Islam, the often touted religion of peace, tolerance and compassion.

It's most difficult to understand this religion when we, the so-called civilized world, continue to see and read about the atrocities perpetrated on and toward the women, children and "non believers" in Muslim countries in this, the 21st century.

When you see Muslims like Hamas and the Palestinians who send their children to certain death by strapping suicide belts onto their bodies and sending them off to kill and maim the innocent, ask yourself, if they don't care, why should we?

They teach their children from birth to hate people they have never met, and raise them with the same hatred and murderous intentions as with generations past. All in the name of God Allah.

What about lowlife Muslim groups like Hezbollah that hide among the women and children in wartime knowing for certain they will be killed or injured in retaliatory strikes against their fighters, just for the public relations factor. It is absolutely disgusting and makes one wonder. WTF

What tolerance? Where is the compassion? What Peace? Please!

Why Should World Care re Muslim Kids Killed?

I don't know why all the anguish over caring for the Muslim boys and girls being killed in the present war. Muslims don't care about the boys and girls.

They have schools where they teach neurotic lessons to their own offspring. There instructors teach them in play acting how to behead an infidel.

Muslim kids stage mock beheading.

They have telecasts for children running constantly in the Middle East Arab geographies whereby children viewers are taught to hate the "Jew-pigs," the latter term coined by Muslims who teach their own that Jews are descended from monkeys and pigs.

They have suicide belts tied to their daughters and sons.

Shocking images of Muslim children playing terrorists.

They take their little girls to circumcise them — genital mutilation. Muslim mothers hold down the screaming daughter while the father takes a razor blade or scissors to cut away part of the girl’s private parts.

Egyptian girl undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FMG)

They take their children to witness lashings of teens in the town square.

They walk their boys and girls to the crane where a teen girl’s head is laced in a noose for hanging. Then they stand there with their children, seeing the girl’s legs and feet kick violently till all life is gone from her body. All week long they take their children to see humans hung from poles alongside the roads.

Hanging and public executions in Islamic countries are still common place.

They direct their own children to the pit where a woman has been placed with dirt up to her breasts. Then they hand stones to their boys and girls to help in crushing in her head. The stones are the sizes prescribed by the Koran — not too large so as to kill quickly and not too small so as to take forever to murder the woman.

The Religion of Peace - Stoning in Islam

So why should the United Nations weep over Arab children being killed in the present conflict?

Why should the free nation leaders call for a breather in the conflict so that families with children can escape being killed?

Far better to be killed by a bomb at an early age in Islam than live to be psychologically deranged as the adult killers are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Hezbollah is composed of such neurotic children-grown-to-adult age.

So let the war work its way through. Blood is blood to Muslims.

They live for blood, from earlier childhood. The Muslim adults should be proud to have their children killed in the war for they consider such a religious sacrifice to Allah; it is a pious act.

One Muslim mother sacrificed three of her adult sons to Allah as suicide bombers. She then kissed three more grown sons in front of a crowd, stating she was willing that they be suicide cases, too. She would then be a proud Muslim mother who had six adult sons snuffed out by their own choosing as sacrifices to Allah.

I just don’t get why civil citizens of the planet worry about the Muslim children being killed. The Muslim adults surely don’t care.

By J. Grant Swank Jr. (07/29/2006)

Agree or disagree with Mr. Swank, the point is well taken.

Personally, I do believe that Islam is a Perverted Religion.

It makes me want to hear from the one voice of reason, Dr. Wafa Sultan, to try and regain any faith I may have had in the people of this sorry ass religion called Islam.

The Muslim society today, in my opinion, is worse off than it was in the 12th century. At least then, they were trying to do something positive for humankind.

Debbie Schlussel has this - On Qana & Dead Muslim Kids: The One Thing Muslims & Media Love More Than Dead Jewish Kids

What's wrong with this picture? ... while we fight for their rights, they kill Americans.

Signs of the Times

From the Arlington National Cemetery: The Bombing of the Marine Barracks, Beirut Lebanon.

On October 23, 1983 at 6:22 a.m., a large delivery truck drove to the Beirut International Airport where the Marine Barracks was located.

After turning onto an access road leading to the compound, the driver rushed through a barbed-wire fence, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through the gate, and slammed into the lobby of the barracks.

The driver detonated explosives with the power equal to more than 12,000 pounds of TNT. The explosion crumbled the four-story building, crushing service members to death while they were sleeping.

The terrorist attack killed 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members who were stationed there to help keep the peace in a nation torn by war.

