The monster was hiding in plain sight–working as a holistic healer, a health guru. I am talking about Dr. Radovan Karadzic of course who has finally been captured by his own people, not because his crimes repulsed them, (he was viewed as a hero), but rather in the hope that his capture and extradition to the Hague might soften their image as a rogue nation and lead to an economically profitable membership in the European Union.

The man, nay the fiend, is a psychiatrist and as luck would have it, I actually knew a woman who once was his patient. She was an educated Muslim woman, married to a Christian man, in a time when Belgrade prided itself on its sophistication and tolerance.

How could Karadzic turn on Muslims who were once his patients? (How could Nazi doctors turn on their Jewish patients and teachers? How could Mengele do what he did? How could the British-based Muslim doctors try to blow up the Glasgow airport?)

It is not unusual for ideologically and militarily empowered people who were once your employees, employers, neighbors, and friends, to be the first to turn you in to the police, participate in beating you up, plunder and occupy your home, kill you to eliminate the possibility that you might one day return to claim what is rightfully yours. Sometimes, more rarely, your former neighbors and friends might save you.

Karadzic enjoyed sixteen years of power and safety. His genocidally massacred victims did not. Those girls and women who survived his (and Radko Mladic’s) “gender cleansing” policies of repeated, public gang-rapes have been tormented every day since then. One such woman, “Jasmina,” says that under Karadzic’s rule, “we were raped every day.”

She lived in Bijeljina and in 1992, Karadzic’s soldiers took over her largely Muslim city and began to torture and kill the population.

Jasmina never saw her mother again. The men in her family were beaten. She and ten other women were gang-raped in front of their children. When she begged the soldiers to kill her, they laughed and said “We don’t need you dead.”

However, in Jasmina’s case, after one year as a sexual slave, a Serbian soldier who had known her parents rescued her (he purchased her as a “private prostitute”). You may read about Jasmina Here.

Many of the raped Muslim women became pregnant. Many were rejected by their families because they had been dishonored. Depression and suicide were real risks. In Jasmina’s case, she felt that her husband should have rejected her but they got around that by never discussing what had happened to either of them during the war.

But, she has attempted suicide three times and to this day, “cannot look her husband in the eye.” The “ethnically cleansed” Muslims do not wish to return to the region where their tormentors live and have been peacefully re-located elsewhere.

I was once on tap to testify about Rape Trauma Syndrome in the matter of the former Yugoslavia. Although rape is now considered a war crime, the international criminal tribunals (in the matter of Rwanda and Bosnia) remains pitifully under funded.

Do not expect Dr. Karadzic to be any more apologetic than his pal, Slobodan Milosovic, was. Eichmann in the Jerusalem dock was unashamed, unruffled, even proud of his “efficiency.” Expect that Karadzic will justify what he did as “self defense,” as a Serbian Bosnian nationalist equivalent of a political honor murder.

Those who commit evil on a grand scale are the kinds of people who do not think it is wrong. Dinko Sakic commanded a notorious death camp in Croatia where 2,000 Serbs, Jews, and gypsies were murdered. Sakic fled at the end of World War Two and lived openly for half a century in Argentina. He even gave interviews boasting about what he had done. Sakic said that he would gladly do it all over again. When he was finally caught and tried, he laughed at the verdict.

Sakic just died at age 86. I hope there is a special circle in Hell for the likes of Sakic, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Milosevic, Karadzic and for all those, world-wide who committed similar crimes against humanity. On the other hand–maybe it would be more instructive, more punitive, to condemn them to the company of angels and saints.

Yesterday, I discussed the reasons behind Saudi King Abdullah’s interfaith conference in Madrid. How can we trust that the Saudi Wahabi/Salafi Muslims wish a permanent peace with infidels when they continue to teach their children to hate us?

Please read the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom report on Saudi textbooks. Here And read Ann Applebaum in the Washington Post Here.

Newly revised Saudi fourth-grade textbooks still teach children (both in the Kingdom and in Saudi funded madrassas and mosques around the world), that a Muslim cannot “love” an infidel but must instead “hate” him.

