Terror plot in Italy thwarted
This is a curious article. It describes the arrest of three men in Venice who were allegedly planning an attack on the Rialto Bridge, out of admiration for and in imitation of the recent attack on Westminster Bridge in London.
I can’t quite make out from the information in the article how far the planning had gone (it doesn’t sound like very far), but I noticed two things of interest.
The first is that the arrests were made as a result of telephone surveillance, triggered by a visit to Syria:
In wire-tapped telephone conversations, the suspects were recorded appearing to celebrate last week’s attack in London, in which Muslim convert Khalid Masood, 52, drove a car into crowds walking across Westminster Bridge, killing three people, before fatally stabbing a policeman, Keith Palmer, outside Parliament.
A phone intercept caught one of the men telling another: “You’ll go straight to paradise because of all the infidels in Venice. Put a bomb on the Rialto.”
In another conversation, one of the men said: “I can’t wait to take an oath to Allah. If they let me take the oath, I’m ready to die.”…
Police had kept the alleged cell under surveillance for months. The undercover operation began last year after one of the men came back from a trip to Syria. All had residency permits and were living in Italy legally. “There was a lot of talk about unconditional support to Isil. It wasn’t just theory and dogma,” said Mr D’Ippolito. The suspects were close to moving towards “planning and projects”, he said.
And the second is that the three men were Kosovars. I had not realized that Kosovars were especially simpatico with ISIS, but apparently there is a sizeable group that is:
Around 300 Kosovars have gone to fight with Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq, including Isil and al-Nusra Front.
Kosovo once had the dubious distinction of producing the highest number, per capita, of “foreign fighters” of any country in Europe. The number of Kosovars joining extremist groups has waned in the last year, partly as a result of the government cracking down on recruitment by radical imams and partly because of an education campaign.
Kosovars are overwhelmingly Muslim. But until now they have been seen as overwhelmingly moderate in their brand of Islam, and as friends of the west and as Europeans. That is probably still true of the vast majority. But, as this incident demonstrates, there are also worrisome pockets of radicalized Kosovars who are vulnerable to ISIS’ siren call.
“The number of Kosovars joining extremist groups has waned in the last year, partly as a result of the government cracking down on recruitment by radical imams and partly because of an education campaign. ”
Hmm, cracking down on radical imams? Seems to work does it?
An education program? That wouldn’t be a program to discredit Wahhabi/Salafi doctrine would it? Whatever it is, it seems to be working.
Does not surprise me that such methods could be effective. I’ve been calling for such and more for quite some time now.
The Koran has over 100 verses calling for violence against unbelievers. Unbelievers are supposed to be killed, conquered or converted, whichever occurs first.
“The first is that the arrests were made as a result of telephone surveillance, triggered by a visit to Syria:”
This is not the first would-be-martyr who went out of town for training.
What, again, were those complaints about slowing down the flow of people coming from Syria to the US?
Of course, he probably would have been traveling on an Italian passport – so maybe everyone should just ban anyone who went to Syria from coming back.
Nothing can be done to stop the jihadists from attacking the West until the West gains the determination to do what a majority in the West deems unthinkable/undoable. I know where I would begin, but will not say so, as it would be unthinkable/undoable.
“I know where I would begin, but will not say so, as it would be unthinkable/undoable.”
C’mon Parker…let ‘er rip.
What they’re vulnernable to are Saudi pertrodollars. It’s hard to rate the world’s worst catastrophes, but I’d have to say the Saudis striking oil near the top of the list.
Fortunately, we can drill our way out of this.
Actually, several hundred if you count verses such as:
Surah 60:4
“There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, “Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah . We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone” except for the saying of Abraham to his father, “I will surely ask forgiveness for you, but I have not [power to do] for you anything against Allah . Our Lord, upon You we have relied, and to You we have returned, and to You is the destination.”
Show me any place in the Bible where the adherents, Jews or Christians, are commanded to have animosity and hatred toward non-adherents forever. And Yahweh commands the believers not to emulate a man who prayed for the forgiveness of his own father.
I agree this is not a direct commandment to commit violence, but those commandments would not be possible or at least not have the importance without all the other commandments to hate.
Muslim men are allowed to marry Jewish and Christian women. This is not normally voluntary on the part of the women. Here Salafi cleric Dr. Burhami explains that those Muslim men must hate their wives in their hearts, and must make their wives feel that hatred.
I’m familiar with Burhami’s work. He’s featured in one of my favorite Muslim apostate’s video on pedophilia in Islam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LE3QARjIZg
“Paedophilia & child marriage in Islam”
Note how Burhami defends child rape. Note how he shuts up his Muslim yet still appalled interviewer. Theologically, she didn’t have a leg to stand on. Had she pushed it, implying the Quran is wrong, she risked prosecution for blasphemy and more likely than not would have been killed by a Muslim vigilante. Allah’s on the side of the child rapists.
Sorry, no other way to put it. There are moderate Muslims who don’t live out the doctrines of their religion. But their is no moderate Islam, as those appalling doctrines are what Islam preaches.
Forgot a link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=E4ULdik8UCA
Those worrisome pockets will no doubt increase.
Michael Totten overlooked the significance of something he himself observed in his 2008 article:
“ornate Ottoman-style mosques destroyed by the Serbian military are being replaced [in Kosovo] with severe Wahhabi-style monstrosities”.
He nevertheless deprecates any Wahhabi influence in Kosovo.
But Wahhabi-style mosques are most likely associated with Wahhabi-style imams. Were they already there, or were they imported to the new mosques?
This is the camel’s nose under the tent of “European first, Muslim second.”
Now, less than a decade later, we have ISIS-loving, ISIS-emulating Kosovars. Not a surprise.
Islam resembles cancer: a few malignant cells are not deemed dangerous by immunologic surveillance, and so are not eradicated; those cells multiply, and Lo! there is a life-threatening mass.
One cannot change the genetic code of Islam, the Koran. See the Somalis in Minneapolis, there for 20 years, now producing “home-grown” jihadists.
There is ultimately one way to deal with Islam, and only that one way.
In germany the radical germans were the reich, the people who were home, and kept economy, factories and such, were the moderate nazis
in the USA, the radical americans were the warriors who went to fight, the moderates were the ones that stayed home and supported them.
so we are using the wrong words (by design)
arent we?
dont be surprised if you mislabel poison as soda, people die… dont be surprised if you hide the support the infrastructure, the source of money, the achievement of money, and on and on and on, that the outcome is people die.
after all, with the way the left fights this non fight
attrition of the enemy is not possible
and without that, defeating ISIS is not possible
its perpetual, like trotsky
and why ruin a good thing?
can you imagine how much less they would have had if they just let isreal build, told others to stay out, and all that stuff they claim is bad bad bad (for them actually) and we dont do that.. so that its bad bad bad (for the people) but a cash cow and political cow…
duh…
duh…
duh…
thats how history works and thats how propaganda a la soviet works and thats how you been denied the language to address and actually talk about anything of import and get anywere AND we let them do that to us… if not, we will beat up the other person for not complying.
anyone want a white feather?
Wretchard once asked what happens if the jihadis (Iran, maybe) force us into a position where the only solution is to do that which is so horrible that we can’t do it.