The Religion of Peace

[Ryan Ruck]

14 Year Old Assyrian Christian Boy Decapitated By Muslim Group

According to the Assyrian website ankawa.com, a 14 year old Christian Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, from Baquba, Iraq was decapitated at his work place on October 21.

Ayad Tariq was working his 12 hour shift, maintaining an electric generator, when a group of disguised Muslim insurgents walked in at the beginning of his shift shortly after 6 a.m. and asked him for his ID.

According to another employee who witnessed the events, and who hid when he saw the insurgents approach, the insurgents questioned Ayad after seeing that his ID stated "Christian", asking if he was truly a "Christian sinner." Ayad replied "yes, I am Christian but I am not a sinner." The insurgents quickly said this is a "dirty Christian sinner!" Then they proceeded to each hold one limb, shouting "Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" while beheading the boy.

[American Patriot]

Beheaded (3 Christian) girls 'Ramadan trophies', court hears (wanted 100 more)
The Australian ^ | November 9, 2006 | Stephen Fitzpatrick



THREE Christian high school girls were beheaded as a Ramadan "trophy" by Indonesian militants who conceived the idea after a visit to Philippines jihadists, a court heard yesterday.

The girls' severed heads were dumped in plastic bags in their village in Indonesia's strife-torn Central Sulawesi province, along with a handwritten note threatening more such attacks. The note read: "Wanted: 100 more Christian heads, teenaged or adult, male or female; blood shall be answered with blood, soul with soul, head with head."

Javanese trader Hasanuddin appeared in Jakarta Central Court yesterday charged with planning and directing the murders in October last year. He faces a death sentence if found guilty under anti-terrorism legislation.


Hasanuddin allegedly returned from a visit to members of Philippines Islamist group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front with tales of how that organisation regularly staged bombings to coincide with Lebaran, the festival that ends the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He later spoke with a preacher in Poso, Central Sulawesi, about whether such a plan could work in Indonesia, but expressed doubt about whether it was appropriate. However, after further discussion with friends, he decided that beheading Christians could qualify as an act of Muslim charity.

Conscripting several accomplices at a local pesantren, or Islamic school, he directed one of them, Lilik Purnomo, to seek out "the head of a Christian", prosecutors alleged. "It would be a great Lebaran trophy if we got a Christian. Go search for the best place for us to find one," Hasanuddin allegedly ordered his companion. Lilik returned to say he had found an "excellent" target - a group of schoolgirls who travelled to and from class by foot in the Central Sulawesi village of Gebong Rejo.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...

[American Patriot]

Click here:

[falcon]

Bush empowering terrorists,
charges vocal Muslim critic
Wafa Sultan says 'religion of peace' pronouncement
undermines her efforts to battle religion's 'barbarism'

---

Posted: November 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Wafa Sultan in February appearance on Al-Jazeera

President Bush is undermining criticism vital to the survival of Western civilization and empowering terrorist leaders by proclaiming Islam a "religion of peace," says one of the most outspoken critics to emerge from the Muslim world in recent years.
Wafa Sultan, a native of Syria, seized attention worldwide in February when her electrifying interview on Al-Jazeera television spread across the Internet through a video clip produced by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Named this year to Time Magazine's list of 100 influential people in the world, Sultan spoke with WND after addressing a symposium on radical Islam in Las Vegas hosted by America's Truth Forum. She understands Bush's position as president and believes he is only trying to be diplomatic, but insists, nevertheless, his words are "empowering" Muslim leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world.
"I believe he undermines our credibility by saying that," said Sultan. "We came from Islam, and we know what kind of religion Islam is.

In her February Al-Jazeera appearance, which has brought her death threats, she asserted the world is witnessing "a battle between modernity and barbarism which Islam will lose."

