Tag Archives: Islam

News

Another dry-run of a terrorist attack

2 Comments

Story from ABC News. (H/T Foxfier Sailorette)

Excerpt:

Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed “mock bombs” in their luggage. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official.

A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said “the investigation is ongoing.” He said the arrests were made “at the request of American authorities.”

The two were allowed to board the flight at O’Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.

The men were identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, and Hezem al Murisi, the officials said. A neighbor of al Soofi told ABC News he is from Yemen.

Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his “bulky clothing.”

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O’Hare.

Once in Chicago, officials say they learned al Soofi checked his luggage on a flight to Washington’s Dulles airport for connections on flights to Dubai and then Yemen, even though he did not board the flight himself.

Instead, officials say, al Soofi was joined by the second man, Al Murisi, and boarded the United flight from Chicago to Amsterdam.

The thing about this, we can’t be playing defense all the time. The best thing to do is to specify the terms of what will happen if a terrorist attack occurs. Tell them in advance. For the first terrorist attack, this will happen. For the second terrorist attack, this will happen. You can start nicely, by revoking all student visas, foreign aid, etc. And then military targets. That’s how deterrence works. They have to know that we mean business. Weakness and appeasement just embolden bullies.

UPDATE:

Commenter James reports that PJM has more on the story.

News

Gallup poll shows that Obama has 78% approval rating among Muslims

7 Comments

From CNS News.

Excerpt:

While President Barack Obama’s overall approval rating averaged 48 percent for the first seven months of 2010, it was 78 percent among Muslim Americans, according to the Gallup Poll. That gave the president a higher approval rating among Muslims than among any other religious category reported by the poll.

Members of other non-Christian religions (not including Judaism) gave Obama his second highest approval rating at 64 percent, according to Gallup, and people who described themselves as having no religion, or being agnostics, or atheists gave Obama a 63 percent approval rating.

Mormons gave Obama his lowest approval rating among the religious groups reported by Gallup. In the first seven months of 2010, only 24 percent said they approved of the job Obama was doing. He ranked next lowest among Protestant Americans, who gave him a 43 percent approval rating, then Catholic Americans, who gave him a 50 percent approval rating, and then Jewish Americans, who gave him a 61 percent approval rating.

The article also notes that this poll was completed prior to Obama’s endorsement of the Ground Zero mosque, which may be funded by taxpayer money, according to Reuters.

Podcasts

William Lane Craig reports on his debate with a Muslim in South Africa

6 Comments

William Lane Craig

Bill Craig’s a specialist in debating Muslims, and he does it at the universities in many Muslim countries, too, for their professors and grad students. Well, he just did one in South Africa, and now I’ve got the podcast of his after-action report. The debate was held in front of about 1000 people. The topic was “Identifying Jesus: Was he man, or both man and God?”.

The MP3 file is here.

Details:

  • who was Craig’s opponent?
  • why did they decide on that topic?
  • what sayings of Jesus, that are widely regarded as authentic, imply his divinity?
  • how the resurrection confirms Jesus’ radical claims to be God stepping into history
  • Craig’s response to the argument that the gospels are myth not history
  • explain the incarnation – the idea that God the Son has two natures – using “Avatar”

I’ll be updating this post with details as I listen to it a second time, but the main thing is how he describes the audience of South African Muslims. People in the West keep thinking that the way to make Muslims like us is by caving in to their demands. But that is baloney. I used to dialog with Muslims in my undergrad years, and what they respect is convictions, courage and strength. They despise people who try to appease them by arguing for some sort of both-and pluralism. If we want to have any hope of dealing with Muslims, we need to stand up for the exclusive claims of Christianity.

Frank Turek

I also listened to Frank Turek’s latest episode of the Cross Examined radio show, and he had an ex-Muslim convert to Christianity on for the first 10 minutes and he was explaining what the Quran really says, as well as the Muslim doctrine of abrogation, which requires that the earlier peaceful verses be overridden by the later warlike verses.

That MP3 file is here.

The rest of the podcast is on same-sex marriage. He goes over a bunch of false facts from the Judge Walker decision.

Your Friday night listening is now all set.