How can rational Westerners continue to delude themselves about the “peaceful” intentions of Islam, a “religion of peace?” Yes, theoretically, Islam can evolve and be interpreted in more peaceful ways but that has not yet happened. Don’t listen to me. Ask any Muslim or ex-Muslim dissident. Ask the heroic Wafa Sultan (who must live in hiding in America) or Aayan Hirsi Ali (who must live with permanent, around-the-clock security). Why would they have to hide from a religion whose practioners are “peaceful?”

Once upon a time, the King invited the infidels to Madrid–but he only invited a handful of Jews who are all, rightly or wrongly, perceived as more critical of Israel and of Judaism than of Islam. The King did not invite any influential, religious women. This did not stop any man of faith from attending.

I am talking about Saudi King Abdullah’s interfaith conference in Madrid which was attended by nearly 300 delegates representing Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other faiths from over 50 countries. King Abdullah opened the conference on July 16, 2008 in the presence of Spain’s King Juan Carlos.

I am in favor of dining with one’s enemies and with potential allies. I myself dine quite frequently with Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents and am in favor of such alliances and dining experiences. But, if a King is the host, he usually invites other Kings and heads of state. That did not happen in Madrid. The invitees did not have the same worldly power that their host has. Did the King view the invitees as his potential press corps?

If the conference is meant to serve as a positive symbol–I wonder why the King chose Spain, al-Andalus, and not, for example, Mecca? Is he saying that the Muslims miss their previously conquered European lands and plan to re-conquer them, one way or the other? Or, did the King choose a European location because what he had to say was meant for infidel-only consumption? Is even the King afraid to hold such a conference in his own Kingdom?

I have not read what the various conference participants have written but I have received what three rabbi-participants have written. Thus, here is what Rabbis Arthur Waskow, here Michael Lerner (Rabbi Lerner’s piece has yet to be posted online at Tikkun), and Brad Hirschfeld here have to say. All three are rather optimistic and positive. Each rabbi makes good points. Each seems to prize “his” special moment alone with the King or with members of the King’s elite staff or Cabinet. Perhaps, each rabbi feels that if he was invited, that the King may be trusted, or that he’s a counterpart “progressive.”

But this may not be true. What if the conference is meant to lull the western world into a false sense of complacency? What if the conference resolutions are meant to be used to promote a more positive (and false) image of Islam internationally–without Islam changing at all?

For example, despite their promises, the Saudis continue to indoctrinate their children with hate-filled textbooks against Jews, Israelis, Christians, and Americans. The Saudis continue to fund worldwide propaganda for jihadic terrorism and the terrorism itself; their motto is anywhere but on Saudi soil. The Saudi treatment of women is beneath contempt. (I am including their trafficking in and sexual enslavement of women from other countries and their abominable treatment of Saudi women, including Saudi royal women and Saudi feminists). The Saudis refuse to sell the West more oil or to lower its price. They still do not allow Christians, Jews, or other infidels to worship in The Kingdom.

What if the conference resolutions (which have already been rushed to the United Nations) are precisely meant to launch further charges of “Islamophobia,” this time with penalties, for anyone who criticizes Islamic gender and religious apartheid–especially if the criticisms are true? According to a Saudi official here

“I hope the United Nations Security Council and other UN agencies will adopt the principles agreed upon at the conference as guidelines for promoting world peace and preventing attacks and discrimination on a sectarian basis.”
Do you think he is referring to the defamation of infidel religions that has historically characterized the Muslim world and which is still true today? Or is he thinking about Islam’s image in the West and how to further bolster it–with penalties in mind? At the same time, other Islamic groups are fostering Islamist values and attacking Western values in the West.

For example, the radical Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, has just launched a campaign to stop young Muslims from being corrupted by Western “liberal values.” The organization, which Tony Blair wanted to ban in Britain, has planned a summer PR campaign against Western “attacks” on the religion.

My three Jewish rabbinical brothers cited above believe that the fact that Abdullah called the conference at all can work as a powerful symbol. If the Saudi King can publicly break bread with infidels, including Jews and Christians–then perhaps he is beginning to question the Quranic view of them as “pigs, monkeys, and dogs.”

This is an important point but: Has this historic conference been covered in the Saudi and Arabic, Persian, and Kurdish language media? It has been covered widely in English. Google lists nearly 40,000 references in English. Arab and Muslim readers: Tell us if the good news has appeared in your local Middle Eastern or central Asian media.