The video clip is estimated to have been viewed at least 1 million times, according to the New York Times.
Sultan told WND she would urge Bush to take a closer look at Islamic culture and its general embrace of violence as a means of establishment and expansion.
"Facts are very stubborn things. Facts are facts," she said. "If you are not familiar with Islamic culture, how can you claim Islam is a peaceful religion?"
The White House declined WND's request to respond to Sultan's comments.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the president has made an effort to reach out to Muslim leaders at home and abroad to assure them the U.S. is not in a war against Islam.

Six days after 9-11, Bush told Muslims in remarks at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."
In an October 2002 speech in Washington, Bush said, "Islam is a vibrant faith. Millions of our fellow citizens are Muslim. We respect the faith. We honor its traditions. Our enemy does not. Our enemy doesn't follow the great traditions of Islam. They've hijacked a great religion."
But Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islam who also spoke at the Las Vegas conference, contends President Bush and other Western leaders don't need to make any pronouncements about the nature of Islam at all.
"They would be much wiser to limit themselves to declaring that their foes wish to impose Islamic sharia (law) rule upon their countries and the world, and that they are going to lead the resistance to that," Spencer writes in his best-selling, controversial book, "The Truth About Muhammad."
'This is your Quran'

Sultan, a psychiatrist, said that amid the death threats, she has received a flood of correspondence from Muslim men and women from around the world, using assumed names, who are "encouraging me to keep up doing what I am doing."
"Once they feel protected, they will come out and speak up, I believe," she said.
One e-mail came from a man in Morocco who said he grew up in a family of mullahs.
"He printed out all my articles and made a small book out of them," Sultan said. "He gave them to his 17-year-old son and he said, 'Son, from now on this is your Quran.'"
Sultan told the Nov. 10 America's Truth Forum symposium the turning point of her life came in 1979 when she was a medical student at the University of Aleppo in Syria and witnessed the murder of a teacher by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the terrorist organization founded in Egypt in 1928 that spawned groups such as al-Qaida, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Symbol of Muslim Brotherhood reads "... and be prepared"

"They filled his body with bullets while screaming "Allah is great,'" she said. "I was traumatized, and I started questioning what kind of god we worshiped."
Sultan came to the U.S. in 1989 with her husband, David, and they later became naturalized citizens.
"I decided to fight this ideology of hatred," she said, "and began to search for a new place to do what I do freely.
"And here I am doing what I do," she said to applause.
But Sultan admitted wounds remain.
"Islam is a very painful chapter of my life, and it doesn't matter how much I try to close this chapter and move on with my life – I will never be able to heal the ugly scar Islam left in my heart," she told the Las Vegas conferees.
Sultan contended, contrary to prevailing wisdom, Islam has been a major problem for the world since its inception more than 1,400 years ago.
"We need to find an effective way to deal with Islam, but it must be based on truth and honesty," she said.
Previous dialogue has failed, because it hasn't been based on truth, she said, and has ended up "empowering the fanatics."
"It's time to face the Islamic world and discuss with them the problems in the Islamic faith, without fear," said Sultan.

While many Muslim leaders and non-Muslim apologists insist terrorists have "hijacked" Islam, Sultan asserts people such as those who kidnapped and beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 are "true Muslims."
Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders are simply following the example of Muhammad, who "committed the most brutal acts against those who opposed him," she said.
By contrast, she told of meeting Pearl's mother, Ruth.
"The forgiveness and love she has in her heart is stunning," Sultan said. "She believes that by showing Muslims love and forgiveness they will see the faults and reform."
But Sultan cautioned that while many Muslims are inclined to this "civilized way of dealing with humans," the "thinking process doesn't fit with people who have been taught the true Muslim faith."
Speaking of Muslims in Western nations in particular, Sultan said regardless of how much help and benefit they receive from their country, they "will always be loyal first to Islam."
In Islam, as taught in the Quran, she said, there is no guilt toward any action against non-Muslims.
Peace, she said, is impossible to achieve with true Muslim believers.
"You must realize that for the Israelis to make peace with Palestinians, they must make peace with every Muslim country in the world. The Iranian president says Israel must be wiped out. What did Israel do to Iran?"
Muslims, she said, are coming to the U.S. and using the country's constitutional freedom of religion to advance an alien system that seeks political dominance.
It's time to "define what constitutes a religion," Sultan urged.
"Please don't let your civilized way become your worst enemy and become a weak point in protecting the country and the rest of the world," she concluded.
'Islamophobic'
Some of Sultan's critics complain she has no authority to criticize Islam because she no longer is a Muslim. Los Angeles Times' reporter Teresa Watanabe argued Sultan had "never been connected with progressive Islamic groups and does not know the writings of Islam's most respected voices of reform."
In an interview with CNN, Hussam Eyloush of the Council on Islamic Relations' Los Angeles office called Sultan "Islamophobic" and insisted "reform is alive and well within Islam, but it will only happen by those from within Islam and not those who hate Islam."

