World Threats

The French Embassy in Tripoli was attacked early this morning by a car bomb that left the scene, located in a residential area, one of destruction with the embassy’s ground-floor reception area and neighboring homes badly damaged. Two guards and a few civilians were injured, but no fatalities were reported.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz quickly condemned the attack, while the French President called on the Libyan government to “shed the fullest light on this unacceptable attack” and deployed his own foreign minister to Tripoli who said officials from both nations would work together to find those responsible.

No groups have claimed responsibility, but it should come as no surprise that France is definitely high on terrorist target lists, as they have both assisted greatly in the overthrow of former Libyan despot Colonel Gadaffi in 2011 and more recently in the liberation of Northern Mali from Al-Qaeda aligned rebel jihadists.

This comes just seven months after the deadly September 11th assault on America’s Embassy in Benghazi, and highlights the inescapable fact that even though Libya is securer and more stable in the aftermath of Gaddafi’s overthrow, there is still a significant terrorist presence that is feeding off the arsenals used by the loyalist and rebel forces in 2011 to target both Western nations engaged in the ongoing War on Terror and their African allies.

We will update as more information becomes available.

What say you?

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is updating its 2010 study, ““Toward an Understanding of Christian-Muslim Relations,” which was prompted by “alarming anti-Muslim statements and actions.” The 2-million member church partnered with Islamist groups for the project and its website promotes U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entities as interfaith partners.

The listed advisors for the study include Naeem Baig, president of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and Farhanahz Eliz of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center, a mosque led by the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). A 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo lists ISNA and ICNA among “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” ISNA was labeled by the government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial and U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

Ten years ago today the City of Baghdad was liberated by U.S. forces just weeks into our war to topple Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein and the mighty bronze statue that represented his dark reign fell to citizens, with the help of U.S. Marines, and held power through fear no longer.

Ten years later the Cradle of Civilization faces difficulties of being a free and sovereign nation, with three ethnic groups deeply divided and not trusting the others, while dealing with the universal issues of poverty and government corruption, but if it wasn’t for the fall of Saddam at America’s hands…

… All of which a free and independent Iraq has to deal with would be entirely moot.

After Bassem Youssef, known as the Egyptian version of political satirist Jon Stewart, was arrested and released on bail, he vowed to “take it through the roof.” He parodied a song to mock Qatar, the U.S. “ally” that is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Youssef now faces new charges of “spreading atheism,” “insulting Pakistan” and denigrating Islam.

Youssef took the song, “My Beloved Homeland,” and changed it to be about Qatar and its pro-Brotherhood role in Egypt.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

A moderately powerful earthquake has struck near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. The 6.2 quake has reportedly killed three people and comes as Iran declares itself a nuclear power.

The Russian contractor which built the Bushehr plant says it has not been affected by the earthquake, says Russian news agency Interfax.

Staff at the complex felt the jolts but continue to work as usual, while radiation levels have not changed, an unnamed Atomstroyexport official told Interfax.

The Irshad Islamic Center (ILC), established in 2000 in greater Chicago, has finished a three-year struggle where the Zoning Board of Appeals twice voted against approving the mosque. A judge reversed the decision, approving the use of a building purchased by the organization. The ILC has received funding from the Alavi Foundation, which has been accused of being an Iranian government front.

In 2009, federal prosecutors accused the Iranian government of using the Alavi Foundation to channel funds to its Bank Melli, an institution subject to international sanctions because of its links to Iran’s nuclear program.  Its president, Farshid Jahedi, was indicted for destroying evidence needed by a grand jury. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigations chief, Adam Kaufmann, said, “We found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation.”

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The Muslim Brotherhood is enraged at the U.S. government for criticizing the Egyptian government’s arrest of political activists and popular comedian Bassem Youssef. It fired off a series of angry tweets and warned the U.S. that it looks anti-Islamic, playing the “Islamophobia” card that Islamist groups have long used to discredit their opponents.

As we reported yesterday, Youssef was arrested and released on bail for criticizing President Morsi, inciting the public and allegedly insulting Islam, even though he himself is a Muslim. Youssef is voicing a defiant tone, vowing to “take it to even higher levels, we’re going to take it through the roof.”

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The Muslim Brotherhood-led Egyptian government has arrested six of its most prominent opponents, including popular comedian Bassem Youssef that is known as the Egyptian counterpart of Jon Stewart. The political persecution follows the formation of Islamist militias, new actions to control the media and President Morsi’s threat to prosecute opposition leaders.

