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"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/wl_nm/pope_islam_dc_22
Well this is some pretty serious claims. I think these guys are being rash in their declaration. i think they are in for a rude awakening. but regardless this looks crazy.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/wl_nm/pope_islam_dc_22
Well this is some pretty serious claims. I think these guys are being rash in their declaration. i think they are in for a rude awakening. but regardless this looks crazy.
Iraq al-Qaida says pope, West are doomed
By ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 21 minutes ago
An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.
The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."
Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, shops, businesses and schools shut down in response to a strike call by the head of a hard-line Muslim separatist leader to denounce Benedict. For the third day running, people burned tires and shouted "Down with the pope."
Protests also broke out in Iraq, where angry demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in Basra, and in Indonesia, where more than 100 people rallied in front of the heavily guarded Vatican Embassy in Jakarta, waving banners that said the "Pope is building religion on hatred."
The pope on Sunday said he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his speech last week in which he cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman" and referred to spreading Islam "by the sword."
Benedict said the remarks came from a text that didn't reflect his own opinion.
"I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect," he said during his weekly appearance before pilgrims in Italy.
The statement of regret the pope's second in two days helped ease some tensions.
In Turkey, where outrage against Benedict's remarks had been swift, Catholic bishops decided Monday that no changes were necessary in his upcoming visit in November his first to a Muslim country, Vatican spokesman George Marovic said.
Marovic said the trip was expected to go on as planned, and the bishops had discussed the details of a religious ceremony the pontiff is to lead in Istanbul.
However, State Minister Mehmet Aydin, who oversees the religious affairs in Turkey, said he expected Turkish authorities to cancel the visit if Benedict does not offer a full apology.
"We are expecting the authorities to unilaterally cancel this visit. The pope's coming to Turkey isn't going to foment the uniting of civilizations, but a clash of civilizations," he said.
The secretary-general of the Turkish HUKUK-DER law association submitted a request to the Justice Ministry asking that the pope be arrested upon entering Turkey.
The appeal by Fikret Karabekmez, a former legislator for the banned pro-Islamic Welfare Party, called for Benedict to be tried under several Turkish laws, among them obstruction of freedom of belief, encouraging discrimination based on religion, and inciting religious hatred.
A prosecutor in the ministry will evaluate the request and decide whether to open a case.
Angry reactions also persisted in other corners of the Muslim world, where many demanded more of an apology by the pope than Sunday's statement of regret.
"Muslims have all this while felt oppressed, and the statement by the pope saying he is sorry about the angry reaction is inadequate to calm the anger more so because he is the highest leader of the Vatican," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
More than 200 Muslims staged a sit-in at a shrine in Damascus, Syria, heeding a call by the Damascus office of Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A statement issued by the office urged the pope to "openly and plainly apologize for his remarks."
Protesters also rallied in the city of Muzaffarabad, in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir. "His apology is not sufficient because he did not say that what he said was wrong," said Uzair Ahmed of Pasban-e-Hurriyat, a Pakistani political group.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI sent a letter to the Vatican in which he implored Benedict to show "the same respect for Islam that you have for the other religions," Moroccan media reported. Morocco withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican over the weekend.
Even in China, where the government exerts tight controls over religious activities, a top religious official said Benedict had insulted the nation's Muslims.
"This has gravely hurt the feelings of the Muslims across the world, including those from China," Chen Guangyuan, president of Islamic Association of China, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Xinhua news agency.
In the Middle East, where Muslims threw firebombs at seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend, Christian leaders posted guards outside some churches.
"We are afraid," said Sonia Kobatazi, a Christian Lebanese, after Mass at the Maronite Christian St. George Cathedral in Beirut, Lebanon, where about a dozen policemen carrying automatic weapons stood guard.
___
Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Aijaz Hussain in Srinigar, India, Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul, Turkey, and Slobodan Lekic in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."
Then we carpet bomb the entire Middle East with bacon
Let see this for what it really is, The next Crusade! The battle for ideology, culture and religion. Its not going away anytime soon people, so let's deal with it, with overwhelming military force and determination we had in WW2.
islam has little or no impact on Western society. You guys give it way more credit than it deserves.
islam has little or no impact on Western society. You guys give it way more credit than it deserves.
Seriously though, tell the people at ground zero that islam has little or no impact on western society.
Absolutely! Except that Islam knocked down the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, killed commuters in the London subways and in Spain and what was that burning smell in France this past spring... the smell of young Islamic youth burning cars.....islam has little or no impact on Western society. You guys give it way more credit than it deserves.
Probably the same impact western society has had on Iraq with 40,000 civilian deaths since the invasion fo Iraq. I'm talking more every day life/culturally. Islam has had no impact on my every day life. I can read what I like, eat what I like, pray or not pray...No western civilisation (including Europe) has had any tangible negative affects of Islam in their every day life. Islam is only militant in the ME and parts of the former Soviet Republic, and even small parts of India. Outsida that, nada. Sure, it has made Westerners more aware of them, and there has been the odd attack (in London, the Cole and 9-11), but they would argue (especially Bin Laden) that it is a direct result of Western influence in their part of the world. I believe that if the west hadn't/wasn't propping up the likes of Saudi Arabia 9-11 would never have happened. No, Islam has had minimal impact on the west culturally. The Chicken Little crowd tend to take the extremists in any cause and treat them as the norm. AQ et al are not the norm.
you say that like US soldiers have run around and shot 40,000 iraqi's....watch the nightly news dude it is their own people killing their own people......your argument is that if not for our intervention they would not be killing their own people.....explain that to all the folks in the mass graves courtesy of sadam.....
Religion of Peace
islam has little or no impact on Western society. You guys give it way more credit than it deserves.
