Going dark for a spell.

Traveling without my pc.

(still in the shop after that bubbly spill)

Hope to be back fighting the Islamofascist Jihad after Halloween.

Boo!

The veil and the school bus crash

The veil and the school bus crash

The driver of the Calgary school bus that crashed and killed a kid was wearing some sort of veil. I don't know if it was a Muslim hijab, an Eastern European baboushka, or just a hoodie. I don't know because not a single one of the news reporters on the scene bothered to ask.

To me, it's obvious why: because the subject matter clearly touches on the debate about "reasonable accommodation" and how far we're willing to let Muslim culture trump Canadian culture, when the two clash. I submit to you that they clash when it comes to wearing something that blocks a school bus driver's peripheral vision. I would say the same thing about any other religious appurtenance that interfered with driving.

Here's my Sun column on the subject.

I've had a few responses so far, split between those who are appalled that I would even ask such questions, and those who are appalled that the rest of the media hasn't asked them.

It seems obvious to me that unimpaired vision is a "bona fide occupation requirement" -- legal jargon for an important job criterion that trumps political correctness. It's the same reason we "discriminate" against blind people by not letting them drive, either.

For those who say we should eliminate clear vision as a criterion for school bus driving, and allow hijabs, I'd ask:
1. Are there any limits at all? Such as the full niqab -- the one-woman-prison, often with the mesh in front of the eyes? and...

2. Do you mind if we try out such one-way multicultural experiments on your kids, and no-one else's?

Islamofascism Awareness Week - George Mason U

Not a peep about Islamofascism Awareness Week at GMU'S online fishwrap, The Broadside. I did find Ten Songs About Getting it on and Students, Staffers Silent on "Thirsty Thursday" Event (beer pong for dem POTUS candidates?)

And don't forget this...
Gun Holster Protest During this week, Oct. 22-26, college students throughout America, organized under the banner of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and campus policies that licensed citizens to carry concealed handguns on campus. Mason chapter leader for SCCC Andrew Dysart has appeared on numerous media outlets, including MSNBC and CNN, advocating the rights of certified and and law-abiding citizens who wish to be able to defend themselves as well as others. He has cited the shooting at VirginiaTech last spring as an example for why students feel the need to carry a concealed weapon while on campus.

Islamofascism Awareness Week at UNC-Chapel Hill

Excellent reportage from the Daily Tar Heel: Week Examines Radical Islam (again, you will notice no mention of Islamofascism in the title.)

At an event Monday, Capt. Joel Arends discussed the War on Terror and the enemies that U.S. troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those enemies have an agenda that is rooted in radical Islam, he told an audience of about 50 people in Murphey Hall.

Being a roundball fan - I found this interesting.

Arends also has a unique connection to the University.While he was stationed in Baghdad, his unit captured a terrorist who claimed to be a UNC professor, he said."The man questioned went into depth and detail about UNC basketball, players and statistics," Arends said.But Arends said he advised caution when determining the validity of the man's claims. "The power of American culture and Michael Jordan are far-reaching," he said.

No massive demonstrations but it sure looks like massive rationalizations abound in the UNC-CH MSA:

...But some leaders of the Muslim Students Association said they do not believe the events are the best way to tackle the topic."We denounce any sort of radicalism," said Arif Khan, president of MSA. "However, we don't think it is a positive way to bring about dialogue by discussing the negative aspects of a certain group."

But junior Ola Mohamed, who attended, did not agree with Arends' link between Islam and fascism. "Islam is a religion, and fascism is a political movement, so I don't see a connection," she said...

...Khan said it is important to understand that a radical is anyone who takes the religion and individualizes it to serve his or her own interests. "Radicals are a part of every religion, not just Islam."...

(I get so weary of this "radicals are part of every religion" excuse - perhaps, dear child, but Islam is the only one blowing sh*& up!)

Islamofascism Awareness Week at U of W - Madison

From the Badger Herald: Horowitz rips left, defends war. (Gee, nothing about Islamofascism at all in the headline...) Horowitz sounded like he was on fire!

“If Arabs in the Middle East disarm, there will be peace. If Jews in the Middle East disarm, there will be genocide,” he added.

And the moonbats were thick on the ground (key word there - thick). Listen to this one:

“[Horowitz] is a suspect in mass murder and high treason, and needs to be confronted to tell the truth and force him to defend his ridiculous racist views,” Barrett said in a later interview with The Badger Herald.

I especially loved this part:

Barrett, who was booed by the crowd after he interrupted the speech, left the Memorial Union Theater shortly thereafter in the midst of a popular UW football tradition — the “asshole” chant.

Anti-gay? What do they call this?

Before the lecture, dozens of UW students protested Horowitz’s visit, wearing green shirts to encourage unity amidst their cause and chanting “Racist, fascist, anti-gay, right-wing bigot go away.”

Islamofascism Awareness Week at Tulane

Nothing about IAW in the online edition of The Hullabaloo, Tulane's student rag yet (too many beer bongs last night, I guess), but there is this piece up by Elizabeth McNamara and Lauren Noel entitled:

"Pundit a poot decision for Tulane/Every voice should have a chance"

(How about using spellcheck ladies?)

One word: Dreck.

This part was particularly telling:

I sincerely hope that on her deathbed Ann Coulter tells us that her entire life has been a performance art piece entitled "How Ridiculous Can a Pundit Be Without Getting Shot in the Face."

And how about this?

Or I can pregame the speech and see if I can projectile vomit on her. We'll see which I choose.

Veils or bombs: School daze in Pakistan

You see all the useful idiotas trying to disrupt Islamofascism Awareness week and then you see this... Girls avoid schools as deadline expires.

The attendance girls' schools in a town in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province dropped drastically on Monday after a deadline set by local militants ended on Sunday. They had made it ‘mandatory’ for girls to wear the burqa or full veil to school.