My thought: The Sunni King is worried about the Shi’ite menace in Iran (and in its proxy states in Lebanon, Gaza, and possibly Syria), and bin Laden’s al-Qaeda menace which, although exiled from the Kingdom, remains a danger to us all. This conference could be another example of taqquiya or da’wa, meant to confuse and lull infidels; it could also represent the beginning of a new and strategic military alliance in which Saudi Arabia may choose to work with America and Israel against Iran–but only on behalf of Saudi interests and on Saudi terms.

The Saudi official who spun the news for the English language Arab News is also quoting as saying: “Islam has a universal message and calls for peaceful coexistence with followers of other religions and it does not want to impose its principles and teachings on other communities.”

This is a bold-faced lie. But, if you rely upon the work of someone like Karen Armstrong, the early Bernard Lewis, or Tariq Ramadan, and if you only read the left-liberal media you will (and will want to) believe these words. If you rely upon the work of Bat Ye’or,  Andrew Bostom, Nonie Darwish, Ibn Warraq, and Robert Spencer, (for starters) you will recognize it for the lie it is.

The conference participants–my infidel brethren–may need a serious dose of even-handed “bibliotherapy” in order to analyze what Madrid was really about.

And next time, no matter how lavish the accommodations or how magical the gifts–please (and here I am paraphrasing Abigail Adams’ advice to her husband when he was President) remember the women. Rabbi Lerner does mention this. But go further: Suggest influential women as invitees before the next such conference. Consider this as part of your effort to educate the Saudis.

On July 16th, 2008, on a hot and blindingly sunny evening in Battery City Park, I was honored with the first “Emma” Award–no, not an Emmy, an “Emma,” named for the 19th century poet, crusader, humanitarian and Zionist, Emma Lazarus. This was to celebrate her 159th birthday. This first-ever event, was organized by the City of New York Parks and Recreation and by Jewish American Performing Arts.

I wish we had many more Battery City Parks and more European-style parks with fountains, cafes, sculptures, flowers, gazebos, and concerts. Battery City Park was quite glorious. People strolled leisurely, tourists bought postcards, boats glided by, the trees were in full leafy bloom, and the view was grand.

We sat on neat white chairs facing New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. Well, not exactly: the speakers’ platform faced the view. This was the first time since 9/11 that going downtown did not sadden me beyond measure. There we sat, right next to a plaque honoring Lazarus and, for good measure, we faced the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus” is famously engraved on its base.

I am not used to being honored; I am used to being attacked for my views. Being honored is nice too. Shalom TV, the first Jewish cable network filmed the program and afterward, Mark S. Golub, the President and CEO interviewed me. He asked the best questions–the ones that are hard, not easy, to answer. When they air the interview I will link to it.

Why Emma Lazarus? Although she came from a wealthy, assimilated, non-religious Sephardic family, she nevertheless heroically dared to champion the “wretched” (mainly religious Russian Jews in flight from pogroms) among her own people at a time when wealthy Jews dared not challenge American anti-Semitism. Between 1882-1883, she wrote a series of essays excoriating America’s largely Sephardic and German Jews for their indifference to the fate of Eastern European Jewry. She wrote:

“Until we are all free, we are none of us free…It will be a lasting blot upon American Judaism, nay, upon prosperous Judaism of whatever nationality, if we do not come forward now…to fail in such an attempt is no disgrace. The disgrace is in not undertaking it.”

Lazarus was also a Zionist and envisioned a Jewish homeland in Palestine a decade before Herzl wrote The Jewish State.

I was among a wonderful group of honorees which, in addition to myself, included the singer Julie Budd, the teacher, Neila Carlebach, the singer/songwriter Basya Schechter, the Broadway producer, Jamie de Roy, the WABC reporter Lauren Glassberg, and New York State Assemblywomen Deborah I. Glick. Cecilia Margulies and Rami Yadid wrote powerful songs and two wonderful singers, Emily Bindiger and Magda Fishman sang them for us.

Howard Teich, a very nice man and a smart man too, was a key organizer of this event. He said that too few women and even fewer Jewish women have ever been honored and that they had conceived of this award as a remedy.