Sultan's February interview found her squaring off with Al-Jazeera host Faisal al-Qasim and Islamic scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli about Samuel P. Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory. The exchange took place on the 90-minute discussion program "The Opposite Direction," with Sultan speaking via satellite from Los Angeles.

Sultan: "The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations," she said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete." Al-Qasim: "I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?"

Sultan: "Yes, that is what I mean."
Al-Qasim: "Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind. ..."
Sultan: "The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: 'I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger.' When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to stop this war, they must re-examine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=52962

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

[Sean Osborne]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2023831
Disembowelled, then torn apart: The price of daring to teach girls

By Kim Sengupta in Afghanistan

Published: 29 November 2006

The Independent

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

Mr Halim was one of four teachers killed in rapid succession by the Islamists at Ghazni, a strategic point on the routes from Ghazni, Kabul to the south and east which has become the scene of fierce clashes between the Taliban and US and Afghan forces.

The day we arrived, an Afghan policemen and eight insurgents died during an ambush in an outlying village. Rockets were found, primed to be fired into Ghazni City during a visit by the American ambassador a few days previously.
But, as in the rest of Afghanistan, it is the civilians who are bearing the brunt of this conflict. At the village of Qara Bagh, the family of Mr Halim are distraught and terrified. His cousin, Ahmed Gul, shook his head: "They killed him like an animal. No, no. We do not kill animals like that, it would be haram. They took away a father and a husband, they had no pity. We are all very worried. Please go now, you see those men standing over there? They are watching. It is dangerous for you, and for us."

Fatima Mushtaq, the director of education at Ghazni, has had repeated death threats, the notorious "night letters". Her gender, as well as her refusal to send girls home from school, has made her a particular source of hatred for Islamist zealots.

"I think they killed him that way to frighten us, otherwise why make a man suffer so much? Mohammed Halim and his family were good friends of ours and we are very, very upset by what has happened. He came to me when the threats first began and asked what he should do. I told him to move somewhere safe. I think he was trying to arrange that when they came and took him," she said.

The threats against Ms Mushtaq also extend to her husband, Sayyid Abdul, and their eight children. "When the first letters arrived, I tried to hide them from my husband," she said. "But then he found the next few. He said we must stand together. We talked, and we decided that we must tell the children. So that they can be prepared, but it is not a good way for them to grow up."

Ms Mushtaq is familiar with the ways of the Taliban. During their rule she and her sister ran secret schools for girls at their home. The Taliban beat them for teaching the girls algebra.

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

Mr Halim was one of four teachers killed in rapid succession by the Islamists at Ghazni, a strategic point on the routes from Kabul to the south and east which has become the scene of fierce clashes between the Taliban and US and Afghan forces.

The day we arrived, an Afghan policemen and eight insurgents died during an ambush in an outlying village. Rockets were found, primed to be fired into Ghazni City during a visit by the American ambassador a few days previously.
But, as in the rest of Afghanistan, it is the civilians who are bearing the brunt of this conflict. At the village of Qara Bagh, the family of Mr Halim are distraught and terrified. His cousin, Ahmed Gul, shook his head: "They killed him like an animal. No, no. We do not kill animals like that, it would be haram. They took away a father and a husband, they had no pity. We are all very worried. Please go now, you see those men standing over there? They are watching. It is dangerous for you, and for us."