The Pakistani daily Dawn contacted some of the students who said they belonged to poor families and did not have enough money to buy or sew burqas, which cost between 600 and 800 rupees (about 9-13 US dollars) a piece. They said that under the circumstances, the only option they had was to abandon their education.

Local militants, who call themselves ‘Janbaz Taliban’, have been sending letters to educational institutions for girls, including the Girls’ Degree College in Dargai, about 100 kilometres north of the provincial capital Peshawar.

The letters warn the school and college administrations to direct their students to completely cover themselves by wearing the traditional head-to-toe burqa.

They had stated that institutions whose students failed to follow their ‘orders’, would be blown up.

The radicals had also ‘directed’ girls to avoid sitting in the front portions of vehicles with drivers while coming and going from schools or colleges.

Islamofascism Awareness Week at Berkeley

Live blogged by California Patriot. Pics too.

“Did you know that in the Muslim marriage contract, it has three spaces for the man to fill with his other wives and their addresses”. “The man does not vow loyalty to his wife…the marriage contract itself asks the girl to list if she is a virgin”

From the Daily Californian

Islamofascism Awareness Week at DePaul U

Islamofascism Awareness Week - an update from the DePaul event can be found here over at Freedom Folks. Scroll down for pics and vid.

There's a smattering of hijab clad girls scattered throughout the audience. All I could think about was this - if they were in an Islamic country they wouldn't be in the audience sitting next to the menfolk. They'd be jammed in a room somewhere in the basement listening to an audio feed.

Lucky muslimas - they don't know how good they have it. You'd think they'd have a clue.

OK rep: "most Oklahomans do not endorse the killing of innocent women and children in the name of ideology."

Refuses Koran, did accept Bible.

"Mine is proudly on my desk on the Capitol and I don't think I ever read a part of it that condones the killing of women and children in furtherance of God's word," Duncan said. "It's one of the nicest things I've received in my three years in the Legislature."

Did the Persian Pipsqueak cut his vs to Armenia short

due to the "domestic political situation and talks in Rome"?

TEHRAN (Thomson Financial) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied having cut short a visit to Armenia amid negotiations in Rome on Iran's nuclear programme, on his return home from Yerevan today.

'The trip to Armenia took longer than what was scheduled before,' Ahmadinejad said quoted by the state news agency IRNA, contradicting reports from Armenia.

'This trip was due to last 22 hours but because of some visits, it became one hour and half longer than the schedule,' he said at Tehran airport, adding that the two neighbouring states were determined to boost ties and cooperation.

A diplomatic source in Yerevan told Agence France-Presse earlier that Ahmadinejad had cut short a two-day visit to Armenia due to the domestic political situation and the key talks on the Iranian nuclear issue in Rome.

Nonie Darwish speaks

Read about the way Nonie Darwish was treated at Wellesley last week.

Were her detractors Hamas trained?
(h/t Gateway Pundit)

...Darwish had first been asked to speak about Muslim women who live under Muslim religious law. Then, at the last minute, Hillel had asked her to talk about something, anything else—about Israel, not about Islam. Apparently, the female Muslim chaplain on campus had warned the Hillel students not to allow Darwish to “say anything bad about Islam.” One must not expose Islam’s long record of gender and religious apartheid and if one does, one is treated as a traitor and a liar and silenced in violent ways.

…Darwish concludes: “Muslim girls like these are like gangsters. They know more about their rights in America than the Jewish girls do. The Muslim girls all have a chip on their shoulders.”

And then she is silent. Softly, she says: “We are fighting an avalanche. We are too few. I am frightened by my culture of origin. I am scared of my own people.”

Security Council "strongly condemns Paki bombings"

Read it if you feel you must - although really, what's the point? The bombings were on Thursday. Here it is Monday and the UN is just getting around to this now?

Well, I'll be - It looks like the Dems do support the jihad after all.

The Hillary-Soros team joins the attack on Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week by David Horowitz

Campus Progress, which is the baby farm of the Center for American Progress, an operation created by George Soros and Hillary Clinton and run by Bill Clinton's former chief of staff John Podesta, has put up a "kit" for attacking Islamo Fascism Awareness Week.

In doing so these so-called progressives have joined an array of leftwing organizations that include the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots -- the Muslim Students Association, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society (MAS)and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The agenda of this alliance led by the supporters of the jihad is to shut down discussion of the terrorist threat posed by the jihad and radical Islam by conducting a nationwide witch-hunt of alleged "bigots."

The heart of this campaign is an attempt to conflate an attack on Islamo-fascists with an attack on Islam. This is like saying an attack on "German fascism" is an attack on all Germans and therefore bigoted, or the term "white racism" cannot be used because it is an attack on all whites and therefore racist.

The campaign of this leftwing coalition is a mobile lynch party whose weapons are character assassination and very big lies. For example I am described as a "racist" in their literature -- which is the standard label applied to anyone who disagrees with the left. It is claimed that I have said that slavery was good for blacks during my campaign against a proposal to have people who were not slaveowners pay reparations to people who were not slaves, and to do so 137 years after slavery was abolished. No quotations by me to support such nonsense are supplied of course, since I have never supported slavery for anyone. What I said in my article about reparations can be read here.

It is also claimed that I have said that blacks alive today and blacks who were not slaves benefited from slavery. Another big lie. What I actually wrote was that proponents of reparations claimed that all American wealth is based on slavery, a fact which in their eyes justified reparations. I said, if this were true -- and it is probably not -- then by the reparations proponents' own logic all free blacks and blacks alive today who share in America's wealth would have benefited from slavery. This is obviously the opposite what of these malicious detractors claim I said.

You will look in vain for a statement from me that slavery increased America's economic wealth let alone that is responsible for it. That is an argument that only leftists make. These are part of the tissue of lies concocted by Campus Progress and other groups who think that George Bush is responsible for the war on terror and the terrorists are just desperate oppressed people who want to be free.

