Spot the difference: Islam4UK & the Westboro Baptist Church Rate This // The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a ‘Christian’ church based in Kansas, United States. It was established in 1952 by one Fred Phelps. The church is essentially a ‘platform’ for the views and teachings of Fred Phelps. Islam4UK is a ‘Muslim’ organisation based in the United Kingdom. It was established circa 2005/6 by – amongst others – one Anjem Choudary. The group has been described as a ‘platform’ for the now proscribed Al-Muhajiroun. The WBC is primarily known for its sensationalist protest activities: gay events, Kansas City Chiefs football … Continue reading Anjem Choudary is linked to the Westboro Baptist Church?

Ignore Islam4UK’s self-serving provocation. Instead, let’s have the open public discussion we need on the war in Afghanistan Salma Yaqoob guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 08.00 GMT When I was invited to appear on Question Time at Wootton Bassett, I did feel a hesitation because of the programme’s location. I was very mindful of the fact that this is where every soldier who has been killed is honoured and where respects are paid. Regardless of where you stand politically, their loss is a very real and human tragedy for their families. But these are more than personal tragedies. Our soldiers … Continue reading The debate beyond Wootton Bassett

Perfectly sensible celebrity observations about science are being mocked by a group that’s no innocent fact-checking service Zac Goldsmith guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 17.00 GMT Every few months, an organisation called Sense About Science (SAS) issues a pamphlet that makes fun of celebrities getting their science wrong. It is full of what it regards to be false assertions by celebrities about the benefits of homeopathy and so on, and ends with an offer by the organisation to act as a fact-checking service. Newspapers always lap it up. The problem is that they have fallen into a trap again. While … Continue reading So much for ‘Sense’ About Science

• Attacks expose long-term US intelligence failings • Obama launches inquiry into Christmas jet bomb Ewen MacAskill and Daniel Nasaw in Washington Jon Boone in Kabul guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 19.51 GMT The CIA headquarters in Virginia. Former officers have accused the service of institutional weakness. Photograph: Larry Downing/Corbis/SygmaLong-term weaknesses in US intelligence-gathering have been ruthlessly exposed over the last fortnight by the Christmas Day airline plot and the Afghanistan suicide bombing that killed seven CIA officers, according to former and serving intelligence officers. They are scathing about the way the operation in Afghanistan has been run and say … Continue reading CIA agents in Afghanistan are ‘menace to themselves,’ former operatives claim

Jan 5, 2010 13:33 EST Last week’s suicide bomb attack on a base in Afghanistan which killed seven CIA officers and a Jordanian spy is raising fears in Pakistan that it could encourage an intensified drone bombing campaign to target those who planned the assault. Although it is too early to say for certain who ordered the attack, possibilities include the Pakistani Taliban who claimed responsibility; the Afghan Taliban who had earlier said the bomber was an Afghan army officer; the Haqqani network; al Qaeda; or a combination of different groups working together. U.S. media reports, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, have described the bomber as a double … Continue reading Attack on the CIA in Afghanistan raises jitters in Pakistan

John Goddard Staff Reporter Omar Hammami, known as Abu Mansour “al-Amriki,” is seen in a YouTube video. YOUTUBE.COM One of the most visible leaders of an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist militia in Somalia spent a year in Toronto ingratiating himself into the Somali immigrant community as a convert to Islam. Omar Hammami – known to followers as Abu Mansour “Al-Amriki” (the American) – ate at Somali restaurants and prayed in Somali mosques. He married a Toronto woman of Somali origin and had a daughter with her. Then, after learning Somali ways, he left to join the Horn of Africa’s top terror … Continue reading Fanatic convert to terrorism spent year in Toronto

By Frank Gardner BBC Security Correspondent The CIA believed the bomber had vital information on al-Qaeda The revelation that the man who blew up himself, four CIA officers, three security guards and a Jordanian intelligence officer in Khost, Afghanistan, was a double agent is embarrassing for both the US and Jordan. For Washington, it risks making a mockery of the CIA’s attempts to track down and infiltrate the intimate circle of al-Qaeda’s leadership. One can only imagine how much false intelligence this al-Qaeda double agent had been feeding his handlers, before he killed them. For Jordan, this is a clandestine … Continue reading Afghanistan CIA killings a major blow to US and Jordan

By Moska Najib BBC News, Delhi Indie rock – but not from Britain or America. This is music from Afghanistan, of a kind seldom heard before, but now produced by a trio of young men. The band, Kabul Dreams, is made up of vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, who claim to be the country’s first and only rock and roll group. “One year ago in December we decided to create this band and since it was happening in Kabul, we thought Kabul Dreams is a good name,” says the 19-year-old vocalist, who bears a … Continue reading Afghan dreams of rock and roll

Security was being tested at Bratislava Airport Irish police have released a man held over an explosives find, after Slovakian authorities admitted planting them in his luggage. The explosive was one of eight pieces of contraband placed with unsuspecting passengers at Bratislava Airport last weekend, broadcaster RTE reported. The 49-year-old unwittingly brought the material into Dublin when he returned from his Christmas holidays. He was arrested on Tuesday morning but has since been released without charge. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he was very concerned that Irish police had not been alerted for three days. Airport security detected seven … Continue reading Explosives planted on man to test airport security (what if the test guy was a Muslim?)

By Dominic Casciani BBC News Street campaigning and agitation: An al-Muhajiroun poster Islam4UK, the group that has claimed that it will march through Wootton Bassett, is the latest incarnation of a hardline Islamist organisation called al-Muhajiroun. Al-Muhajiroun, in its various forms, is an important part of the story of Islamist anger and the line between politics, protest and national security. The organisation is made up of a small band of tight-knit young men who advocate a worldwide Islamist system of government and, at the same time, vehemently denounce the foreign policies of the US and UK. It has a knack … Continue reading Profile: Islam4UK (nothing to do with Islam, only about power and publicity)