It was the bloodiest day in the Corps' history since World War II, when Marines fought to secure Iwo Jima.

From CNN: Iran responsible for 1983 Marine barracks bombing, judge rules.

Iran is responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 American servicemen, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Friday [May 30, 2003].

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the suicide truck bombing was carried out by the group Hezbollah with the approval and funding of Iran's senior government officials.

From TimesOnline: God's army has plans to run the whole Middle East by Amir Taheri.

Terror has been its principal weapon. Throughout the 1980s Hezbollah kidnapped more than 200 foreign nationals in Lebanon, most of them Americans or western Europeans (including Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy). It organised the hijacking of civilian aircraft and more or less pioneered the idea of suicide bombings against American and French targets, killing almost 1,000 people, including 241 US marines in Beirut and 58 French paratroopers.

Charles Johnson is doing a excellent job of rounding up photos and reports of anti-Israel demonstrations around the world. The fact that a pro-Hezbollah sentiment has been repeatedly witnessed is disgusting, especially in America. Below are links to his posts but be sure to click on the links within the posts for many more photos.

More Signs of the Times with photos and links.

Israeli targets in U.S. on heightened alert
Fear of attacks by Hezbollah sleeper agents as military campaign in Lebanon continues.

Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world. They have many points of connection, and both inherited from Judaism a belief in one God who created the world and cares about the beliefs of human beings.

In recent centuries, mutual distrust between Christians and Muslims has continued to grow, although some have realized the conflict has more to do with political tensions and divergent cultural world views than with religion, as efforts are being made on both sides to find common ground and engage in respectful, meaningful dialogue.

However, many of us non-Muslims, wanting to know, ask "What is it that you don’t understand?"

We, the non-Muslims—the infidels, heathens, unbelievers, apostates, enemies of Allah, najis (soiled), as you prefer to call us—would like to know what is it that you don’t understand and what is it that makes you behave so badly toward us? You blame us for your problems and believe if we embrace Islam and help establish the Islamic ummah, the earth would be cleansed of us, transformed to paradise, and all your problems disappear?

Respectfully, we disagree. We believe that you and your system of belief are at the core of your problems; that you need to critically examine the facts, rather than conveniently blame others for your ills. Keep in mind that beliefs and ideas make people human, that beliefs are roadmaps of life. To the extent that the roadmap is rational and enlightened, the path of life is illumined, pitfalls are avoided and obstacles are removed. The terrain of life has greatly changed since the roadmap of Islam was given to the wondering primitives of Arabian Peninsula.

The twenty first century presents great challenges and opportunities that demand new ways of thinking and behaving. The doctrine of Islam may have been appropriate for the dessert dwellers of some 1400 years ago, the people you yourselves stigmatize as “The Ignorant.” It is dysfunctional today to say the least. As a matter of fact, Islam went astray from the very beginning and inflicted a great deal of suffering on both its followers as well as those who resisted its advance.

Early on, Prophet Muhammad explicitly said, “There is no compulsion in religion.” He further confirmed that admonition, “For you, your religion; and for me, my religion.” Why is it that as soon as you gathered enough power, you violated those exhortations and set out to force your belief and way of life on others at the point of the sword? You further conveniently ignored your own teaching by unsheathing your sword at “the people of the book”—Jews and Christians. You spared them death only if they converted or consented to pay you backbreaking religious taxes of jizya.

Your cruel successful subjugation of the people of the Arabian Peninsula whetted your appetite for further conquests. You ventured into the civilized world—to Persia, the Levant, Spain, and eventually to the gates of Vienna. Cruelty and terror were your instruments of policy—weapons you liberally use today whenever and wherever you are able.

Contempt and hostility toward non-Muslims living under your rule as well as those outside of your domain have characterized your attitude and behavior throughout the history. Isn’t it enough? Is it not now the time to stand back and take a good look at what is the root cause of this pathological state of affairs?

Life is precious. It is to be protected, nurtured and celebrated. Mankind is moving, perhaps at a glacier pace, toward reconciliation, ever-expanding inclusiveness without any group or ideology imposing itself on others. Any attempt against this trend of unity in diversity is doomed to failure, as exemplified by the demise of fascism and communism.

Your charter, the Quran, in some parts, preaches discrimination, death and imposition of its dogma on everyone. The political system of Islam, just like fascism and communism, is a dysfunctional ideology that needs to be abandoned. Humanity has matured considerably since the time of Muhammad. In order to continue its forward march, mankind must follow a roadmap appropriate for its age and state of development. It is foolish to insist that a book written over 1400 years ago must serve as the one and only guide for humanity.

