammed Safadi discussed on Friday with representatives of oil importing firms a new pricing list to cope with hiking prices in international markets. Representative of petrol importers Bahij Abu Hamzeh told reporters after the talks the minister was "positive in dealing with the problem." The problem, according to Abu Hamzeh, is that the ministry failed early in the week to issue a pricing list for June, despite the price hike registered in international markets. "We have enough petrol stocks," Abu Hamzeh said. But the problem is that "we don't have a pricing list to sell the commodity accordingly," Abu Hamzeh added. The confusion has led to a limited shortage of fuel at service stations, but Abu Hamzeh reassured clients that the commodity is available and there is no reason to panic. Beirut, 06 Jun 08, 18:45

Good Jihadists and Bad Jihadists?
Western listeners try to understand the multi-layered meanings of Osama bin-Ladens latest message but fail when they don't call things by their proper names. Don't play jihad with the jihadists, for they will overwhelm your experiments.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Walid Phares
In his latest audio released by As-sahab (media arm of al Qaeda), the organization's Zaeem (supreme chief) elaborates on the difference between the pure Jihadists and those Islamists who lost their way and determination to continue the fight in the path of the founding fathers, which he calls the "Salaf of Islam." This complex speech (by Jihadist standards) can be only understood - and thus explained to decision-makers and the public - if the listener-analyst is able to grasp the multi-layered world of Jihadism.
But this task has been made unnecessarily difficult for most citizens and certainly impossible to those who in the U.S. bureaucracy are supposed to do the job. By disseminating the so-called "Lexicon", the Bush administration, bureaucrats are prohibited from using the words Jihad, Jihadism, Caliphate, Salafism, Islamism and the like when writing about and analyzing matters related to terrorism. This ridiculous proposition is now put to test when al Qaeda leaders - and other Jihadist high profile figures - broadcast their statements.
Just imagine the poor analysts at the various counterterrorism centers who chose to apply the new directives to the bin Laden letter. How can these counterterrorism bureaucrats process bin Laden's words which they can't use or touch "when dealing with Terrorism"? One can imagine them staring at these "forbidden words" attempting to replace them with "Lexiconic" terms. So how will they handle such texts? Some are suggesting that the end product of these "Lexiconic" analysis will not only be absurd, but will further confuse the consumers of the intelligence assessment, from the defense and national security sectors up to the highest congressional leaders and of course, the President.
We are not constrained by the "Lexicon." Let's dismiss it for the tragicomedy it is. So in real terms, how shall we analyze the latest bin Laden audio?
The number one of al Qaeda addressed what he perceives as the Umma that is - in Arabic - the global community of Muslims. Bin Laden's audio message was specifically aimed at those in the Umma who follow his ideology of Salafi Jihadism, that is, the return to the ways of the founders of the Caliphate. Bin Laden wishes the entire Umma to follow the struggle of those Jihadists who haven't diverted from the historical line of the successive Khilafa from the first four Wise Caliphs, the Rashidun, to the Umeyads, Abbassids and the Ottoman.
This attitude has been consistent with all bin Laden's speeches since 1996. He hasn't shaken his belief in the final reconstitution of the Islamic Empire since he rose to the leadership of al Qaeda, and even years before. So the bottom line of this speech is to lecture Muslims on who is in line with Jihad and who isn't. He dissects the various post Ottoman struggles, including the rise of the "Zionist entity," the Arab modern states and elevates the "best Jihadists" to the zenith and curses the apostate Muslim regimes. In between, he mildly criticizes those Islamists who believe in the final caliphate but who have, in his mind "sold out" to the rulers and the infidels.
The opening of his statement cannot avoid the vision of a U.S. president and other leaders attending the 60th birthday of Israel. Jihadism, as an ideology, cannot accept the principle that a Jewish entity can be established in Palestine, on any part of the Holy Land. Their ideology cannot accept the existence of any Kafir state (infidel country) within the confines of the Caliphate. Thus, to al Qaeda's Jihadists, it is not about land but about Kufr ("infidelism"). In his world view, so-called humanitarian values are empty; international law - whenever it conflicts with their ideology - is rejected.
Bin Laden's historical reading is that Nassara (Christians) and Yahuud (Jews) have taken a "Muslim" land for more than 80 years. And the story is who among Muslims fought back as an "Islamic" force and who among them wavered, or collaborated with the salibyeen (Crusaders). Bin Laden, as I argued in my two post-9/11 books, Future Jihad and the War of Ideas, is the product of an ideology that sees direct link between the past and the present, between the old state-Jihad and his contemporary Jihadism. He certainly doesn't mean Yoga when he uses the J-word.