The little lies all add up to one big lie -- which is that Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is an attack on Muslims. It is not. It is a defense of those Muslims who are being murdered by the Islamo-fascists. It is a defense of freedom, something Campus Progress and the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Muslim Students Association appear to be incapable of comprehending.

Meanwhile I was invited to conduct an online chat with respondents all over the world by the Muslim website IslamOnline, which is based in Cairo. IslamOnline proved to be gracious hosts and you can read what I actually believe about Muslims here.

Philippines: Islamic Militants to blame for blast

The headline says: Islamic Militants to blame for mall blast...but you probably thought that already, no?

Did you know they were former Christians who were converts to Islam? That appears to be the current line of thinking.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has not indicated who they believe is behind the attack, but Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP public information chief, has been quoted as saying that the Rajah Solaiman Movement has the capability to launch such attacks in Manila. The US state department lists the RSM as a Islamic extremist group comprising Christian converts to Islam, many of whom embraced extremist Islamic ideology while working in the Middle East. It promotes the use of violence and terrorism against Philippino Christians and Westerners, with the aim of turning the Philippines into an Islamic state.

New OBL tape.

Does everything but sing Kum bah yah.

Urges Muslim unity

...those setbacks in Anbar must be a problem.

The lowdown on Iran's new Nuke Czar

And it's not looking good. Iran's New Nuclear Negotiator has Messianic ties...

The increasing presence of messianics and their allies in high ranking positions inside the Iranian government will make it much more difficult for Western governments to believe that Iran’s leadership will at any point in the near future be ready to find a negotiated settlement for the current crisis.

At least there's this.

Judge rules Muslim dowries unenforcable by Ohio law

A Franklin County judge ruled that a man does not have to pay his former wife $25,000, promised as part of a dowry before their traditional Muslim marriage.

The judge says the payment is part of a religious agreement, not a legal contract.
The decision is the first of its kind in Ohio, and a departure from rulings in other states, which have enforced dowries as part of Islamic marriage contracts.

Columbus imam Mouhamed Tarazi says the dowry is part of the marriage contract signed by both the bride and groom before a wedding.

Tarazi called the dowry a security for the brides, who often do not work outside the home and will be unlikely to marry again after a divorce. (ed. note: Now why is that do you suppose? Hmmm?)

A mistrial!

Oh for crying out loud.

PKK to declare cease fire against the Turks?

that's the report over at Bloomberg. Note the use of the MAY word...

Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, may announce a unilateral cease-fire in their conflict with Turkey, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

The PKK, whose members have sheltered in northern Iraq, may make the announcement "soon,'' Talabani said today in remarks made on Turkish television and carried on the Web site of his party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Speaking of the Persian Pipsqueak...

His economic reforms? Not so hot.

More People Fall below Poverty Line.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--Welfare and Social Security Minister Abdolreza Mesri said on Sunday the number of people living below the absolute poverty line has increased by 7.5 percent.

Iran's Nuclear Policy Decisions?

Forget Larijani and his latest replacement, Jalili. Ahmadinejad? Nope. The decisions are coming straight from the top...that's right the Poobah Supremo, Ayatollah Khameini is the one with the finger on the button.

A prominent lawmaker said Iran’s nuclear policies are made by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Head of Majlis Commission for National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi made the remark a day after the resignation of Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, in an interview with IRNA on Sunday.“The SNSC is a body that executes leader’s directives and should have enough authority to implement the leader’s policies,“ he said.The MP reiterated that the leader has the final word on sensitive issues, especially those related to the nuclear debate.

UN probes into Pakistan's radical mosque operation

UN probes into Pakistan's radical mosque operation - saw this headline and thought - finally, the UN is going to investigate the radical Islamists of the Red Mosque.

I was so wrong - silly me. What could I have been thinking? It is the UN after all.

The United Nations has initiated an inquiry into alleged human rights violations in a security operation against a radical mosque in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, media reports said Monday.

The UN rapporteur on extra-judicial or arbitrary executions Philip Alston recently sent a six-point questionnaire to the country's permanent representative at the international organization, Masood Khan, seeking explanation of the July 10 operation at the Red Mosque that killed 102 people, said the Daily Times newspaper citing sources.

'Did the Pakistani government or security forces' engagement with the mosque supporters comply with the international human rights laws?' Alton asked.

The UN rapporteur on extra-judicial or arbitrary executions? How would you like that on your business card?

Muslim concert for Darfur

I wonder, will the sexes co-mingle or will there be a special wimmen only section?

A Muslim aid concert to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's long-running Darfur conflict will be held at London's Wembley Arena on Sunday. The organisers are expecting more than 10,000 people to attend the concert. The main attraction at the concert is 27-year-old singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf, a Briton of Azerbaijani origin, whose songs are mostly about Islam and being a Muslim, along with hip-hop band Outlandish, Texan country and Western singer Kareem Salama, hip-hop band The Sound of Reason and musician Hamza Robertson.The concert organised by Islamic Relief, a charity organisation, has been inspired by the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts which drew global attention to famine and poverty in Africa, according to Islamic Relief director Jehangir Malik.

In other Islamic charity news - HOLY LAND FOUNDATION VERDICT TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY.

The Ummah Hearts Ron Paul

(h/t LGF)

If there has ever been a more a suitable Presidential candidate for Muslims and Americans, it's Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Erdogan: Dems fired a bullet at Turkey...

More trash talking here. Turkish PM warns US: We will attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

He accused the Democrat-controlled foreign affairs committee of “firing a bullet” at US-Turkish relations by approving the “so-called Armenian genocide Bill”. “America might lose a very important friend,” he said.

Iraq says they are going to step up, although this kidnapping business is troubling.

Iraq's government said on Sunday it was taking important steps to end what it called the "terrorist actions" of Kurdish rebels who use its mountainous north as a base for attacks on neighbouring Turkey.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held urgent talks with his national security team after rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers and Turkey shelled northern Iraq.

The PKK said they had taken several soldiers hostage.

The prime minister's office said in a statement Iraq condemned the PKK. It said Iraq would work to secure the release of the hostages, although the rebels said they were not held in Iraq.

