From the German edition of The Local, Swedish and german news in the English language.
German federal prosecutors charged on Tuesday three men accused of planning attacks on US citizens and interests, including US military installations.
The three men - two German converts to Islam and a Turk - were arrested last September. They had attended training camps in Pakistan and were stockpiling chemicals to make car bombs, prosecutors had said at the time. Authorities reportedly learned of the second plot thanks to US surveillance of internet communications between Pakistan and Germany.
The alleged plotters, all in their 20s, were believed to belong to the Islamic Jihad Union, a group with links to Al-Qaida. The men had over 700 kilos (1,500 pounds) of hydrogen peroxide, the same chemical used in the 2005 attacks on London's transport system which killed 56 people, prosecutors had said, with the explosive power of 550 kilos of TNT.

From The Times
British forces completed one of their most complex and daring operations since the Second World War early this morning when they delivered a giant turbine to the Kajaki hydroelectric dam in Afghanistan's insurgency-racked southern province of Helmand.
A convoy of 100 vehicles, protected by 5,000 troops and dozens of attack helicopters and fighter jets, drove the turbine and other equipment, weighing about 220 tonnes, for five days across 100 miles of hostile territory.
The Times was granted exclusive access as it arrived at about 2.30am today, edging through British forces' Camp Zeebrugge at Kajaki in a huge cloud of dust as helicopters circled overhead and several mortars were heard landing in the distance. About 2,000 US and Canadian forces protected the convoy for the first 50 miles of its journey from the southern city of Kandahar, but 3,000 British troops handled the perilous final leg through known Taleban strongholds.
The Taleban repeatedly attacked the forces protecting the convoy, but were overwhelmed and lost more than 200 men, according to British officials. Nato forces reported only one injury — a British soldier whose pelvis was crushed under a vehicle.
It was British troops' biggest "route clearance" operation since the Second World War, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Wilson of the 23rd Engineer Regiment, who oversaw the clearing of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the route.
The 330ft dam was built in 1953 to provide electricity and irrigation for two million people living downstream on the Helmand River, but it fell into disrepair after the Soviet Union withdrew its troops in 1989.
America began to restore it in 2004, promising to repair its two existing turbines and install a third to generate a combined total of 53MW of power for the two provinces of Kandahar and Helmand — now at the centre of the insurgency and the opium trade.
One turbine was fixed in 2005, but the $100 million project ground to a halt after British troops began defending Kajaki in 2006 and found themselves encircled by the Taleban to such an extent that they could be supplied only by air.
As the insurgency intensified and spread to other parts of Afghanistan over the past two years, Kajaki became the most potent symbol of the international community's failure to live up to its pledges to re-build the country.
British officers running the operation told The Times that their biggest obstacle was security, because the road to Kajaki — Highway 611 — was largely controlled by the Taleban and was riddled with IEDs and Soviet-era mines.
So they sent a "Pathfinder" reconnaissance team to find a new route through the desert — codenamed Harriet — while appearing to make preparations along Highway 611, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Rufus MacNeil, who oversaw the engineering and logistics of the operation.
The cargo was covered in metal sheeting to disguise it as normal containers, which were covered in posters displaying verses from the Koran.
It could be at least two years before residents of Helmand and Kandahar start to receive power from the dam because new transmission lines have to be laid.
I hope they remember and appreciate the efforts made for them when the electricity does start to flow. 

On the subject of the Palin Children's "unconventional" names. At least Piper has a history in the US as a girls name - I'm thinking of the actress Piper Laurie, although her real name is the eminently more sensible Rosetta and a character in some American TV serial about witches.

So far as as a song is concerned my immediate thought was Pink Floyds first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn.  This is my second thought,  I'm The Pied Piper from Crispian St Peters. That wasn't his real name either. He was born Robin Peter Smith.  This was a hit in 1966 when Sarah Palin was aged 2.