Thank you Jack T. Linn, Assistant Commissioner of Parks, Howard Teich, Co-Chairman, Jewish American Performing Arts Project, Jill Fine Mainelli, Director, Community Resources, Composer Cecilia Margulies, who, early on, envisioned this award, and NYC Dept of Parks and Lashette Williams.

And, thank you Emma!

Congratulations to My Pet Jawa for asking the right questions about the AP photographer, Basmatullah Naikzad, who just stood there and watched as the Taliban murdered two women. But Naikzad did not just stand there–he also photographed the murder and then made money and gained international credit when AP ran his photo. Perhaps he shared the loot with the Taliban in return for being allowed to take photographs.

Well, what else could he have done? Tried to stop the Taliban? Refused to document it? Granted, some of our reactions might be “prurient” but some reactions are sorrowful and righteously indignant. I have always been queasy about watching someone’s death. (Read Wendy Lesser’s excellent 1994 book Pictures At An Execution, about the lawsuit KQED brought in order to film a state execution live–a suit which was denied).

So: Palestinian and other terrorists have perfected the art of faux-photography in the Middle East (think about the Al-Dura fake and the movie showing a massacre in Jenin where none took place). We have been innundated with photos of Palestinian-only or Muslim victims-only on the West Bank and in Lebanon. Recently, a group of Israeli photographers have contacted me about the Israeli authorities not allowing them to photograph the Israeli victims of terrorist attacks. Stay tuned for more about this.

Should photographers document the atrocities? Should they refuse to do so? Will this refusal lead to fewer atrocities–or to even greater license to commit more since no one will be “watching?”

Tell me what you think.

The photo arrests my gaze. It instantly haunts me. It shows two Afghan women chatting while sitting on their heels, close to the ground. They are both wearing iridescent light blue burqas. One seems to be clutching a shopping bag. They are about to be shot to death by Taliban fighters who accused them of running a prostitution ring that catered to American soldiers. For good measure, the Taliban also accused them of working for the local governor. According to the BBC here:

“A spokesman for the Ghazni governor said the dead women were “innocent local people” and the US has also dismissed the allegations. US military spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said he had never heard of “anything close to that nature.” Ghazni officials told Agence France Presse that the women, killed late on Saturday, had no connection with the government.”

It is impossible to tell how old the women are. Perhaps they are like some of the women I once knew as servants in Kabul: Hearty, shy, good-natured, energetic peasant women who hid their faces in their long veils when they giggled. These two murdered souls could not have been like the more educated women I once knew in Kabul who were serious, impossibly sophisticated, certainly more knowledgeable about western fashion than I was. The Taliban and the endless, hopeless war has made it impossible for such women to survive and flourish.

The photo, taken on July 12th, 2008 could be an illustration for Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Please recall that this novel, tailored to American tastes, still convincingly shows us how sadistic and twisted the Taliban are, how they routinely use orphaned Afghan boys for sex play, force women into prostitution, then kill them for it. Amnesty International has also documented these practices and American feminist groups have denounced them as well.

Many say that “Islam” has nothing to do with such behaviors. And yet–the Taliban view themselves as “holy warriors” and perhaps as Afghan (Saudi) Arabs. Thus far, the Taliban has not been publicly denounced as anti-Islam by leading Muslim clerics world-wide.

Funny, a few years ago, thousands of Egyptian men went on a “sexual wilding” rampage in Cairo right after they heard a Ramadan sermon in a mosque; they undressed and assaulted women who were both veiled and unveiled. And, in Algeria, after hearing their mullah denounce the impoverished women who were working for foreign companies in their city of Hassi Messoud, about three hundred men also went on a rampage–only they killed, gang-raped, mutilated, and buried women alive. I have written about both tragedies.

In both instances, (in Egypt and in Algeria) “foreign influence” or “colonial-imperialism” did not cause the criminal behaviors. What did? Did Islam do it? Or is this bad behavior a perversion of Islam both by mullahs and by their followers? And, if it’s the latter, where are the Muslim reformers?

By the way: We dare not underestimate the Taliban’s willingness to kill and die–and to engage in a lifetime of guerrilla warfare. The same Taliban “militants” who executed these two Afghan women in cold blood the evening of July 12th, also managed to get inside an American military outpost in Ghazni province on July 13th that had allegedly only been constructed three days ago. The Taliban killed nine American soldiers and wounded fifteen more. NPR covers it here.