Fatima Mushtaq, the director of education at Ghazni, has had repeated death threats, the notorious "night letters". Her gender, as well as her refusal to send girls home from school, has made her a particular source of hatred for Islamist zealots.

"I think they killed him that way to frighten us, otherwise why make a man suffer so much? Mohammed Halim and his family were good friends of ours and we are very, very upset by what has happened. He came to me when the threats first began and asked what he should do. I told him to move somewhere safe. I think he was trying to arrange that when they came and took him," she said.

The threats against Ms Mushtaq also extend to her husband, Sayyid Abdul, and their eight children. "When the first letters arrived, I tried to hide them from my husband," she said. "But then he found the next few. He said we must stand together. We talked, and we decided that we must tell the children. So that they can be prepared, but it is not a good way for them to grow up."

Ms Mushtaq is familiar with the ways of the Taliban. During their rule she and her sister ran secret schools for girls at their home. The Taliban beat them for teaching the girls algebra.

[frankrm]

After reading this article maybe what Bush meant to say was that Islam is a religion of pieces.

[falcon]

The emblem on the PaliSecurity helmets

t's just a coincidence right?

Although I think only Vultures, and not Eagles, fly above Hamastan...

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, escaped indictment as a war criminal at Nuremberg by fleeing to Egypt, where he received political asylum and where he met the young Yasser Arafat, his distant cousin, who became a devoted protégé—to the point that the PLO recruited former Nazis as terrorist instructors. Up until the time of his death, Arafat continued to pay homage to the Grand Mufti as his hero and mentor.

Film Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51poygEXYU&eurl=

But then again... maybe it isn't a coincidence?



I can't imagine where that came from...



http://www.danegerus.com/weblog/Righ...=IslamoFascism

[frankrm]

Great post, wouldn't it be great if the news media had the balls to print this?

[American Patriot]

Here's the embedded movie

[frankrm]

Wow, great video. And it was broadcast in Germany of all places. What the heck is wrong with our media, what a bunch of cowards.

[American Patriot]

Texas Man Stages Pig Races to Protest Islamic Neighbor's Plans to Build Mosque

Friday, January 05, 2007

• E-MAIL STORY
• PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

FNC



Pigs race at a farm in Katy, Texas, in protest of plans to build a mosque next door.

• 
• 

KATY, Texas — When an Islamic group moved in next door and told Craig Baker the pigs on his family's 200-year-old Texas farm had to go, he and his swine decided to fight back.

In protest of being asked to move, Davis began staging elaborate pig races on Friday afternoons — one of the Islamic world's most holy days.


• Video: Oinkers Are Off to the Races

Craig's neighbors, the Katy Islamic Association, have plans to build a mosque and community compound on the 11 acres they purchased alongside his farm.


Baker, 46, a stone-shop owner whose family has owned the farm for two centuries, says the association knew about the pigs when they bought the property, and it's not fair for them to ask him to get rid of the animals.


"I am just defending my rights and my property," Baker said. "They totally disrespected me and my family."


Initially Baker and Kamel Fotouh, the president of the 500-member Islamic Association, were on good terms. But things turned sour at a town meeting, where Baker says Fotouh insulted him by asking him to move.


"That was the last straw for me ... calling me a liar, especially in front of three or four hundred people at that meeting," Baker said. "Mr. Fotouh said it would be a good idea if I considered packing up my stuff and moving out further to the country."


Fotouh says his group has to construct the mosque because the others in the Houston area don't provide the kind of environment they are looking for.
"We feel that these mosques are not fulfilling the needs of the community as they should. So, our vision is to have an integrated facility," said Fotouh.
He said the pig races no longer bother him or his members, and they're going ahead with their plans to construct the mosque.


Muslims do not hate pigs, he added, they just don't eat them.


