Buying Time on Iran

A new book by an Israeli journalist is generating a lot of discussion about Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, and U.S. and Israeli attempts to block them.

Eli Lake in the New York Sun today cites examples in Ronen Bergman's The Secret War with Iran of how Western sabotage efforts have slowed, but not stopped, Iran's progress.

For example, "specialized computers sold to Iran for its nuclear laboratories contained viruses that sabotaged the code," Lake writes. He also cites a series of mysterious explosions and plane crashes killing key players in the Iranian program.

It's an updated English translation of Bergman's book, The Point of No Return, which

was Israel's best selling non-fiction book last year.

Still, Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz writes that Iran is moving forward, and set up its reactors in a way that makes it difficult for a military strike to succeed:

"The latest information, according to Bergman's Mossad sources, is that some 3,000 centrifuges, in 18 cascades, are now enriching uranium, ‘under great technical difficulties,' at Natanz. Nearby, the Iranians are building a plant to hold another 30,000 to 50,000 centrifuges - and building it underground to ensure no repeat of Israel's successful raid on Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak. Already, Natanz is protected by no fewer than 26 anti-aircraft missile batteries, and this and other of its nuclear facilities, he writes (despite others' claims to the contrary), already have the advanced Russian-made S-300 missiles among their defenses."

Despite the successes, Horovitz sums up the situation in his article's headline: "A losing battle, so far."

Giving Voice to True Moderates

Picking up on Zuhdi Jasser's point from Thursday, FOX News has this story spotlighting efforts by American Muslims to build a platform reflecting the truly moderate views of their communities.

Jasser formed the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. The FOX story also cites the Free Muslim Coalition and International Quranic Center as examples of Muslim voices tackling extremism head-on.

The story quotes American Islamic Congress (slogan: "Passionate About Moderation") founder Zainab Al-Suwaij saying there's no wiggle room "for radicalism and extremism and terrorism." His organization makes that point in a campaign called "No Buts."

Visit their sites and see the contrast they offer to the self-appointed national organizations.

MPAC and 9/11: Now and Then

MPAC, September 11, 2008:

On this seventh anniversary of 9/11, the Muslim Public Affairs Council pauses to solemnly remember and honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the ghastly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Each year, Americans turn their eyes to Ground Zero, where our nation's leaders join the survivors and families of those killed in the attacks to remember all the victims and to reflect on how the events of that day have changed the world so profoundly.

For Muslim Americans, the past seven years have highlighted their critical role in the ideological struggle against extremism and terrorism. Bad theology can only be countered with good theology, and education is a responsibility that each individual carries.

MPAC and the Muslim American community remain committed to working with our elected officials and law enforcement to make America safer. MPAC is also proud of the countless ways in which Muslim Americans across the country have actively and sincerely built partnerships with diverse religious, racial and political groups to foster greater inclusion and opportunities for meaningful dialogue among diverse communities.

MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati, September 2001:*

"If we're going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies."

* Larry Stammer, "After the Attack: Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Newly Tested," The Los Angeles Times, September 22, 2001.

Echoing Jasser on 9/11

Columnist Diana West looks at the seventh anniversary of Al Qaeda's attacks on America and wonders how some of our response has been backward:

Blame ignorance, blame cowardice: The strangest effect of 9/11 has been, on balance, an accelerated campaign of accommodation of Islam's law in the West, a campaign boosted across the globe by the jihadist attacks of 3/11 (Madrid 2004) and 7/7 (London 2005) and many, many others. Paradoxically, such fast-track accommodation has occurred even as any and all connection between jihadist acts and Islam -- specifically Islamic war doctrine -- have been emphatically ruled out by our leaders, both civilian and military. It's not that they have disproven the connection. Worse, they have chosen to ignore it.

Missing 9/11's Teachable Moment

As Americans pause today to remember the dead and devastated from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, our friend M. Zuhdi Jasser laments the country's failure to examine the ideological causes for the attacks and to teach our children about them.

Jasser, a physician, retired Navy officer and devoted Muslim, writes in the National Review Online that hypersensitivity has stopped the country from closely examining Islamism:

"In short, ‘political Islam' is a belief that Muslims have both a duty and obligation to promote the public application of their interpretation of sharia, and where possible, establish Islamic states. Terrorists do this by any means necessary; non-violent Islamists do it through patient advocacy and slow societal change."

But you won't see that in textbooks, he said, noting that even the U.S. government is avoiding "Islam, Islamism, salafism and jihad, all but stifling any discourse on or analysis of the influence of radical Islamism upon the very terrorists we are fighting."

We ignore the roots of extremism and the terrorist threat, along with any discussion of the movements and governments fomenting them. Jasser argues that we hear instead from "self-serving representatives of the Muslim community who are apologists for Islamism — who exaggerate victimology, and minimize radicalism and the need for reform."

Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy to counter those voices.

An International Attack on Free Speech

It is one of the world's great religions, with more followers than any other. But in an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal, attorney Elizabeth Samson shows how those seeking to defend Islam are taking a disturbing path.

Jordan's attempt to prosecute a dozen Europeans, including parliamentarian/filmmaker Geert Wilders and the editors of Danish newspapers that published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed, for blasphemy and demeaning Islam is the latest in a series of attempts to criminalize criticism of the faith, even when it is about its most radical adherents, Samson writes.

She cites two United Nations actions – a General Assembly resolution on "Combating Defamation of Religions" which names only Islam; and a Human Rights Council decision to abstain from criticizing human rights abuses tied to religious practices.