Progress thrives in a marketplace of free ideas, where beliefs and viewpoints, not people, clash. It is through the unimpeded clash of ideas that the best decisions and actions are reached. Political Islam is anathema to this invaluable principle. By forcing itself on any and all people it could, Islam violated this vital principle and it aims to continue to do so to this day. Islam’s inflexible and intolerant dogmatism is at the heart of Islamic world’s stagnation and backwardness. It is evident that staying put, so to speak, does not allow going forward. It is not the non-Muslim world, the convenient scapegoat, but Islam itself which is the culprit for your chronic ills.

The non-Muslims of the twenty first century treasure freedom in all its forms and are not going to lend their necks passively to the yoke of blind obedience and imitation.

Is the present argument too difficult to understand? Is it too threatening to the security of your mindset to concede its validity? Please have the courage and take that fateful step. Inhale the life-nurturing fragrance of freedom. Islam is a slaveholder. It feels that it owns you; it condemns you as apostate to be beheaded if you dare to leave its chains. The non-Muslims, by contrast, respect you as a free human and support your inalienable right to believe whatever you want to believe—even if it is a non-belief. If you still wish to wrap yourself in your suffocating security blanket—Islam—please keep it to yourself and refrain from forcing it on others.

Written for the American Thinker by Amil Imani, an Iranian-born American citizen who resides in the United States.

Is it true that Muslims have to live under a dictatorship to exist peacefully with other human beings?

Are they truly showing they can't govern themselves and respect the lives of others in Iraq and the middle east in general?

Is the death and destruction, all in the name of God Allah, really justified in the Islamic world.

Daily news headlines like this:
"Violence in Iraq spinning out of control" are becoming more frequent in this Islamic "Democracy" called Iraq.

A Sunni driver lures Shiites into a van by promising jobs — then blows it up, killing 53 people. Sunni gunmen spray bullets and grenades at shoppers, not caring that they include women and children. Shiite death squads roam Baghdad streets, singling out and slaughtering Sunnis.

The new unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds was supposed to bring Iraqis together. Instead, sectarian bloodletting is spiraling out of control.

In the last two days alone, more than 120 people were killed in two spectacular examples of Sunni-Shiite violence — 53 in the suicide van bombing Tuesday in Kufa and 50 in the massacre Monday in the market in Mahmoudiya.

Since then, at least 19 more have been slain in Mahmoudiya in what police say were reprisals for the market massacre. Their bodies were found by police, scattered in different parts of town.

Each faction blames the occupation, while Iraqis continue killing Iraqis, just because they can.

It has been said that due to Iraq's diverse population, a true democracy would be the best system for the Iraqi people and Iraqi Muslims in general. In Iraq there are Arab, Kurd, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, along with minorities of many other religions and ethnic groups. This, by definition, should be the "ideal environment" for a true democracy to thrive.

However, it appears that this is not as feasible in practice as in theory. Islamic Muslims have a problem with the word "Equality."

The concept of democracy in the Middle East by some Muslims is defined as the dictatorial rule of the majority over a minority rather than equal rights for all. Even when there is a minority representation in the government as in Iraq today, it is simply dismissed and treated as nothing more than window dressing. The problem exist as a fact that for thousands of years Muslim societies have always been controlled by dictators. Some good... most not so good.

In a telling piece, Amir Taheri writes about Islam and Democracy:
THE IMPOSSIBLE UNION

Democracy is based on one fundamental principle: equality.

The idea of equality is unacceptable to Islam. For the non-believer cannot be the equal of the believer. Even among the believers only those who subscribe to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, known as the "people of the book" (Ahl el-Kitab), are regarded as fully human. Here, too, there is a hierarchy, with Muslims at the top.

Non-Muslims can, and have often been, treated with decency, but never as equals. There is a hierarchy even for animals and plants. Seven animals and seven plants will assuredly go to heaven while seven others of each will end up in hell.

Democracy means the rule of the demos, the common people, or what is now known as popular or national sovereignty. In Islam, however, power belongs only to God: al-hukm l'illah. The man who exercises that power on Earth is known as Khalifat al-Allah, the regent of God. Even then the Khalifah, or Caliph, cannot act as legislator. The law has already been spelt out and fixed forever by God.

But the bottom line is that no Islamic government can be democratic in the sense of allowing the common people equal shares in legislation. Islam divides human activities into five categories from the permitted to the sinful, leaving little room for human interpretation, let alone ethical innovations.