Neighbors have been showing support for Baker's races, even coming in the pouring rain and giving donations ranging from $100 to $1000 to sponsor the events.


Last Friday, more than 100 attended the pig races, and many say they don't want the mosque either. Some fear it will appear out of place and hurt their property values.
FOXNews' Kim McIntyre contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

Journalists fined for insulting Islam
AP ^ | Jan. 15, 2007 | John Thorne

CASABLANCA, Morocco - The editor and a journalist at a Moroccan news weekly that published jokes relating to Islam were convicted Monday of insulting the religion, court officials said.

The court gave three-year suspended sentences to Driss Ksikes, editor of Nichane, and to journalist Sanaa al-Aji, court officials said.

Both were barred from any journalistic activity for two months and the independent Arab-language magazine was suspended for two months. They were fined $9,280 each.

The sentence was milder than the three to five years in prison that prosecutors had requested.

The journalists would not comment as they left the courthouse. Lawyer Taoufik Benyoub said they would appeal the verdict.

But Ksikes last week told The Associated Press that the 10-page article was meant as a thoughtful examination of Moroccan popular humor.

"We just wanted to explain what Moroccans laugh about," Ksikes said.

Prime Minister Driss Jettou ordered Nichane banned on Dec. 20 in response to complaints posted on an Islamist Web site, Khorafa.org, and complaints from the Kuwaiti government about the article. Ksikes and al-Aji were swiftly tried for insulting Islam, a crime in Morocco.

Morocco's National Press Union condemned the trial.

The trial and a government-supported libel suit against another magazine, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, have led to concerns that the North African kingdom may be backsliding on moves in recent years to relax long-standing restrictions on the media.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders has said that the government, by punishing Nichane, was seeking to burnish its Islamic credentials before parliamentary elections this year that the Islamist opposition Justice and Development Party is expected to win.

[American Patriot]

Thanks to HotAir.com:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/01/1...mbles-a-cross/
Saudis to ban letter “X” because it resembles a cross?

posted at 10:33 am on January 15, 2007 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend | printer-friendly

So says the New York Sun. The article’s already creeping up the charts at Memeorandum.


I had a yellow-badges flashback when I read it so I googled around to see if it’s true. And it is, I guess: the subject of the piece, Amr Mohammad al-Faisal, wrote about the incident for the Arab News…


…more than three years ago, which tends to undercut the Sun’s assertion that this is a “new development.” Also, does the name “al-Faisal” ring any bells? Turns out our friend Amr is no ordinary Saudi; he’s a prince. If he really cared about the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice overreacting to Christian symbolism, surely he could do more to try to rein them in than whine in the pages of the regime’s favorite English-language house organ.


Oh — he’s also been known to threaten Israel in print, so don’t cry too hard for him over that trademark application.

[American Patriot]

Jokes about Islam earn magazine two-month ban
news.scotsman.com ^ | Tue 16 Jan 2007 | ETHAN MCNERN

Tue 16 Jan 2007


Jokes about Islam earn magazine two-month ban ETHAN MCNERN A MOROCCAN court yesterday sentenced two journalists who published a list of popular jokes about Islam, sex and politics to suspended three-year jail terms and banned their magazine for two months.


Editors and journalists at Nichane, which means "as it is", had feared the worst when the state prosecutor said last week the magazine should be banned for good and the two journalists jailed for up to five years and forbidden from practising journalism. But the Casablanca court's presiding judge, Noureddine Ghassin, handed down a lighter sentence yesterday. As well as the two-month ban, he fined Nichane 80,000 Moroccan dirhams (£6,100).


Nichane's editor, Driss Ksikes, and reporter, Sanaa al-Aji, told the court last week the jokes were published merely to accompany an analysis of Moroccan society.


The magazine apologised to readers who may have been offended by the jokes after the article triggered indignation among conservative Muslims in Morocco and abroad.


Last month, the prime minister, Driss Jettou, ordered Nichane off news stands pending the trial.