Where are they?

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

The calendar of events and speakers can be found here.

David Horowitz speaks out about the lefties and why they find the term "Islamofascism" so offensive in "Vocabulary of War"

Want a taste of the reaction to David Horowitz's Princeton presentation from last week? Get out the hip boots - it's pure lefty happy horseshit...

There's this from the Daily Princetonian who is upset that global warming (!) wasn't addressed:

Interestingly enough, Horowitz' lecture said almost nothing about global warming and instead focused on a diatribe against various ethnic, political and religious groups from Democrats to Middle Eastern governments, from African-Americans to Muslims of any nationality. Among his outrageous claims was the statement that the majority of racism in America is aimed against white students attending universities like Princeton, an assertion he attempted to support by referencing last year's controversy involving the Duke lacrosse team. Perhaps the most malicious comments made by Horowitz, however, were those directed at Muslims. He persistently connected the religion of over 1.5 billion people to fascism, lumping together a diverse array of ethnic and political groups by using terms such as "Islamic Nazis," "barbarians" and "Islamo-fascism." Even more disturbingly, Horowitz made the claim that groups like al Qaeda and Hamas are comparable to American organizations such as CAIR and the MSA.

He's called a racist here. Then there's this: A Nazi Mind with a Jewish face.

It looks like we have our work cut out for us...(I wonder if this is what it was like back in the 30's?)

NZ Terror arrest: Perp claims it was all just a wind up.

Mommy Moonbat protests the arrests. Dinah wants to call the fashion police on her.

Wind up or no, I hope they wind them up, toss them in the clink and throw away the key.

Anti-terror police have been accused of falling victim to a well-organised hoax designed to ambush a year-long investigation into alleged paramilitary operations around the country.

Self-styled activist Jamie Lockett - one of 17 people arrested as part of nationwide police raids on suspected weapons training camps - is claiming incriminating text and phone messages were sent deliberately to wind up police who had been bugging his phone.

Bush, Clark and Key were possible 'targets' But really, it was all just a joke. Really.

Those arrested are Maori activists and anarchists.... with life coaches!

Obama: No flag pin, no saluting the flag...

can I question his patriotism yet?
(What kind of salute is putting your hands across your crotch?)

Burma, Chevron and JADE

Naypyidaw bus station and town center:

Practically deserted, just like the rest of the new Burmese capital.

US Lawmakers plan squeeze on Chevron in Myanmar. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee introduced the measure, entitled Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democracy Efforts) of 2007, on Thursday. The proposed measure would end tax write-offs currently enjoyed by Chevron on revenues earned in Burma. (Rights activists claim that Chevron's $ are helping prop up the junta.) The measure would also target gem imports, put additional restrictions on assets of political and military leaders, and restrict travel of junta officials to the United States.

About Chevron:
...(it) is one of biggest Western companies in Myanmar, holding a 28 percent minority share in the Yadana natural gas project following its acquisition of another US energy giant, Unocal, in 2005. The United States has already imposed substantial trade, investment and diplomatic sanctions on Myanmar, but Chevron's operations predate an enhanced 2003 US trade embargo.

Under Myanmar law, if Chevron sold its stake, it might have to pay the military junta much of the company's capital gains on the project -- estimated to be around 500 million dollars but the proposed sanctions would bar Chevron from making such a payment.

Oddly enough, the recent demonstrations by the Burmese monks which ended so disastrously? They started because of an increase in gasoline prices.

The current protests began on August 19 after the government sharply raised fuel prices in what is one of Asia's poorest countries. But they are based in deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military government that has ruled the country in one form or another since 1962.

In the words of Burmese American activist, Nyunt Than.

"People have been asking for democracy with their bare hands for 45 years," Than said. "They need help. Their bare hands against a modern army is not a good story to be told, nor to be watched."

Read more about Than here.



Read about the ruling junta's lavish jungle capital, Naypyidaw, here.



Even before you arrive in Naypyidaw, it is obvious that the world’s newest capital is a place like no other in Burma. It is not just the isolation, in a jungle 200 miles from the sea; it’s not just the active discouragement of foreigners, which is circumvented easily enough. It is the road leading into it.

What the Islamic Republic News Agency has to say

about Islamofascism Awareness week and David Horowitz.
Nice. They are calling it HATRED WEEK.

When David Horowitz returns to Columbia University next Friday to mark his organization's much-hyped "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" (IFAW), he will find a determined opposition, coming from a coalition of concerned students and up to nine of Horowitz's "101 Most Dangerous Professors."

"The week of October 22-26, 2007, the nation will be rocked by the biggest conservative campus protest ever? a wake-up call for Americans, "claims the Terrorism Awareness Project, which is sponsoring IFAW together with the Young America's Foundation. Between them, the sponsors have tens of millions of dollars in their war chest for occasions just like this...

And listen to this useful idiot:

"Certain people are tolerated on the campus while certain people are not. And it's very evident as to who is and who's not, and why? This is about my life, personally, and this is about everyone's lives in this room." "What it does," added Noah Baron of Columbia Students for a Democratic Society, "is it builds on people's fears? And it makes it more difficult to discuss things that are already difficult to discuss? racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and things like that.

Waaah! Mommy! They're mean to me. They're crucifying us!!!!

In 2006, the media crucified student activists after they confronted the Minutemen on campus. And then, of course, there was Ahmadinejad.

Listen to them try to link the "noose incident" to the event...

Many here see Horowitz's visit as an insult and an injury to a campus community still reeling from a slew of racial attacks this semester, most recently a noose hung on the door of a Black professor at Teachers' College.

Whatever happened to that noose investigation, btw?

Must see...Atlas.

Andrew Bostom, Robert Spencer and Atlas Shrugs put their heads together to fight the jihad.




The ever perspicacious Pamela at Atlas Shrugs was in attendance at Counterjihad Brussels 2007 and has the lowdown for you. Check it out.