From The Telegraph
An Italian museum that barred a Muslim tourist because she was wearing a niqab which covered her face has introduced a "veil room" so visitors can be identified. The woman, whose nationality was not disclosed, was with her husband and daughter when she was stopped by a security guard from entering Venice's Ca'Rezzonico museum.
He told her that for "security reasons" she could not be allowed in as the niqab exposed only her eyes and Italian law forbids the wearing of face-covering masks or hoods in public because of terrorism fears.
As a result of the outcry that followed the incident, Adriana Augusti, deputy superintendent of Venice Museums, has introduced veil rooms in Ca'Rezzonico as well as the Accademia and Oriental Art Galleries and the Archaeological Museum.
Veiled Muslim visitors are asked to remove their headdress in the presence of a female security guard before then being allowed to enter the gallery or museum.
Ms Augusti dismissed suggestions that the rooms were discriminatory and said: "It is all a question of security. I have given the go ahead following what happened at Ca'Rezzonico.
"It is simply a question of informing women that in Italy you cannot walk around in public with your face veiled - in these reserved rooms they are identified by a woman guard and then allowed in.
We have had no problems in the two days we have started this policy. Two women in burqas with their husbands and children waited patiently outside while their families went in because they knew they would have to take their veils off."
Nicola Spinosa, superintendent of Naples Museums, said: "If a Muslim visitor does not take off their veil to be identified then they are not allowed in. It is a state law - if I go into a mosque I have to take my shoes off so I don't see the problem in asking for identification to be checked first before being allowed in."
Cristina Acidini, superintendent of Florence's vast array of galleries and museums, which include the Uffizi, Accademia and Pitti Palace, said: "To the best of my knowledge we have never had this problem. However if a veiled visitor did arrive and refused to take it off I would suggest a quiet room to check identity and if that was not accepted then I would call the authorities."

From Religious Intelligence and The Oxford Mail
Open Doors unveiled its month-long A Call to Prayer campaign. The CEO of Open Doors UK & Ireland, Eddie Lyle, said: “Christians must make an essential distinction between Islam as an ideology and Muslims as human beings.”
Open Doors is staging an all-day event at St Aldates Church in Oxford on Sunday. Starting with an early morning prayer watch, then seminars addressing some of the challenges posed by modern-day Islam, and an evening prayer vigil and celebration incorporating worship and reflection.
Although the campaign has been originated by the Oxford-based charity which helps persecuted Christians overseas, organisers anticipate that churches throughout Britain will take part. To help them, Open Doors has prepared a resources pack which includes a DVD featuring stories about Muslims who have become Christians and a PowerPoint presentation with suggestions for prayer, together with the booklet ‘30 days of Prayer for the Muslim World’.
Mr Lyle, said: “Christians of all denominations need to ask honestly themselves, ‘How much do I care? Do I care enough to say ‘Good morning’ and to pray for Muslims people and do I care enough to reach out to them with the love of Christ?’”
The Muslim Education Centre of Oxford (Meco) accused Witney-based Open Doors UK of preaching "evangelical propaganda", after the Christian group held a Call to Prayer day in Oxford yesterday.
But Open Doors UK, which held the event at St Aldate's Church, insisted it had been taken out of context, although it "regretted" any offence that had been caused.
Meco chairman Dr Taj Hargey was invited on BBC Radio Oxford yesterday to talk about the month of Ramadan, and was followed on to Phil Mercer's show by Brother Andrew from Open Doors UK.
Dr Hargey said: "It was only then that I learned they were running a day-long Christian initiative called Call to Prayer. I was flabbergasted and straight away looked at their website. The innocent sounding publicity was headlined 'A Call to Prayer', but Open Doors goes on to call Islam an 'ideology'. I was shocked by their theological self-righteousness. They assume the self-appointed task to 'pray for Muslims'.
"They also say that each year there are incredible stories about how God answers these prayers, revealing Himself to Muslims around the world, and bringing many to faith in Jesus." 
I like the way the reporter at the Oxford Mail reports Dr Hargey’s words with the correct, old fashioned capital letter for God’s pronoun.
He added: "Not only was this evangelical activity ill-conceived and insensitive, it was grossly insulting and inflammatory to Oxford's Muslim inhabitants.  At Meco our aim is to bring people of all faiths together, not divide them further. Things like this only serve to break people apart."
A joint statement from Open Doors UK and St Aldate's Church said: "Open Doors and St Aldate's very much regret that offence has been taken by Meco at an event designed to encourage church-going Christians to engage positively with Muslims. . . At the same time we do believe that having discovered God's love in Jesus and made a choice to become Christians ourselves, everyone has the right to explore religious faiths and make decisions based on their exploration."
Dr Hargey said that while Meco had been offended, it would not hold a grudge.