Historically, each time that Afghanistan has evolved beyond the Middle Ages, it has been plunged back into medieval darkness. What might it take to escape its own history?

Cultural differences exist, they are real and they matter. As a lifetime critic of injustice, I understand that it exists everywhere but as someone who has also once lived in the Islamic Third world and studied it thereafter, I understand that, as my dear friend Ibn Warraq says, the West is worth defending; our values and virtues, our laws and customs are different from and in many ways more evolved than the (absence) of laws and abusive customs that characterize totalitarian, fascist, tyrannical, and fundamentalist regimes.

Just today, here is a small sampling of news about the recent and ongoing fate of women in the Islamic world.

• Two women shot dead in Quetta.
Abdul Qayuum killed both his sister-in-law and her mother. The object of his desire had been married to his brother who had been killed in Afghanistan. Her mother repeatedly refused his offer–and so he killed them both.

I have written before about women’s own sexism and complicity with patriarchal barbarism and evil In Pakistan (from which so much terror and misery emanates). Thus, I am not surprised by the mass demonstration of women who vowed: “Babies for Jihad.” According to the Daily Mail,

• Babies For Jihad.
About 2,000 Islamist women gathered at the radical Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday and vowed to raise their children for holy war, days after a suicide bomber killed 18 people after a similar rally.

Chanting slogans of “jihad is our way”, burqa-clad women, some with babies, listened to fiery speeches from the daughter of the mosque’s jailed cleric on the eve of the anniversary of a commando raid on the complex in which more than 100 people died.

• Slavery in Saudi Arabia

Yesterday, I referred to the Human Rights Watch Report about slavery-like conditions in Saudi Arabia. Today, (thanks to a reminder from my colleague, Professor Donna Hughes) I want to link to the Report itself here. It is titled: “As If I Am Not Human. Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia.” According to Hughes and to Human Rights:

“Saudi Arabia should implement labor, immigration, and criminal justice reforms to protect domestic workers from serious human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Employers often face no punishment for committing abuses including months or years of unpaid wages, forced confinement, and physical and sexual violence, while some domestic workers face imprisonment or lashings for spurious charges of theft, adultery, or (when they sue, counter-accusations of) “witchcraft.”

Poor investigations and criminal proceedings that often stretch for years mean that abusive employers are rarely punished through the criminal justice system. For example, after three years of proceedings, a Riyadh court dropped the charges against the employer of Nour Miyati, despite the employer’s confession, ample medical evidence, and intense public scrutiny. Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten daily by her employers.”

Please understand: There are many people, customs, and values in the Islamic world that have drawn me close. The smells, sights, food, hospitality, and charm are, or rather were, a small part of it. And, upon reflection, the traditional and historical Muslim desire to “protect” women from enormous stranger male hostility, to keep women out of the workforce, veiled, perhaps in purdah (seclusion) is as much an expression of “caring” and a statement of privilege as it is also an example of tyranny, hatred, fear, and ownership-cruelty. Small, material compensation for such a total lack of freedom is only possible in very wealthy families which are in the minority.
Given the above news about women in the Islamic world, I am awed by the bravery of Muslim feminists.

• Feminist Hunger Strike in Iran
For example, ten are now sitting in the dreaded Evin Prison and on a hunger strike. According to Mahboubeh Akrami, they were arrested two weeks ago in Mellat Park for “collecting signatures calling for a revision of the laws that discriminate against women.” Read it in Adnkronos International (AKI) here.

• Afghan Female Olympic Athlete Resurfaces After Death Threats
Mahbooda Ahadgar, the missing Afghan Olympic female athlete, has resurfaced–and she is on her way to Norway where she plans to apply for political asylum. However, according to the Times online:

Concerns for her family’s safety are not over…While her safety is a relief within Olympic circles, her decision to go into hiding a month before the Games is a galling blow because, as an Afghan woman who is proud of her athleticism and her Muslim religion, she became a poster girl for the Games.