Don't Blame Me says Baitullah Mehsud.

Unh-huh.

"I had nothing to do with it," Mehsud said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location about the attack on Ms Bhutto's motorcade.

He just listed her '3 Major offenses against Islamists' and views this as a kickoff to their latest campaign against the evil Shatan.

Militant leader Baitullah Mehsud had instructed pro-al-Qaeda cells in Karachi to kill her for three major offenses against the Islamists, which he listed as:

She is the only opposition politician who supported the military attack earlier this year on Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), a hotbed of Islamist radicalism, and she coninues to condemn the Lal Masjid ideologues;

She has stated that she would allow incursions by US forces into Pakistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden;

She has stated that she would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to question Dr A Q Khan, the former leading nuclear scientist accused of passing Pakistani nuclear technology to anti-Western countries.

I don't know - it all sounds good to me...

Jihad v Jihad in Afghanistan?

The new kid on the block goes up against Mullah Omar...

An Al Qaeda-linked commander directing a brutal wave of violence in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, is trying to rival Mullah Mohamed Omar for the Taliban leadership, the US-led coalition said yesterday.

Haqqani represents a “younger, more aggressive generation of Taliban senior leadership” and has extended his influence from his base in the east to central provinces near Kabul and into the volatile south, it said in a statement.

The coalition, leading the US “war on terror” in Afghanistan, has issued a $200,000 reward for the arrest of Haqqani as part of a Most Wanted campaign, which will see posters of about 12 wanted militants put up in the east in the coming weeks.

Haqqani, son of well-known Soviet resistance commander Jalaluddin Haqqani - said to be close to Mullah Omar, is one of the most influential insurgent commanders in the east, the statement said. “His reach now certainly exceeds that of his father and Siraj is working to rival Mullah Omar for the Taliban leadership,” said Major Chris Belcher, coalition spokesman.

And he's particularly brutal. Gruesome, some might even say.

“Kidnappings, assassinations, beheading women, indiscriminate killings and suicide bombers - Siraj is the one dictating the new parameters of brutality associated with Taliban senior leadership,” he said.

Perhaps that's why Mullah Omar (who's been in hiding for six years) recently crawled out of his rathole to issue a communique to the neighbors of Afghanistan to lend a hand.

Do you think this is true?

Or just political scuttlebutt? Benazir to go back to Dubai in a week.

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Benazir Bhutto is expected to return to Dubai in a week or so to 'honour' a commitment that she had made to the Musharraf regime, official sources have claimed.

Bhutto has promised to return to the UAE citing the poor health of her spouse Asif Ali Zardari, or to see her kids there. She would return to Pakistan once President Pervez Musharraf feels the atmosphere is conducive for her to do so, ZEE News quoted sources as saying.

Musharraf had asked Bhutto to delay her return plan till the Supreme Court verdict on his Presidential election, sources said. Bhutto, however, requested the Presidency to provide her with a face-saving scenario by 'honouring' the commitment she had made with the people vis-a-vis her arrival on October 18, sources claimed. Sources said that a top intelligence official held a meeting with Bhutto in Dubai soon after Eid to discuss her return plan.

Bhutto is believed to have assured that she would be going back soon and that there are ample excuses to go back for the time being.

More Good for thee, but not for me...

from a Democrat.

The Cape Cod Commission in Massachusetts Thursday denied Cape Wind's application to bury electric cables needed to connect its proposed 420-megawatt offshore wind farm in the Nantucket Sound to the state power grid.

Cape Wind said in a release that it would challenge the Commission decision. The Cape Cod Commission is a local organization created by the state in 1990 to manage growth and protect Cape Cod's natural resources.

Sen. Ted Kennedy and many residents who own coastal property from where they could see the wind turbines on a clear day oppose the project along with some environmental groups concerned about disrupting the patterns of migratory birds and the potential effect on local sea life.

But, what about the poor planet and global warming and reliance on foreign energy and...

Did the United States consult us????

Talking Turkey... or trash?

In his toughest criticism of the United States since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul last Friday: ”Nobody can give us lessons on beyond-border operations. Did the United States consult us when it entered Iraq from tens of thousands of kilometres away?”

As a matter of fact we did - remember this, Mr. Prime Minister Ergogan?

Mixed signals from Turkey about its intentions to send troops into northern Iraq are frustrating U.S. officials and appear to have delayed the American offensive on the key northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.

Belatedly — and after much haggling over technicalities — Turkey opened its airspace to U.S. military flyovers late Friday. Thus far no American warplanes have used that route into northern Iraq, although diplomatic sources said operations might begin within hours.
U.S. war planners also indicate that they may now bypass Turkey and instead use Jordanian airspace when they insert the ground troops who are supposed to secure Mosul and Kirkuk.

But the United States changed its mind after the Turkish parliament rejected its request to allow American troops to use Turkish bases...

How likely is a Turkish invasion of Iraq? Beats this suburban housewife. It's starting to look to me like the Turkish want us to do the heavy lifting for them.

(I found this analysis interesting though.)

Sedat Laciner, head of the independent Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization, says that a Turkish move into northern Iraq would be seen outside of Turkey as "invasion" and "occupation" and could lead to increased trans-boundary Kurdish nationalism affecting also Iran and Syria, both with sizeable Kurdish minorities (four million in Iran, two million in Syria). Iraq counts five million Kurds in its north.

Laciner told IPS that the financial cost to Turkey of an attack into northern Iraq could be US$10 billion in flight of foreign capital, quite apart from the cost of the military operation. The move could also doom Turkey's controversial bid for full EU membership.

You'll be happy to know that the "root cause" crowd is being heard from.

"The military response is not sufficient on its own," commentator Mehmet Ali Birand wrote in the mass-circulation daily Posta, stressing the need to enrich the impoverished Kurdish-populated southeast. The area is missing the economic boom in the rest of the country.

Look for more to come: PM Erdogan travels to DC to meet with President Bush on Nov 5.