Hence, in his new audiotape he regurgitates the classical Salafi tale of the Ottoman collapse. After the fall of the Turkish Sultanate the world turns bleak. The New Crusaders show up; they appoint "agents;" Arab Muslim monarchs - including Sheriff Hussein and even Abdel Aziz Bin Saud - are irresponsible. In addition, "British agents" control Arab Armies; the "Jews" control Palestine; infidel wolves devour Muslim sheep, and on and on. Bin Laden then mentions that finally Islamist groups are formed in the region and they were supposed to begin the struggle for the Caliphate, or al Jihaad fi sabeel Allah. He means the Muslim Brotherhood and the classical Wahabis. "They sought Jihad but weren't successful." Many left that Jihad later and befriended the Muslim "rulers" themselves friends of the infidels. For 90 years they went from failure to failure, from Indonesia to Mauritania, he said.
"Aah, if salah al Deen (Saladin) was here," laments Osama. "How different he was from today's Arab rulers. First he was committed to the real (religious) teaching." He quotes from the scriptures: "Qatil Fi Sabeel Allah laa tukallif illa nafsaka, wa harrid al Mu'mineen, Qatil al Kuffar." (Fight for Allah, mandate yourself and incite the believers, fight the Infidels.)
Bin Laden compared: "Look at these Arab rulers how they deviated from Salah al Deen. See how the U.S. ordered changes in the educational curriculum and Peace with Israel." Second, Saladin consulted with the Ulemas (clerics). But Arab rulers jail them, pay some to become their masters' voices and they become Ulama' al Su' (Evil Clerics). Hence, one can see that all what al Qaeda has to do to de-legitimize the state-clerics is to accuse them of deviation from the real principles of Salafi Islam. To rely solely on better funded clerics who chant "another" Jihad will hardly work. Bin Laden's message is by far more "authentic" in Islamist circles.
Lexicons can't defeat his devastating message.
Thirdly, Osama borrows from history and scores another point. "Saladin fought the Muslims who sided with the Crusaders." Thus he grants legitimacy to his Jihadists against the "Muslim apostates" allies of the infidel U.S. "They call us Kharijites and Takfiris," but we are the real Jihadists. One can see here the problem of attempting to play with linguistic-religious fire. Indeed, who can determine who more Jihadist than another is? Certainly the rich and Western leaning Jihad bearers cannot withstand the ferocious Jihadists of nowadays. They can't stand a chance.
I have a piece of advice to the self proclaimed architects of the "Lexicon Eureka": Don't play Jihad with the Jihadists; they will overwhelm your experiments.
Bin laden moves to discredit the other less successful Jihadists: Those Islamists who wait for approval from Riyadh for Jihad aren't going to make it. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is too tactical: they will not succeed, says bin Laden, because they occasionally deviate from the ideology.
Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah is on a defensive Jihad. Why doesn't he attack? He has accepted the infidel UNIFIL. Ironically, bin Laden quotes the previous secretary general of Hizballah, Subhi al Tufaili criticizing the current leader of the Iranian backed organization. Pushing the envelope to the deepest end of pure Jihadism, Usama says "stating that Islam is the solution is not enough," hinting at the classical Islamists (who work to penetrate the West and reestablish the Caliphate). He wants them to follow the strict Manhaaj, the methodology of the best Jihadists, i.e., his.
His methodology is pure. "No rules from the UN or the so-called international legitimacy but only the book of Allah and its Sunna," as he defines it. His view of the Palestinian question is simple: fight the apostate Muslim Governments who are obstructing the real Jihadists from striking at the heart of the Jewish state, then eradicate the latter. He informs his followers, the pure Mujahideen, that the Muslim rulers are not good enough to wage Jihad. They haven't fully applied Sharia, and dared introducing few positive laws. That would be Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
In his eyes, the classical Islamists aren't better. These regimes and movements that see eye to eye on the long run, i.e. the Caliphate and the Islamization-process, are in Osama's eyes long term Jihadists: Not daring enough. These types of shy Jihad and long term one aren't what bin laden believes were the prescriptions of the Sahaba, the early companions of the Prophet. Immersing himself in 7th century Salaf, meaning the examples of the founding fathers of the Caliphate, he dismisses today's regimes and movements who are adopting too much tactics, and being - one would say comparatively - too politically correct.