Youssef’s popularity in Egypt is immense, making him one of the most influential media figures in the country. His mockery of political figures, especially President Morsi and Islamists, has struck a chord. About 250,000 people try to get tickets every single week to the filming of his show.

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Egyptian Women’s Day was marked with an assault on a female demonstrator by a Muslim Brotherhood member, reports the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights. It reported that the attacker slapped the woman so violently that she was knocked to the ground. According to the report, the attacker belonged to “one of [the] irregulars’ militia” of the Brotherhood and that nearby reporters were also assaulted.

The organization said that it is a “continuation of the systematic violence against women in general and the male and female activists and media professionals in particular.”

The news comes as the White House publicly condemned the “sexual violence including gang rape” directed towards anti-Islamist demonstrators and called on the Egyptian government to do more to protect them.

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Last Friday, Islamists took over the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque in Cairo and turned it into a torture house for anti-Muslim Brotherhood protesters. One Coptic Christian victim, Amir Ayad, almost died. This comes shortly after RadicalIslam.org’s report about the formation of Islamist militias to crack down on the opposition.

Mosque officials said that “members of the Islamist current” forcibly took over their facility after Friday prayers. They condemned the violence and the use of mosques for political matters. Similarly, the imam of Al-Kabir Mosque in Sharqiya said he was assaulted because he refused to preach in support of a “certain current” and that other imams are also being pressured.

Amir Ayad said he was detained and transported from the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters to the seized mosque and beaten with sticks for hours. He saw other protesters, Christian and Muslim, also being abused. Ayad was abandoned by his torturers as he barely held onto his life. His life was saved when his brother received an anonymous phone call and brought him to an ambulance.

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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s apology to Turkey for the deaths of its citizens during the 2010 flotilla raid misses the point. The tension with Turkey was never really about the operation. It was about making Israel bow to Turkey, crowning Prime Minister Erdogan as the new king of the Islamists.

“Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear prime minister, we are grateful that you let our country experience this pride,” says billboards that have been set up in Ankara celebrating the Israeli apology.

The actions taken by the Turkish government since Netanyahu’s apology show that its goal is submission, not reconciliation.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Azhar University want to shake hands with the new Pope Francis. One of the first pledges he has made is to embrace interfaith dialogue with the Muslim world. Will he become the latest dupe of the “moderate” Islamists?

Pope Francis is a critic of Pope Benedict’s 2006 speech in Germany where he quoted a Byzantine Emperor that said “show me just what Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Click here to read my entire article.

Not straight from the horses mouth, the United States is still waiting to announce that it has been arming the secular branch of Syria’s rebel movement. This comes after the US had been giving humanitarian aid to opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Still, it is apparent that the US is training rebels in Jordan:

Let me be very clear. The United States military is not conducting training of the Syrian opposition,” Little said. “We are working closely with our Jordanian partners on training. But no element of the United States military is involved in training Syrian opposition groups.”

CBS News’ Cami McCormick reports that Little would not say what type of training is being conducted with the Jordanian military but he said the U.S. has been involved in joint planning with the Jordanians on a range of Syria contingencies “but that is different from the U.S. military training the Syrian opposition.”

Protests against the Muslim Brotherhood continue to rock Egypt without a word being said from the White House. Now, the Brotherhood and allied Islamists are taking a cue from their Shiite counterparts in Tehran and have announced they are setting up a civilian force with the power to arrest those they deem to be criminals.

The Muslim Brotherhood first hinted at setting up a militia on December 16 when Vice Chairman Essam Erian of its Freedom and Justice Party said it needed defenses in the wake of clashes. “They would have defended themselves in front of the presidential palace and killed the other [anti-Brotherhood] protesters,” he said.  At around the same time, Jama’a al-Islamiya threatened to set up a pro-Brotherhood militia to “protect private and public property and counter the aggression on innocent citizens.”

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The UN is looking into whether regime or rebel forces used chemical weapons later this week, although it appears more doubtful.

The UN probe will start as soon as possible to review the allegations by Bashar al-Assad’s government that rebels fired a missile on March 19 that released a thick cloud of chemical smoke in the Khan al-Assal area of Aleppo province, Ban announced today at UN headquarters in New York. The opposition says government forces were responsible.