(I wonder if he will meet with Madam Speaker?)

You have to wonder what happened with Larijani.

On Thursday it was announced that he was going to Rome next week to meet with EU Chief Negotiator, Javier Solana.

Today he resigns citing differences of opinion with Ahmadinnerjacket regarding "Iran's peaceful nuclear case".

Deputy foreign minister Saeid Jalili has been appointed to take his place.

About Jalili:

Little is known about Jalili except that he is one of the new faces in the foreign ministry and has a promising diplomatic career. Even local photographers had difficulty finding a file picture of the new man, whose job might even be more sensitive than that of the foreign minister.

"Larijani's resignation and Jalili's appointment will have more internal rather than external impact as the nuclear issue is a state matter and therefore decided within a collective led by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," a political observer in Teheran said.

"More important is how Ahmadinejad wants to explain to the public at home why his one of his most important men quit the president's administration and a why political newcomer is taking charge of one of the country's most sensitive jobs," he added.

Observers believe that Jalili is expected to adopt the same line with Solana as his predecessor, but many question whether he will have the same charisma and diplomatic skills as Larijani.

Update: Rick Moran thinks this is a bad deal for the US and that Jalili is a true believer. It is not known if Larijani has resigned his position as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council - a position that gives him direct access to the Gran Supremo Khameini...

Update II: It looks like Larijani is going to be going to Rome after all. Or not. Oh, and he resigned for "personal reasons".

Iranian Karate team refusing to face "Zionists."

They must be afraid or something.

It was imposed by toss that two of the Iranian karate fighters had to compete with the Zionist karate team members on the last day of the competition. The Iranians have denied to compete with any member of the Zionist squad, as Fars news agency reported.

You call this a rebuke?

From Madame Speaker:

"Yesterday’s debate in the House to override the President’s veto of bipartisan legislation to cover 10 million children was heated on both sides. While Members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand – providing health care for America’s children.”

Attack on Bhutto was sophisticated, coordinated...

From Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal:

As the toll from yesterday's ambush on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto convoy rises to 132 killed and upwards of 500 wounded, the details of the strike emerge. The attack was a sophisticated, coordinated strike carried out by professional terrorists. Conflicting reports exist, but it is clear at least one suicide bomber, and possibly two, conducted the attack, possibly in conjunction with snipers, a car bomb, and a person throwing a hand grenade.

More at the link.

God Bless Scott Ott.

Pelosi Slams Muslim Ideology Behind Bhutto Blast

(2007-10-19) — As the death toll climbed past 130, with nearly 400 injured, in a suicide-bomb assassination attempt on former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the attack as “symptomatic of fundamentalist Islam’s crusade against equality for women.”

Rep. Pelosi, D-CA, said the fact that a prominent female politician was targeted has shaken her thinking about the war on terror.

“This misogynistic massacre has finally got it through my thick skull what President Bush has been trying to tell us for years,” she said. “These terrorists have no legitimate political grievance, no conscience, and no place in civilized society. We must crush them wherever they are to prevent the spread of their poisonous ideology and brutal tactics.”

Rep. Pelosi said that when news of the attack broke, she held a conference call with Senators Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Barbara Boxer, D-CA. The three women agreed that “if these evil men are willing to attack a beautiful, charismatic female politician overseas, there’s not much to stop them from trying it on U.S. soil.”

The three lawmakers plan to introduce legislation next week to increase funding for the surge in Iraq, to finish the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and to remove barriers to eavesdropping by U.S. spies on suspected terrorist communications at home and abroad.

“These woman-haters need to know that we mean business,” Rep. Pelosi said. “And to those who commit these atrocities against women, I say, we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer negotiate, and we will no longer be afraid. It’s your turn to be afraid.“

If only this were true...

The Varlet Letter

Heartfelt thanks go out to philanthropist Betty Casey - top bidder on the Varlet Letter.

Read all about Betty's life here - it's fascinating. (She's a former waitress and was once the victim of a pipe bomb explosion.)

Define Armenian Pelosi-cide

What happens when Madame Speaker plays loose and fast with genocide...and our troops.

(It's hard to believe that she actually thought she could get away with it, isn't it?)

From Jed Babbin: Pelosi's Most Dangerous Ploy.
"But the resolution is gratuitous and Democrats’ timing suspicious. It’s gratuitous because, in 1981, President Reagan referred to the Armenian massacre as genocide in a proclamation commemorating the Nazi Holocaust.

Why, if Pelosi is so committed to ending genocide, aren’t she and Senate Democrat leaders doing something about the ongoing genocide in Darfur or the massacres of protesters in Burma?"

From Charles Krauthammer: The Razor is out.
"The atrocities happened 90 years ago. Not a single living Turk under the age of 102 is in any way culpable. Even Mesrob Mutafyan, patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the result of domestic American politics."

From Thomas Sowell: Sabotage in Wartime
"Unwilling to take responsibility for ending the war by cutting off the money to fight it, as many of their supporters want them to, Congressional Democrats have instead tried to sabotage the prospects of victory by seeking to micro-manage the deployment of troops, delaying the passing of appropriations -- and now this genocide resolution that is the latest, and perhaps lowest, of these tactics."

More North Korean looniness...

China halts all rail freight to North Korea...

because the North Koreans carjacked 1800 rail cars????

Dinah takes the Elvgren quiz..

Here I am - Elvgren style (and it really is SO me).

Thanks to another Elvgren fan, the groovy and fun Christine, over at Ironic Surrealism II for hitting me with the link.

C'mon, Always on Watch...you're up next...

Paging Lady Vorzheva...Paging Lady Vorzheva... Come in, Lady V...

Which Elvgren Pin Up Girl Are You

Myanmar(Burma)embassies receiving PANTIES FOR PEACE

Panties Be Upon them.

Junta military leaders believe contact with female under-roos "saps their power".

Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture,'' said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace'' drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.
To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!'' the Lanna Action for Burma website urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials,'' Hilton said.