This article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=79082007
Last updated: 16-Jan-07 00:06 GMT

[Ryan Ruck]

Jordanian Shoots Dead 17-Year-Old Daughter in Honor Killing

A father shot dead his 17-year-old daughter, having suspected her of having sex, and surrendered to the police in the latest case of the so-called "honor killings" that have brought international opprobrium on Jordan. An autopsy found the girl to be a virgin.

Weeks earlier the girl had returned home from a family protection clinic after doctors had vouched for virginity and the father had signed a pledge not to harm her, a state forensic pathologist said Thursday.

The father shot her four times in the head on Tuesday, said the pathologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the issue.

On Wednesday, an autopsy performed at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Amman showed "she was still a virgin," the pathologist added.

The authorities have not disclosed the names of the father or the daughter or even their town, saying only that they lived in a southern province.

The pathologist, who works at the institute, said in a phone interview that the girl had run away from home several times but he did not know the reason. She was brought to the Amman family protection clinic where her virginity was examined.

"The tests proved that she was a virgin," said the pathologist. She returned home only after her father signed a statement promising not to harm her, he added.

The crime is the first "honor killing" this year. On average about 20 women are killed by their relatives each year in Jordan where many men consider sex out of wedlock to be an almost indelible stain on a family's reputation. Women have been killed for simply dating.

Global human rights organizations have condemned such killings and appealed to King Abdullah II to put an end to them.

In response, the government has abolished a section in the penal code that allowed for "honor" killers to get sentences as lenient as six months in prison. Instead, the government has told judges to consider honor killings on a par with other homicides, which in Jordan are punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

But attempts to introduce harsher sentences have been blocked by conservative lawmakers who argue that tougher penalties would lead to promiscuity.

Queen Rania has also called for harsher punishment for such killers.

[Sean Osborne]

Muslim Cabbie Charged With Running Over Students After Religious Dispute

Monday, February 19, 2007






NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Muslim cabdriver from Somalia ran over two college students near Vanderbilt University after getting into an argument with them about religion, police said.


Ibrahim Ahmed, 37, a driver for United Cab, picked up two men near the Vanderbilt campus early Sunday morning, Capt. Mike Alexander of the Nashville Police Department said, referring to the incident report.

The two men, reportedly college students from Ohio who were visiting , were on their way back to the campus.

A conversation about religion ensued between the driver and his two fares. The local FOX affiliate in Nashville confirmed from a friend and fellow co-worker that Ahmed is a Sunni Muslim from .

At some point, according to the police, the two men exited the cab, and the cabbie also got out. They paid him his fare, and then they exchanged words.

According to the incident report, Ahmed then returned to his cab as the students fled on foot. Ahmed then allegedly drove across a parking lot, jumped a curb and struck the two men.

One of the students, identified as Jeremy Invus, was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Rivers told FOX News that Invus is recuperating and does not want to talk to the media about the incident.

Ahmed, charged with assault and attempted homicide, is being held on $300,000 bond. He also was also charged with theft because police said the license plate on his cab was listed as stolen.

"We are working with the police to see what happened," United Cab manager Cherrie Machado said.

"I don't believe he will be working here anymore, but that is up to the licensing cab board — whether they will pull his permit — and the owners of the company."

Machado said she would not feel "comfortable" to have Ahmed back working at the company. She noted that he also teaches English as a second language next door to the cab company.

FOX news' Sharon Fain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Ryan Ruck]

Wow, I hadn't even heard about this! Just another "isolated incident" I bet...

Thanks for posting it Sean!

I can't recall where I heard it but it was, I believe, on a national talk radio show that it was mentioned that in a terrorist training film that running people over and, if I recall correctly, attacking large crowds of people could prove to be successful methods for terrorizing the public. Look at what we have had happen recently...

< 24 > It's not Ahmed. It's AKHmed! < /24 >

[Sean Osborne]

Ryan,

Isn't it amazing how the MSM picked up and ran with this story. Nah, they'd rather chase a newly-bald Brittney Spears around.