I have little to add to Esmerelda's assessment here. Like her, I felt that the impact of the message was blunted by the presenter's insistence that the preaching was a Saudi or Wahhabi problem; on the contrary, those teachings on homosexuals and unbelievers are mainstream Islam. However, the programme was largely straight, factual reporting, and there were enough facts for the viewer to make his own mind up. Here's one:

"During the reign of the Late King Fahd, only from the 1970's to the mid 80's, King Fahd has spent $75 billion funding schools, madrassas, mosques, charities throughout the world.

"Official Saudi websites provide the figures. The result is some 210 Islamic Centres, wholly or partly financed by Saudi Arabia. More than 1,500 mosques and 202 colleges and almost 2000 schools in non-Islamic countries. Saudi funding has a huge effect on British Muslim life."

Islam itself is the main problem, but the "Saudi version" merits attention, not because the Saudis are uniquely extreme, but because they are dangerously rich.

One aspect which cannot be over-emphasised is that the Regent's Park Mosque, the main focus of the documentary, is the most respected mosque in Britain, supposedly a centre of moderation and interfaith dialogue. This was not some fringe mosque, where that "tiny minority of extremists" gather to practise their "hijacked" form of Islam. It's the equivalent of Westminster Abbey.

I look forward to Undercover Mosque III, IV, V and VI. Indeed I wonder how many mosques an undercover reporter could visit and find the same teachings - the teachings of Islam.

Update: the documentary can be viewed here at Jihadwatch. Some readers, there and elsewhere, have described the programme as taqiyya because of the emphasis on Saudi Wahabbism and failure to attack mainstream Islam. While this failure is disappointing, I do not think it constitutes taqiyya. Taqiyya means that Muslims are never shown in a bad light, but there was plenty of here that Muslims would not wish the public to see. As I wrote above, I think Channel 4 should infiltrate more and more mosques, so that gradually it becomes clear that Islam, not one particular sect, is the problem.

This crisis is not related to the Muslim insurgency in "restive" southern Thailand, but the chaos and confusion among the kufirs will certainly help the jihadis' strategic position.  From AP:

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok on Tuesday after a week of political tension exploded into violent street clashes between supporters and opponents of the government that left one person dead.

Under sweeping powers that give the military the right to restore order, authorities can suspend certain civil liberties, ban all public gatherings of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that "causes panic."

The military, which has staged 18 coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, said the army did not want to step into the crisis but if it had to, it would not use force against the public.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was confronted with another threat Tuesday when the Election Commission recommended his People's Power Party be disbanded for electoral fraud during December elections. Samak and other top party leaders would be banned from politics for five years if the ruling is upheld by judicial authorities, though members could form a new party and retain power by winning new elections.

[...]

The right-wing People's Alliance for Democracy accuses Samak of being too close to ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and of trying to change the constitution to help him avoid prosecution on corruption charges. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and recently fled to Britain to escape an array of corruption charges. The same group organized the massive anti-Thaksin demonstrations in 2006 that helped spark the bloodless coup.

Many of the same issues — corruption, stifling the media and the ruling party's buying votes from the rural poor with cash and other benefits — have come to dominate the protests against Samak.

The alliance and their sympathizers — a mix of royalists, the urban elite and union activists — complain that Western-style democracy with one-man, one-vote gives too much weight to Thailand's rural majority, who protesters say are susceptible to vote buying that breeds corruption. They have proposed a system under which most lawmakers would be appointed rather than elected.