I guess they're too weak to pick up the phone.

Paki mischief cause of blasts?

Lord only knows, this being Pakistan it very well could be the case.
(h/t The Jawa Report)

But actually, this made me think what it would be like if Hillary Clinton were elected President.

Believe you me, the prospect of Slick Willie as First Spouse shooting his mouth off to reporters for 4+ years does not make me happy.

BB wants IB chief Ijaz Shah sacked

LAHORE: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has demanded that the government sack Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Brig (r) Ijaz Shah, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted her as saying after the late night blasts on Thursday in Karachi that killed dozens of people.

Ms Bhutto’s husband Zardari told Geo TV that he did not think that extremist elements were behind these blasts, adding that some elements within the government, including some ministers, were responsible for the blasts.

He said the PPP was a democratic party and was not a threat to jihadi elements.

He said some ministers were also on the hit list of jihadi elements.

He said he knew some people sitting in the government who could possibly be behind these blasts. But, he said, he would not disclose their names “as only Ms Bhutto would reveal these names”.

Zardari said Ms Bhutto would talk to the media on Friday (today). daily times monitor

This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...

Hippie Museum gets super buzz killed by US Senate.

(I am so totally over all these old hippie types.)

Hippies used to say if you remember Woodstock, you weren't really there. Republicans say presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton can forget about getting $1 million in taxpayer funds for a Woodstock museum.

Clinton and Charles Schumer, Democratic senators from New York, want to earmark the federal money for a museum that would commemorate the 1969 music festival in their state.
"Woodstock Museum is a shining example of what's wrong with Washington on pork-barrel, out-of-control spending," said John McCain, Arizona senator and Republican presidential hopeful. An example, he said, of "the earmark pork-barrel spending which has made the American people disenchanted and angry."

Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., were trying Thursday to strip the Woodstock earmark from a massive health and education spending bill on the Senate floor. Democrats moved to kill their effort, but Republicans won a key 52-42 vote — seeping with presidential politics — signaling the Clinton-Schumer earmark would soon be gone.

Five Democrats voted against the Woodstock provision. So did old-school GOP members of the Appropriations Committee who had on prior occasions voted against conservative criticism of senators' earmarks.

Intifada Principal seeks reinstatement

(h/t Cristy Li/The Religion of Peace)

NYC Intifade Principal seeks reinstatement.

CAIR is cheering her on as she threatens to sue.

And get this - she currently "works in an administrative capacity for the public school system.

New York CAIR yesterday participated in a news conference at City Hall in support of the former Madrassa Principal reinstatement. Debbie Almontaser resigned after a controversy erupted over a T-Shirt with the words Intifada NYC on it. New York City School officials have said today that the former principal will not be rehired.

CAIR supported Debbie Almontaser, has threated to file a law suit against the City of New York and possibly Mayor Bloomberg for allegedly violating her rights by forcing her to resign her position as Principal of the Madrassa.

Almontaser voluntarily resigned her position as the Principal of Khalil Gibran International Academy when the City of New York threatened to close the school down if she did not leave. Almontaser currently works in an administrative position for the public school system.

Controversy continues to surround the Madrassa as radical Imam Talib Abdur Rashid, sits on the Advisory Board of the school. The Imam has served at the Mosque of the Islamc Brotherhood since 1989 the radical Islamic group has been linked to supporting terrorism and devotion to Ahmadinejad Holocaust denials.

Condi goes to Ramallah

I saw this picture last night and I have been bugged by it ever since.

With the recent hullaballoo about lighting the Empire State building for EID with green lights and seeing as how even Benazir Bhutto wore green traditional dress upon her return to Pakistan, you'd think that everyone on the planet would know that green is the color of Islam by now.

Especially over at the State Department. Right?

So then why didn't one of those overpaid nitwits advise Condi against wearing this green suit during her visit to Palestianian president Mahmoud Abbas headquarters, huh??????

Bunch of damn numbskulls.

Al Gore, Internet inventor and Father of Global warming...

got a D in Natural Sciences at Harvard.

Bye-bye Imam

I haven't been following the case of Said Jaziri, the Montreal Imam awaiting deportation from Canada so thanks to Watcher over at Eye on the World for bringing me up to speed. Now it's your turn: Montreal Imam ordered detained until deportation.

A chaotic scene erupted Wednesday after an Immigration and Refugee Board commissioner denied a controversial Montreal imam's request to be released while awaiting deportation.

Said Jaziri appeared before an Immigration and Refugee Board Commissioner, who deemed him a flight risk after a nearly four-hour hearing.

And like the Dems, Jaziri is happy to use children as "human shields", vamping it up about his pregnant (Canadian born) wife and unborn child. Read it all, included the related stories here and here, possums.

I'm sure that Jaziri and his family will be very happy at their new home in the third world shithole from whence he came.

Musharraf going for broke in Waziristan?

According to the Asia Times that's the situation on the ground... I guess the recent Hudna had a purpose after all.
According to the security official, an ultimatum had been delivered to the militants recently during a temporary ceasefire. The army would set a deadline and give safe passage into Afghanistan to all al-Qaeda members and Taliban commanders who had gathered in Waziristan to launch a large-scale post-Ramadan operation in Afghanistan. They, along with wanted tribal warrior leaders, would all leave Pakistan, and never return.

After their departure, under the direct command and surveillance of newly appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani (who will replace President-elect Pervez Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff), fresh troops and paramilitary forces would be sent in to establish bases at all strategic points and disarm the local tribes.

The Durand Line (the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan) would be fenced and border controls would be tightened.

The militants rejected the ultimatum.

Why we should care.
A qualified estimate by intelligence officials is that Pakistani military pacification of the Waziristans would slash the capability of the Afghan resistance by 85% as well as deliver a serious setback to the Iraqi resistance.
Why the terrorists care.
The militants have little option but to stand and fight, rather than slip across the border or melt into the local population. Aside from the sanctuary and succor afforded them in the Waziristans, most of the fighters there are either Waziris, or from other parts of Pakistan, or foreigners.