Ironically, a Jihadist who is too PC in the eyes of bin laden is the one who do not explicitly declare that he is on a Jihad campaign for the reestablishment of Caliphate. Amazingly, in its essence, the message of Bin Laden to the other side - that is, to the infidels - is that there are two Jihadisms moving forward. His own pure Jihad, open, honorable and direct (as he portrays it) and the Jihad of the Wahabbis, Muslim Brotherhood and even the deviationist one of the Khomeinist-inspired Hizballah. What bin laden reveals - indirectly - is that his competitors are perfidious, power hungry and deceptive. Coming from the commander of al Qaeda, this is very revealing. He wants to be perceived as the real Jihadist and the others to be looked at as the false ones.
How apropos as some in the West, and lately in the United States are trying to assert, that the Wahabbis and the Muslim Brotherhoods are the real, albeit inoffensive, "Jihadis" while bin Laden is a common criminal, nothing more nothing less.
What is to be learned from this audio tape, other than the repetitive calls to the combat Jihadists to fight wherever they can, is that we are facing off with two types of threats. One is the smallest in size, openly aggressive, and fully engaged in direct action against his enemies. The other is the largest movement, which emanates from the same ideology and aim at the same far goal, but follow a more deceptive path, at the pinnacle of which is its assertion that Jihadism should not be seen as a threat, obviously, until it is too late.
This is a lesson Americans must absorb as fast as they can. For they aren't up against just one enemy which face they can see, but they are now being menaced by a stealthier enemy, one that is penetrating their homeland and paralyzing their resistance.
**Dr. Walid Phares is an author of several books on terrorism and world politics. He writes for Family Security Matters.

Harems and Hypocrites
By Stephen Brown
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, June 06, 2008
It is just one more example of liberal cowardliness leading us to Sharia hell.
A Muslim imam in the Canadian province of Ontario defiantly and openly admitted recently that he had performed about 30 polygamous marriages involving men who already had wives, thereby breaking Canadian law. Polygamy was outlawed in Canada in 1892 and comes under provincial jurisdiction.
Imam Aly Hindy, who leads the Toronto Salahuddin Islamic Center, has gone on radio and appeared in Canada’s largest newspaper, The Toronto Star, to justify why he is defying the law of the land by marrying men already legally spoken for, sometimes without the knowledge of their first wife.
“This is our religion and nobody can force us to do anything against our religion,” he contemptuously told The Star. “If the laws of the country conflict with Islamic law, if one goes against the other, than I am going to follow Islamic law, simple as that.”
In Islam, a man can legally have up to four wives. A second wife is sometimes taken if the first wife does not produce children. But many Muslim women, according to one Muslim feminist, live “in constant fear” of their husbands taking a second, even third, wife, who are often much younger than the first spouse.
In France, polygamy is not an insignificant problem and is one of reasons given for the Paris riots in 2005. Authorities report a higher delinquency rate among polygamous families, which sometimes consist of a husband, four wives and more than twenty children living together in a cramped apartment. It is believed between 150,000 and 300,000 people live in polygamous families in France
Hindy first appeared in Canadian newspapers for supporting the terrorist Khadr family who lived in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough where his Center is also located.
Ahmed Said Khadr, the family father, was said to be a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda. At one time, the Toronto family lived in the same compound as Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and socialized with the al-Qaeda leader and Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second in command. Bin Laden also attended the wedding of Khadr’s daughter, who, in true al-Qaeda style, was once said to have threatened Pakistani police with a rifle when they came to arrest her father.
Ahmed Khadr was later killed in a shootout with Pakistani authorities, in which a son was also wounded. Another son is currently on trial in the United States for killing an American medic with a hand grenade in separate firefight.
In a way, however, one can admire the misplaced combativeness of the Khadr family, despite the loathsomeness of their cause, when compared to the gutless response of Ontario’s liberal politicians to the polygamy issue.
The Liberal Party, which currently rules Ontario, is adopting a cowardly see-no-evil attitude toward the reported simultaneous marriages. In the provincial legislature, a Liberal member of parliament explained, in true political doublespeak, that since no marriage licenses were obtained and no registration of such marriages took place, then there is no evidence the polygamous unions ever occurred.