Another example that we are not all the same, we do not all want the same things.  It is not true that democracy and capitalism are the inevitable destination of all cultures everywhere on the planet.  There is no "manifest destiny" that democracy will grow to cover the world, following the "Bush Doctrine".   We do not have the luxury of galavanting around the world, "saving" all nations (currently, most Islamic nations) from themselves, regardless of the effect it has on our own economy and our own safety.  We do not have the luxury of allowing uncontrolled immigration from every hostile, anti-democratic, anti-Western nation in the world.  Freedom and tolerance will always be under attack, from within and without, by fascism and hatred.  Our own freedoms are fragile, and must be carefully nurtured.  We should encourage and assist nations that are, such as perhaps Thailand, fighting to achieve or defend democracy.  We should not forcibly mandate, as in Iraq, democracy on a people who have little desire for the un-Islamic corruption of "kufirocracy."

[...]

About 500 Samak supporters marched through the streets of Bangkok after midnight vowing to retake the prime minister's office from anti-government protesters who have occupied it for the past week. Gangs armed with sticks, knives, slingshots and other makeshift weapons chased each other up and down boulevards, beating anyone they could catch. Reporters saw at least one man aiming and firing a pistol into a crowd.

The government supporters scuffled with police near the prime minister's complex, then clashed with rival protesters. One person, identified as a 55-year-old man, died from head injuries and nine others were hospitalized, at least three with gunshot wounds, the Health Ministry said.

Like Leila Abu-Lughod, this week's dozy bint believes in the "portable seclusion" of the hijab. It stops you getting raped by those with "culturally variable meanings of personhood". Put your person-hood over your face and you'll be just fine. From Europe News, with thanks to Esmerelda:

Tone Kristin Kara Ali (42) spoke last Saturday at a seminar about Islam at the Hotel Opera in Oslo. She is a Norwegian women, works as a teacher and lives as a Shia Muslim. Eight years ago she met a Shia Muslim Lebanese. Tone was Christian then, and said that was the way she will stay.

[...]

Q: What is wrong with society?

A: things don't play a role any longer. Take for example this with clothing. A 16 year old girl who dresses like she's older, goes to a disco and doesn't have full control over the possible consequences. For example rape. Could it have been avoided if people had covered themselves? I believe that the number of rapes could have been halved then. What is most important? To demand the right to dress as one wants, or is it most important to protect oneself against a dangerous situation?

Who is causing this "dangerous situation"? Jøran Kallmyr, Oslo's council for welfare and social services points out that two out of every three rapists in Oslo are of "non-Western" background. What does that mean? Could they be Asian, or North African, or Arab, or members of a trio?

Islam is a protection racket. And the veil says: "Rape someone else."

From the Investigative Project on Terrorism: 

"It's no secret newspapers are struggling financially. Virtually every week brings new reports about vast layoffs and cutbacks. There are fewer pages with fewer stories. So it's more than a little confusing to see a major metropolitan daily send a reporter halfway around the world to tell half a story.

The St. Petersburg Times on Monday offered readers just that in a heart-tugging update on Mazen Al-Najjar and his new life in Egypt.

Al-Najjar, whose sister is Sami Al-Arian's wife, was deported by the U.S. in 2002 after a five-year fight in which he was held without bond for more than four years based in part on secret evidence linking him to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Najjar's saga made news in Florida for more than five years leading up to his deportation. The Times' news stories adopted a sympathetic narrative early on, casting him as a humble, peace-loving family man caught up in an overzealous federal investigation that had little to do with him and everything to do with his brother-in-law. That continued with reporter Meg Laughlin's front-page profile of Al-Najjar's life today:

"The former University of South Florida instructor has had to overcome financial ruin, bouts of anxiety, the breakup of his family, diabetes and most recently a diagnosis of soft tissue cancer.

When Al-Najjar left Tampa on a charter jet in August 2002 headed for nobody-knew-where, he left behind more than 2,000 news stories, a documentary film on his case, and thousands of supporters who had protested his incarceration on secret evidence. The Palestinian was accused of having connections to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group."

No further mention of the PIJ is made in the story. That's par for the course, as the newspaper has yet to take an introspective look at its coverage or to fact-check the claims by Al-Najjar and his family to see how that portrayal holds up. Laughlin's story offers readers no hint that she reviewed any records or asked Al-Najjar so much as one challenging question about whether he deceived those thousands of supporters.