Only FoxNews and AllHeadlineNews.com (AHN) have reported on this outside of local Tennesse media.

As with all such incidents, there more to this story than meets the eye first glance.

Here's another local Tennessee report.




http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps...47/1291/MTCN01

Tuesday, 02/20/07
Taxi driver had earlier Metro traffic charges

He's charged with trying to run over two passengers

By COLBY SLEDGE
Staff Writer


A Nashville taxi driver accused of trying to run over two students after a heated discussion over religion Sunday had at least two other run-ins with police during the past year, including a high-speed chase through downtown Nashville.

Ibrahim Ahmed, 37, is charged with attempted criminal homicide after police said he hit Ohio student Jeremie Invus with his United Cab Co. van about 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Another student, Andrew Nelson of Dayton, Ohio, dodged the van as it sped toward them.

Both students had been passengers in the cab.

Ahmed was accused in November 2006 of leading police on a chase down Broadway in downtown Nashville while in his taxi. During the chase, which ended on Interstate 65 north over the Cumberland River, Ahmed hit speeds of 100 mph before striking another vehicle, according to an affidavit.

He also was charged in June 2006 with driving on a suspended license and failing to stop his taxi for police, after officers said they saw Ahmed run a flashing red light on Demonbreun Street.

According to an affidavit, Ahmed had to be pulled out of the taxi after he refused to get out of the vehicle.

United Cab office manager Cherrie Machado said Ahmed had worked at that company only "two or three days" before Sunday's incident and that company officials did not know of his prior offenses. It was not immediately clear what company he worked for previously.

"Evidently we need to work on our policy," she said. "We've not had a situation like this before. We want to keep our drivers safe and our passengers safe — that's our policy.

"We may just need to do some further screening on our own instead of depending on the licensing board."

Drivers are screened

Machado said the company relies on the Metropolitan Transportation Licensing Commission to conduct background and license checks before issuing permits to potential drivers. Permits are good for one year, she said, but she didn't know if the drivers had to undergo any sort of review to renew the permit.

Most officials associated with the Metropolitan Transportation Licensing Commission were not available Monday because of the holiday.
But one commission member reached Monday said the permit process requires only drivers with a history of relatively serious criminal trouble to be approved by the full, seven-member commission.

Drivers with less serious backgrounds are typically granted permits by commission director Brian McQuistion or other staff, said James Utley, who has served on the commission since 1999.

"If the drivers have a record that's just sort of on the fence — not a real record, maybe something sort of minor — they would approve that themselves," he said. "But something that would be in the felony type — bad drivers and tickets and sorts of things — they bring it to the commission."

Utley said he did not recall seeing Ahmed for a permit approval hearing. He also did not know how much scrutiny drivers are subject to during the annual renewal of the permits or whether criminal histories are checked each year.

Courts were closed Monday because of the holiday, and the status of Ahmed's prior cases could not be immediately determined.
A disciplinary hearing for Ahmed is scheduled during the commission's Feb. 27 meeting.

Talk 'became heated'

According to Metro officer John Pepper's report of Sunday's incident, the three men had a conversation about religion while in the taxi that "became heated." Shortly after the men paid Ahmed, he chased them in his van across the parking lot and over a curb, striking Invus.

Although Ahmed's religion was not known [Take a wild freaking guess, eh, Mr. Sledge? Or read the other wire reports - he's a Sunni Muslim from Somalia.] , Metro police spokeswoman Kris Mumford said one of the students is Catholic and the other is Lutheran. She said she did not know which was which.

Invus suffered a broken ankle, a hip injury and abrasions in the incident and was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Monday evening.

When contacted by The Tennessean, a self-described family member who answered Jeremie Invus' cell phone declined to comment about the incident and would only say that Invus was in stable condition.

Ahmed, who is in Metro Jail on $302,000 bond, also faces aggravated assault and theft charges after police discovered the tag on his van was stolen. Machado said she did not know where the stolen plate came from.