Ahadgar is not the first Olympic Solidarity scholar to seek asylum in this way. Two Bangladeshi athletes also vanished last year and a runner from Gabon did the same in 2001. ”

Dear friends and Readers: Please keep sending me relevant clippings. My thanks to my British-based colleague, Dikka Colville whose choice of clippings usually “makes my day.”

Good afternoon dear people!

Well, this time, the mainstream media is actually beginning to cover the honor murder in Atlanta. I do not understand why they never covered the honor murder of the Said sisters in Dallas about which I have previously written many times at this blogsite. But–in only a matter of days, CNN not only wrote about it; they also turned to an alleged expert who says that honor murders are no different than domestic violence cases world-wide.

On July 9th, CNN posted a piece HERE about the Atlanta case in which a Pakistani man has been charged with killing his 25-year old daughter. CNN turned to Columbia University Associate Dean of multicultural affairs, Ajay Nair, who is quoted as saying:

“My immediate reaction was that this is an anomaly in the South Asian community… Most South Asian-American families enjoy wonderful relationships within their families. I think there’s ways that we can rationalize it and make sense of it, particularly in thinking about new immigrant communities in the U.S. and thinking about some of the struggles that they face and the generation gap and the cultural differences that children do face,” he said. “I think there are some issues there, but by and large, this isn’t a rampant problem within South Asian communities. What is a problem, I think, is domestic violence, and that cuts across all communities. I think more people need to recognize this as a global issue. It’s not just a U.S. issue. I think it happens across the world, and I think people need to recognize domestic violence and any kind of violence related to women as a serious, serious issue.”

Nair said he believes a “significant human rights campaign” is needed to address such killings.

Well, I agree with Nair about the campaign but about little else. I am working on an academic piece about this right now for Daniel Pipes and do not want to steal my own thunder but for example: Most (non-Muslim/non-South Asian) batterers do not kill their daughters or wives and when and if they do, they are not seen as “heroes” or “martyrs” and they are not protected by their families and communities. They are rarely prosecuted in their home countries.

What is Nair doing at Columbia? Why is CNN turning to him as opposed to a Muslim or “South Asian” feminist activist? A non-Muslim feminist activist?

Excuse me: If honor killings are a world-wide problem that is because Muslims/ South Asians live in more than 50 Muslim countries as well as in the West. Between 30-40 million new and second-, third- or fourth-generation immigrants currently live in Europe.

Read the CNN article. You will also see how careful they are to quote police officers who themselves were oh-so-careful in their remarks. God forbid that anyone would say anything that might be construed as “anti-Islamic” or as “Islamophobic.” Charges and headlines would be brought; the politically correct police would be out in full force.

I agree: Prejudice against anyone because of their skin-color, religion, country of origin, or immigrant status is unacceptable. One of the best things about America is the fact that we actually fought a Civil War on our own soil to end slavery–a practice which is still a custom in the Arab and Muslim world, especially in Saudi Arabia. SEE HERE. Americans also bravely demonstrated for abolition, then for racial equality, and then we passed additional civil rights laws. In terms of our history, it is symbolically thrilling that one of our Presidential candidates is now an African-White American.

You don’t see many Christians or Jews being elected in Saudi Arabia–not even for dogcatcher–do you? Elected? You don’t see them displaying any religious symbols on the streets or practicing their religion behind closed doors in The Kingdom. This is currently also true today on the streets of London and Paris.

So: Will somebody please help me out? Since Muslims come in all colors and hail from many geographical regions, how exactly is it “racist” to describe certain Muslim practices (such as polygamy, arranged marriage, temporary marriage, veiling, purdah, or honor murders) accurately? How will it help the police and the judiciary in the West to defend society against what we view as legal crimes if newspapers describe crimes committed by Muslims–especially in the name of Islam, including acts of torture and terrorism–as having been committed by “youths,” “South Asians,” “militants,” “immigrants,” and by “the oppressed?”

Please send me your thoughts.

News of yet another honor murder on American soil (this time in Atlanta, Georgia) is just breaking. The mainstream media is staid and careful and politically correct. The blogosphere is sassy and sarcastic, opinionated and wonderfully irreverent.

I love these bloggers. They know no fear and have no shame and understand that an Islamist war against the West is fully underway and that we must fight back in order to save our civilization and its hard-won values.