To say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men, which is democracy.

The great Persian poet Rumi pleads thus:
Oh, God, do not leave our affairs to us
For, if You do, woe is us.

Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space shared by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Islam is incompatible with democracy.

The latter part of the this article pretty much says it all!

If Iraq were to succeed as a true democracy, it would be a true milestone in Muslim history.

As the Israeli air force continues tightening the noose around Lebanon by striking at strongholds in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered, the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the UN for help and to ask for foreign aid.

Saniora publicly criticized both Israel and Hezbollah and threatened to send the Lebanese army to the southern border to stabilize all of Lebanon. Hezbollah has effectively had control over the south border for many years.

Whether the Lebanese people knew it or not, Hezbollah had been training and planning an attack on Israel for a long time, and that time had arrived last Wednesday. The fact that they were about to subject their own people to another bloody war apparently was not a major concern.

Lebanon plunged back to bloody past

It was with the first sip of her morning coffee that Kokhi Hatan saw the Israeli tank explode before her eyes.

"The tank had moved only few metres into a firing position when it was blown to bits by a huge mine," she said.

The drama she watched from her back garden in the Galilee border village of Shtulah last Wednesday, as Hezbollah gunmen ambushed an Israeli patrol on the road running along the frontier with Lebanon, was the trigger for the worst crisis in the region for two decades.

Sources in Hezbollah, the radical Islamic organisation that runs a state within a state in Lebanon, say the attack was five months in the planning. The purpose was to seize hostages and hold them to ransom for prisoners in Israel.

The Hezbollah assault unit had clearly done their reconnaissance. After infiltrating overnight, they smashed Israeli security cameras that monitor the border and hid in a peach orchard to wait for two Israeli armoured Hummers to begin a daily 9am patrol.

The border area had been mostly quiet since May 2000, when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. Now the Hatans, an Israeli Kurdish family, watched in horror.

"They waited in the best location," said Assaf, Hatan's husband, pointing to a curve in the patrol road through his fields.

The two Hummers were hit by rocket-propelled grenades and went up in flames. Three soldiers were killed outright and two taken prisoner by the Hezbollah unit, which crossed back into Lebanon before a nearby Israeli base even knew what was happening.

The attack made clear how well-trained and equipped Hezbollah has become with the help of Iran, its main backer, since the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. It has built outposts along the border, in some places less than 100m from the Israelis.

Leader: Hezbollah Has 'Complete Strength'

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah urged Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support his guerrillas, saying Sunday that his group is fighting Israel on their behalf and that the battle has just begun.

A confident-looking Nasrallah said in a speech aired on his Al-Manar TV that Hezbollah guerrillas were at their "full strength" and that the group had "no choice" but to hit the northern Israeli city of Haifi with rockets Sundayh after Israel struck civilians in Lebanon.

Facing criticism by some in Lebanon that Hezbollah dragged the country into a fight with Israel by snatching two soldiers last week, Nasrallah sought to rally Lebanese and the Arab annd Islamic world behind his fighters., painted the battle as a chance for the Arab and Islamic world to deal a defeat to Israel.

"You Arab and Muslim people must take a position toward your future, the future of your children," he said. "The peoples of the Arab and Islamic world have a historic opportunity to score a defeat against the Zionist enemy ... We are providing the example."

"Hezbollah is not fighting a battle for Hezbollah or even for Lebanon but for the Islamic nation," he said.

"We will use all means," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an address on Lebanese television. "As long as the enemy has no limits, we will have no limits."

In the meantime the Lebanese Prime Minister sits on his hands waiting for others to do something, while his country gets destroyed little by little.

It may be time to SEND IN THE TROOPS Saniora.

Update: Hezbollah appears in control of Lebanon

Hezbollah and its backers, not the government, now appear in control of Lebanon's fate.

After moderating their stance in recent years, the guerrillas surged back to the war front with a surprise attack on Israel and a sophisticated arsenal, leaving Lebanon's politicians and army looking nearly powerless. The government seems paralyzed over how to deal with Hezbollah, whose Shiite Muslim fighters have had near autonomy in the south for more than a decade.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah acted Sunday like the man holding Lebanon's reins, though he looked tired and stressed as he vowed that his group had only begun to fight.

Update: Russia, France and Spain to mention only a few world leaders claim Israel is mounting a Disproportionate Response, I say, Bull Sh...

Captain Ed has more: Israel Prepares Ground Offensive Into Lebanon
MM has this: G8 LEADERS: RETURN ISRAELI SOLDIERS