He did. Repeatedly. One reason Al-Najjar drew scrutiny from immigration officials was their belief that he entered into a sham marriage in 1984 in order to gain permanent U.S. residency. Al-Najjar and his relatives testified in his deportation case that the marriage was genuine and loving. Yet his first wife told officials the marriage was a favor to her boyfriend to help Al-Najjar get a green card.

"Mazen and I never lived together," she wrote, "never consummated [sic] the marriage!"

In 2000, Al-Najjar took the stand again, seeking to challenge the secret evidence and be released on bond while appealing a final deportation order. It was a convincing performance in which he denounced terrorism and the PIJ itself. "I disagree with violence," Al-Najjar said. "It is not a good part of the experience of mankind. It may be the worst part. I don't think violence is the way to solve conflict."

Since then, evidence released at Al-Arian's criminal trial shows Al-Najjar actually served on the PIJ Majlis Shura, or the terrorist group's governing board. Agents found air bills showing that Al-Najjar shipped materials to PIJ founder Fathi Shikaki in Damascus. Other evidence indicates he received a salary from the PIJ. In an April 1994 telephone call, Al-Arian and Al-Najjar express their frustration with "those from Damascus" and infighting among PIJ Shura Council members.

This set of facts doesn't fit into the Times story. Laughlin does mention that, after being deported to Lebanon, he was picked up by a sister. Unmentioned is the sister's marriage to Mohammed Tyseer Al-Khatib, the PIJ's treasurer. Federal agents intercepted dozens of telephone calls and fax transmissions showing infighting among PIJ board members over money. Al-Khatib was in the center of it.

It was Al-Khatib who sent Al-Najjar nearly $100,000 in 1992. Bank records show Al-Najjar held it, divided it into different accounts, then sent it back in February 1994. He testified he was merely holding it for his brother in law, Al-Khatib, and was fishing for a better interest rate.

But Al-Najjar returns the money to Beirut at the heart of a financial crisis that threatened the PIJ's very existence.

Laughlin does tell readers that Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to one count of conspiring to provide goods and services to a terrorist group. However, she doesn't specify that the group in question was the PIJ, or that Al-Najjar is among the group's associates Al-Arian conspired to assist.

Back in 2000, when Al-Najjar testified under oath at his bond hearing, he lied about another PIJ associate, Ramadan Shallah, the group's secretary general since 1995. Al-Najjar worked with Shallah at a Tampa think-tank called the World and Islam Studies enterprise. Four PIJ Shura Council members – Al-Arian, Al-Najjar, Shallah and Basheer Nafi – worked there.

But Al-Najjar denied knowing Shallah had any connection with the PIJ. The Tampa Tribune reported that:

"Al-Najjar said he was disappointed to learn of his former colleague's appointment. ‘He ruined his own academic career,' Al-Najjar said. ‘He was going to be a very fine academician.'"

In paragraph "m" of his plea agreement, Al-Arian admits Al-Najjar was part of cover-up about WISE's knowledge about Ramadan Shallah's true identity and role with the PIJ.

Similarly, Al-Najjar denied that the charity he helped run, the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), was in any way connected to or supportive of the PIJ. When federal officials released this video, showing a Cleveland imam referring to the charity as "the active arm" of the PIJ, Al-Najjar pleaded ignorance and said it was untrue. The imam, Fawaz Damra, cited PIJ murders in soliciting contributions.

When that video was played during Al-Arian's 2005 conspiracy trial, Laughlin described Damra as someone who "since become an advocate for dialogue and peace between Muslims and Jews." She didn't mention, or didn't even know, that Damra had been convicted in June 2004 for lying on immigration papers by failing to disclose his links in the United States including to the PIJ.