A Pakistani father, Chaudhry Rashid, just strangled his 25 year-old daughter, Saneela (or Sandela) Kanwal to death yesterday because she wanted out of her arranged marriage. Kanwal’s brother was also present. Rashid’s wife, Gina Rashid, described as an African-American woman, (good for that green card), apparently fled the premise in terror as the sounds of murder erupted in a language that was foreign to her. This suggests that she might not have been the biological mother of the murder victim.

The local mainstream media in Atlanta is cautious, careful, “objective,” tentative, and tries not to render any political or display any human reaction to the subject. But, at least they are covering it. Bloggers, however, do indeed hold forth. Their readers are even more over-the-top. Here are some early blogosphere opinions.

GINA COBB:
“STRANGE AMERICAN BELIEF: THERE IS NO HONOR IN MURDER” but apparently that lesson is lost on millions if not billions of folks around the world from places like Pakistan and Iran and India, including (allegedly) this genial character with a million dollar smile: … I’ve got a clue for this character: In America, we generally frown on treating women like dogs. In fact, we generally don’t strangle our dogs to death, either. Enjoy your jail cell.

WEASEL ZIPPERS
“He should have waited until they visited Pakistan, then he would have gotten off without so much as a warning.”

One Commenter: “Rashad had a seizure shortly after the strangling and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.” Should have let the evil bastard lie there and slowly choke to death. How ironic and synchronous would that have been?

Another Commenter: Rashad FAKED a seizure upon arrest, so I suspect. Easily enough done in the USA. Even as we speak (write to one another). Rashad is surrounded by muslim buddies in his hospital room ( a room sans crucifix mind you). Rahsad will be given an alibi by one of his muzz buds or all of his buds will testify that he had been actin’ CRAZY for weeks before he strangled his daughter. Follow the case. You’ll see. Mark my words.

JAMMIE WEARING FOOL
“You have to pay attention to the story to find the information about the country of origin.” “Of course, who are we to pass judgment on the customs of another culture and I am sure as soon as Obama is president all of this sort of stuff will stop because the world will love us. Beside law enforcement seems to have a handle on it. Sorry if you happen to be the female member of a Muslim family who loses your life at the hands of a relative to protect the honor of the family, but you can rest in comfort knowing the full weight of the American judicial system will swinging into action. Unless of course a liberal judge throws it out and sets you killer free. As they say in the Mulsim world, innshallah.”

God bless these bloggers and those who publish Comments!

I want to thank Allison Kaplan Sommer for calling this latest honor murder to my attention.

Yesterday, I wrote about how pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli propaganda managed to find its way onto a site devoted to “avoidable medical deaths in the hospital.”

Today–guess what? The same propaganda has now variously appeared higher up on the list on the first page–but so has my own blog!

I am not sure what to make of this. Did I send even more readers to the Palestine Monitor site? Did those who oppose what I wrote send even more readers to that same site?

Only the Shadow knows.

And which Arab, Muslim hospital has rushed ambulances to the streets of Jerusalem to assist the civilian victims of the Israeli Palestinian criminal terrorist who yesterday brutally mowed down four innocent souls and wounded 57 additional civilians? In a sense, this, too, is an example of an “avoidable” out-of-hospital death–just like the Palestine Monitor’s examples.

Interestingly, the Grey Lady has not carried news of this attack on its front page (it appears on pg A6) nor have they shown us any photos of the bloodied victims. They do have a photo of the bloodied murderer whom, according to the Times, an Israeli police officer finally shot to stop his rampage. The closest the Times comes to showing us the damage from an Israeli point of view is Rina Castelnuovo’s photo of a huge Israeli bus which the killer turned on its side. Their article suggests that the killer’s rampage was one of divine justice because he used the same kind of Caterpillar “construction vehicle” which Israelis use “to demolish Palestinian homes, uproot orchards and construct Jewish settlements in occupied land.”

Thus: the homes of terrorists, orchards, and new Jewish settlements are equivalent to living, breathing, and innocent human beings.

You may see some photos HERE
of the crushed cars, overturned bus, and of an Israeli rescue worker holding an infant–the very infant whose life was saved by her mother when the mother threw the child out the car window before she and the car were utterly crushed by the terrorist bulldozer.

Congratulations to Solomonia for publishing these photos.