The Jordanian case invokes a law passed in the wake of the Danish cartoons and is not limited to writings or speech made in Jordan itself. Neither Denmark nor the Netherlands are heeding Jordan's calls to arrest the suspects. Samson challenges the free world to speak in a loud voice condemning the very idea of these prosecutions:

"Unless democratic countries stand up to this challenge to free speech, other nations may be emboldened to follow the Jordanian example. Kangaroo courts across the globe will be ready to charge free people with obscure violations of other societies' norms and customs, and send Interpol to bring them to stand trial in frivolous litigation."

Friday Prayers to Continue at Minnesota Charter School

Katherine Kersten in the Minneapolis Star Tribune has an update the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy – a taxpayer-financed charter school that is under scrutiny for possibly crossing the line on religious programming for public school students.

The Academy, run by a local imam, is housed in the same building as the Muslim Brotherhood-tied Muslim American Society. Officials there plan to continue holding Friday prayers on campus despite a finding by state education officials in May that those prayers were illegal:

"We wanted TiZA to do Friday prayers the way all other public schools" handle similar activities -- "as release time, under state law," said [Deputy Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Chas] Anderson. In a release-time arrangement, students move off-site for religious activities.

But TiZA said no, according to Anderson. Instead, the school will continue to hold Friday prayer on its premises. Students will lead prayer and staff will be present only "to ensure student safety," said Zaman in a letter to the MDE.

Kersten raises a good point: "But imagine the reaction if prayer time -- reflecting only one faith -- were built into the schedule at, say, Stillwater Junior High."

Shielding Truth From Power

Two reports out of London question how accurately the British Broadcasting Corporation represents the country's Muslim population.

First, Sikh and Hindu leaders in Britain complain that their communities are ignored as the network panders to Islam. A study by the network's Religion and Ethics department found the BBC produced 41 programs in Islam since 2001, compared to five on Hinduism and one focusing on Sikhism.

More disturbing is this report from Nick Cohen of London's Standpoint Magazine, that the BBC killed "The London Bombers," described as a heavily researched docu-drama on the 7/7 bombings that killed 52 people in 2005.

A team of reporters, including one who is Muslim, researched the program. It found that the London bombers were motivated more by a desire to promote a form of radical Islam than by any perceived slight or government policy at home and abroad. The reporting team won the cooperation and endorsement of the bombers' families. But, after their reporting was done, BBC officials pulled the plug on the program.

Cohen reports:

"The official reason is that the drama didn't make the grade. The script is circulating in Samizdat form, which is how it reached Standpoint, and every writer and director who has read it disagrees. The journalists, however, say that BBC managers told them they were stopping because it was ‘Islamophobic'.

Eh? The defining characteristic of Islamophobic prejudice is the belief that all Muslims are potential terrorists, and yet here, apparently, is the BBC seconding that motion by arguing that a dramatic examination of terrorism would be offensive to all Muslims."

Here's the link again. After seeing The Jewel of Medina lose its original publisher, it is another example in a disturbing trend of self-imposed censorship.

Jewel of Medina Finds New Publisher in U.S. and England

*Updated Sept. 5, 3:45 p.m.

A good week for author Sherry Jones continues, as Beaufort Books signs her to a two-book deal that releases The Jewel of Medina in the United States next month. A sequel is scheduled for release a year later.

In a statement, Jones praised Beaufort as "an independent publisher with gumption and verve that would treat me as a partner in the publishing process, and that wouldn't be spooked by controversy, recognizing it as a stimulus for discussion of my books' themes of women's empowerment, peace, and hope."

Earlier this week, London-based Gibson Square issued a statement announcing it will publish Jones' novel about Aisha, the child bride of the Prophet Mohammed.

Random House had rights to the book in the United States and internationally, but withdrew from the deal citing concerns it could trigger a violent reaction "by a small, radical segment."

If Gibson Square shares those concerns, it didn't faze the publishing house, which also has published Blowing up Russia by Alexander Litvinenko, a dissident KGB agent murdered with radioactive polonium 210, and Craig Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud.

'I was completely bowled over by the novel and the moving love story it portrays," publisher Martin Rynja said in a statement. He plans to release The Jewel of Medina in October.

'I immediately felt that it was imperative to publish it. In an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear. As an independent publishing company, we feel strongly that we should not be afraid of the consequences of debate. If a novel of quality and skill that casts light on a beautiful subject we know too little of in the West, but have a genuine interest in, cannot be published here, it would truly mean that the clock has been turned back to the dark ages. The Jewel of Medina has become an important barometer of our time. The love story is somewhat known in the Muslim world but entirely unknown to Western readers, but should be.' Rynja said.

Al-Arian Bonds Out

Sami Al-Arian reportedly walked out of a jail cell Tuesday for the first time since February 2003 after the Department of Homeland Security decided not to contest his attorneys' latest efforts to secure his freedom.

Al-Arian faces two counts of criminal contempt in an indictment issued in June for his refusal to testify before a federal grand jury investigating terror financing by a Virginia think tank. His trial, originally scheduled for Aug. 13, was postponed indefinitely by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, pending the outcome of an appeal submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Al-Arian argues that his 2006 guilty plea to conspiring to provide goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) ruled out any "cooperation" with federal prosecutors. Prosecutors argue a grand jury subpoena is compelled testimony, not voluntary, and that there is no language in the plea agreement concerning cooperation or any promises not to seek any.

You can read more about the case here and here.

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