It is interesting that Times editorial writers often have proven more aggressive toward Al-Arian than their reporters. Al-Arian was acquitted of nine of the 17 charges against him in December 2005 and jurors deadlocked on the other eight counts. Al-Arian advocates cast the verdict as a full exoneration, but the Times editorialized:

"Even though Al-Arian was not convicted of supporting terrorist acts, he stands exposed for what he is - a carrier of hate. He is not just an innocent academic with unpopular views about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, as he has so often claimed, or a ‘prisoner of conscience.' The trial demonstrated that Al-Arian was deeply connected to the PIJ, which is believed responsible for more than 100 deaths in the Middle East. He was described by his own lawyers as a fundraiser for the "charitable arm of the PIJ." And Al-Arian was not blind to the group's monstrous tactics, as he was the regular recipient of faxes announcing the group's suicide bombings."

Again, readers are reminded of none of this in Laughlin's latest story. Can Times editors cite another example in which a source is exposed for having lied to them about the very issue that makes him newsworthy, yet the paper continued to cast him in a sympathetic light with no apparent challenge to anything he has to say?

Despite cutbacks, the Times remains an outstanding newspaper with talented investigative reporters. It's too bad none have been tasked with comparing the warm and fuzzy public personas with the harsher reality in the record. A story updating the life of a newsmaker can be justified, even at the expense of flying a reporter to Cairo at a time of deep cutbacks. But to achieve balance, to serve its readers, the Times should tell the whole story or nothing at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG5M2O4atLU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDGN78kS9X0

On this date, September 2nd, in 1192, King Richard I "The Lionheart" and Saladin signed the Treaty of Ramla, ending the Third Crusade.

Saladin, a Sunni Muslim from Egypt, and Sultan of Egypt and Syria, had captured Jerusalem in 1187 after a siege.  The Christians in Jersusalem were allowed to live because they threatened to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque if not given the chance to surrender and flee.

King Richard I led the Crusade to retake Jerusalem.  His army was victorious over Saladin's troops in the Battle of Arsuf, but King Richard was unable to take Jersusalem.  King Richard and Saladin shared a mutual respect during their battles;  when Richard became ill, Saladin sent an iced fruit drink as a remedy.  King Richard in turn offered to marry his sister to Saladin's brother, to forge a common alliance.  In 1192, after mass murder of prisoners on both sides, both King Richard and Saladin were forced by ill health to sign the hudna treaty, pledging to end the war for three years.

I can find no record that Richard was educated on Islamic doctrines, but in a twist, it was he who wished for the hudna, which greatly impressed Saladin.  From Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi (1864):

The King was puzzled and unaware of anything better that he could do. He demanded of Saif ad­Din, Saladin's brother, that he act as go­between and seek the best conditions be could get for a truce between them. Saif ad­Din was an uncommonly liberal man who bad been brought, in the course of many disputes, to revere the King for his singular probity.

[...]

When [the] conditions of peace had been reduced to writing and read to him, King Richard agreed to observe them, for he could not hope for anything much better, especially since he was sick, relying upon scanty support, and was not more than two miles from the enemy's station. Whoever contends that Richard should have felt otherwise about this peace agreement should know that he thereby marks himself as a perverse liar.

May it be noted that I have never contended that Richard should have felt otherwise.

Things were thus arranged in a moment of necessity. The King, whose goodness always imitated higher things and who, as the difficulties were greater, now emulated God himself, sent legates to Saladin. The legates informed Saladin in the hearing of many of his satraps [provincial governors in the Sultanate], that Richard had in fact sought this truce for a three year period so that he could go back to visit his country and so that, when he had augmented his money and his men, he could return and wrest the whole territory of Jerusalem from Saladin's grasp if, indeed, Saladin were even to consider putting up resistance. To this Saladin replied through the appointed messengers that, with his holy law and God almighty as his witnesses, he thought King Richard so pleasant, upright, magnanimous, and excellent that, if the land were to be lost in his time, he would rather have it taken into Richard's mighty power than to have it go into the hands of any other prince whom be had ever seen.

At which point the legates and satraps gave into the building latent erotic tension, and got down to some serious man-lovin'.  Okay.  I made that part up.

Previous Days in the "Religion of Peace™":

Sept 1: Beslan Massacre
Aug 29: Jihad on European Synagogues
Aug 28: Poet Laureate Baraka
Aug 27: Bombardment of Algiers
Aug 26: Sistani vs. Sadr