They would be unable to support themselves in Afghanistan, especially as most of the non-Waziris do not speak Pashtu - a fact that also prevents them from disappearing into the Waziristan populace.

Their presence in the Waziristans also has a direct bearing on their funding: money can be transferred through bank and non-bank channels, including the informal fund transfer system known as "hawala".

What it could mean.
If the planned battle is successful and Waziristan is pacified, the global Islamic resistance would be back where it was in 2003, when it had fighters but no centralized command or bases to carry out organized operations, said a Pakistani security official. "As a result, the guerrilla operations were sporadic and largely ineffective."

The safety of Taliban and al-Qaeda assets in Waziristan is a matter of life and death and, therefore, the militants have devised a forward strategy to target the Pakistani cities of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, hoping to break the will of the Pakistani armed forces. The Pakistani military, meanwhile, is trying to break the will of the militants with ongoing bombing raids.

Underscoring the seriousness with which the military is planning for the coming battle, it is reported that Shi'ite soldiers from northern Pakistan are being sent to the Waziristans. In the past, the Pakistani Army has been plagued by desertions of Pashtun and Sunni troops who refuse to fight fellow Pashtuns or Sunnis.

You had to know this was coming...

Twin blasts near Bhutto. She's okay but it sounds like it could have been an extremely close call. 45 115 132 killed. 100 injured.

An initial small explosion was followed by a huge blast just feet from the front of the truck carrying Bhutto during a procession through Karachi. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle. Neither Bhutto nor any of the others riding on the truck was hurt, police officer Hasib Beg said.

Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi told Dawn News that Bhutto was rushed from the area under emergency plans prepared ahead of her return.

And in other related DC Muslim Sniper news...

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is not the only Muslim DC sniper we should be thinking about today.


Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the start of the DC sniper attacks. Geez, just in time for another MSM whitewash!!!!

Read Rehabbing the DC Snipers over at IBD that rips the veil off of CNN's writing their own narrative when they tee up "child abuse" and "spousal revenge" as motive. They completely ignored the Muslim angle in their recent program "The minds of the DC Snipers" - what a surprise! Islam is the religion of peace doncha know?

The jailhouse drawings of the younger sniper, Malvo are among the things not mentioned in the program:

• One sketch of Osama bin Laden exalts him as a "Servant of Allah."

• A self-portrait of him and Muhammad is captioned: "We will kill them all. Jihad . . . Allah Akbar!"

• A sketch of the burning Twin Towers has as its caption: "America did this. You were warned."

• A poem scribbled alongside an American flag and star of David drawn in cross hairs reads: "Our minarets are our bayonets, Our mosques are our baracks, Our believers are our soldiers."

• The Quran (Surah 2:190) is quoted as follows: "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you and slay them wherever ye catch them." Also: "Islam the only true guidance."

• The White House is drawn in cross hairs, surrounded by missiles, with the warning: "Sep. 11 we will ensure will look like a picnic to you," and "you will bleed to death little by little."

• Another warning reads: "Islam. We will Resist. We will conquer. We will win."

IBD's conclusion is correct:

CNN's "special investigation" is nothing more than a politically correct whitewashing of the truth aimed at pleasing Muslim groups like CAIR, which has argued that "there is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims."

Saudi supported school should be shut down: But will anyone do anything about it?

The Saudi Islamic Academy's most famous alum.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali

It's only a recommendation.
A private Islamic school supported by the Saudi government should be shut down until the U.S. government can ensure the school is not fostering radical Islam, a federal panel recommends.

In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom broadly criticized what it calls a lack of religious freedom in Saudi society and promotion of religious extremism at Saudi schools...

More at the link, including this:

The report also criticizes the school's administrative structure, saying it is little more than an offshoot of the Saudi Embassy, with the Saudi ambassador to the United States serving as chairman of the school's board of directors.

The structure "raises serious concerns about whether it is in violation of a U.S. law restricting the activities of foreign embassies."

After the Sept. 11 attacks, critics questioned the nature of the religious education at the Saudi academy. The school again found itself in the spotlight in 2005, when a former class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was charged with joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President Bush.

Abu Ali was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing his conviction.

See Abu Ali's alma mater here. I checked out the newsletters - let's just say that anytime I see words written in Arabic without an English translation in an American "school" I get nervous. The elementary school's newsletters don't provide translation. And the high school's? Well, they're very proud of their Mecca project...

The family of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, from left, Omar Abu Ali, father, Faten Abu Ali, mother, and Tasneem Abu Ali. I'm sure they're very proud of their son and brother.

Nicolas and Cecelia.

Splitsville.

Interesting factoid: Nicolas Sarkozy presided over Cecilia's first marriage when he was Mayor of the Parisian suburb, Neuilly.

This quote seems to sum up the whole deal:

"I don't see myself as first lady - the whole idea bores me"

Unless it means I can go to Libya and negotiate on the behalf of the French government. But don't ask me to meet with cowboy George Bush or to go to that dreary Bulgaria.

Bhutto arrives in Pakistan

Another reason the hijab is idiotic...

Not a good look.

The Bhutto has landed.

Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister, arrived in Pakistan this afternoon, ending her eight-year exile.

She stepped down onto the tarmac at Karachi airport at around 2 p.m. local time, wearing a traditional green dress and white veil, the colors of the Pakistani flag.

"The most important step — to be back on Pakistani soil," she said, after praying. She was clearly tearful.

On the plane from Dubai, the city where she has lived for much of the last decade, she was surrounded by chanting supporters, and she moved through the cabin talking to the press and to admirers. When asked how she felt, she said "very excited, very happy, very proud, a tremendous sense of responsibility."

She added: "I think the time has come for democracy. If we want to save Pakistan, we have to have democracy."

In related Benazir Bhutto news: Swiss Judge wraps up Bhutto money laundering probe.