Only a politician could utter such useless drivel for an excuse.
But what makes this shameful blot of inaction even worse is the cold contempt in which Liberal politicians, much like Hindy, are holding their very own Canadian laws. Regarding this issue, Ontario’s provincial criminal code states that a person who enters into any form of polygamy, whether the law has recognized the union or not, as well as those who assist in the rite, can receive up to five years in prison.
But the worthless Liberal response should come as no surprise. While Hindy holds Canadian law in contempt in order to slowly spread his version of fundamentalist Islam in an infidel country, the self-serving Liberals are doing the same thing in order, as usual, not to lose votes and jeopardize elections.
The Liberal Party, you see, has been Canada’s party of multiculturalism since the days of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who unilaterally declared Canada a multicultural country in the early 1970s. The Liberals regard the ethnic groups who have immigrated to America’s northern neighbor since that time as core supporters and vote reservoirs; much like the Democratic Party in the United States views the black and union vote.
As result, the Liberals are, predictably, very hesitant to take action against a religion shared by several such large ethnic groups whose voting numbers are growing in the key Toronto and Toronto-area ridings where the majority of Canada’s 700,000 Muslims live and where Ontario elections are decided.
In all, the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty, are just practising the traditional Liberal policy of seizing power at all costs and holding power at all costs, even if it means ignoring an odious aspect of sharia that goes against the rights of women they’ve always espoused. All of which goes to show that, once more, it is not the Hindys who pose the most danger to the Western way of life, but rather the appeasers and collaborators with their lack of courage and unwillingness to stand up for the values of our democratic societies and civilization.
The Canadian media have also been unhelpful regarding the Muslim polygamy issue. For years, they have hypocritically focused their attention on a small, isolated and polygamist Mormon fundamentalist community in British Columbia (a safe target), while Muslims have been practising polygamy in major Canadian urban areas at the same time. Hindy said even some imams have second wives, making one wonder why Canadian newspapers never covered this story among the hundreds they have published about Islam.
Women’s groups have been equally and hypocritically silent. And yet lost in all this is the fact that it is the women, and their children, who suffer the most from polygamy. One would think Canadian feminists would have long ago made this social blight a top priority, using their taxpayer-funded government grants to study and prevent it. Families are devastated by this archaic practice that is so unjust and detrimental to the women they claim to represent.
One woman’s life, for example, was shattered when she discovered her husband married two other women after he had sent her to Egypt with their four children for a year. Hindy told the woman, who had cried for six days after discovering the awful news: “You should stop causing problems to him (the husband). You will not get anything by divorce except destroying your life.” But this big-hearted guy says, in a few cases, he has gone to homes with the news of a husband’s new marriage to help lessen the blow for the first wife.
Well, that certainly makes a big difference.
Unlike the spineless Liberals, the secular Muslim Canadian Congress has asked police to investigate “the growing number of polygamous marriages” and lay charges. In a communiqué, the MCC called polygamy “degrading to women”, stating the original reasons for its existence, one of which was the providing for widows and orphans of men killed in battle, no longer exists.
The MCC also wants Ontario’s government to uphold the law in regard to family social benefits. While only one wife is supposed to be able to claim such benefits, some extra wives are collecting them as individual applicants, further draining the treasury. Indirectly the taxpayer, by supporting the second and third families, in other words the husband’s harem, is unknowingly supporting sharia law.
The issue of polygamy, it is generally recognized, will probably now go to court where its advocates, like Hindy, will fight for its legalization under the banner of religious freedom contained in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court hopefully will perceive that the case is simply an attempt by Muslim fundamentalists to use our tolerance to promote their intolerance, and thus rule against it.
Failure to do so would only see the door opened to the establishment of other threatening aspects of sharia law, causing ever larger holes to be torn in Canada’s social fabric. Ontario’s Liberal government rightly killed the idea of sharia family courts in 2005, saying they would not be fair to women, but would probably have to reconsider its decision when facing a legalized polygamy.
In Islam, polygamy is reserved only for men, since it does not “correspond to a woman’s nature.” However, it is high time to let Islamic fundamentalists know this antiquated custom from a desert tribal past and the sharia legal code that endorses it do not correspond to Western civilization’s nature, and values, either.
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Stephen Brown is a columnist for Frontpagemag.com. A scholar and former news reporter, his field of expertise is Muslim forced marriages and honor killings. Email him at alsolzh@hotmail.com.