Bits on the islamomadness

Iraq has gone to the polls and hears hoping that they take the chance to vote for a better future for themselves. Iraq's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard Saturday to decide the fate of a new constitution aimed at establishing democracy after more than two decades of Saddam Hussein's repressive rule.

A day that U.S. and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.

Insurgents attacked five of Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations with shootings and bombs, wounding seven voters. But the only deaths were those of three Iraqi soldiers in a roadside bomb far from a polling site, and there were no major attacks reported as U.S. and Iraqi forces clamped down with major security measures around balloting sites.

The United States hopes the constitution will be approved so Iraqis can form a permanent, representative government and secure the country so Washington can start withdrawing its 150,000 troops.

In the south, Shiite women in head-to-toe veils and men emerged from the poll stations flashing victory signs with fingers stained with purple ink, apparently responding in mass to the call by their top cleric to support the charter.

But in Sunni areas in Baghdad and several key heavily Sunni provinces, a surprisingly high turnout in some areas seemed to consist largely of Iraqis voting "no" because of fears the new constitution would mean setting in stone the Shiite domination they fear.

The Government has banned 15 terror groups, its a start but this gutless shower that is supposed to protect the citizens of this country has yet to deport a single cleric....The banned groups are:

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain

Ansar Al-Islam

Al Ittihad Al Islamia

Islamic Jihad Union

Ansar Al Sunna

Hezb-e Islamia Gulbuddin

Harakat ul Muhajideen/Alami

Jundallah

Sipah-e Sahaba Pakistan

Lashkar-e Jhangvi

Khuddam u-Islam

Jamaat ul Furquan

Harakat ul Jihad ul Islami

Harakat ul Islami (Bangladesh)

HOLLAND’S Muslims have responded with outrage to government proposals to ban the burqa, and there are fears that Rita Verdonk, the minister behind the move, will be added to a list of “enemies of Islam” targeted for assassination.

The country was on high alert yesterday after talk of a burqa ban coincided with the arrest of a group suspected of planning to murder two politicians.

Verdonk, known as “Iron Rita” for her hardline immigration policies, has been accused by Muslim groups of pandering to the far right by demanding an investigation into whether Holland should become the first European country to prohibit the burqa, a covering worn by some Muslim women that leaves only a strip of gauze for the eyes.

And more on the tolerance and justice of the middle east...

AMMAN -- A Jordanian man who murdered his sister for being a prostitute got a reduced jail sentence because he killed her in a "fit of rage", the Jordan Times reported on Wednesday, citing court papers.

The man, who was not identified, committed the crime in April and then turned himself in to police citing reasons of family honor, the newspaper said.

He was initially charged with premeditated murder but the court accused him of a misdemeanor and sentenced him to six months in prison in line with Article 98 of the penal code "because the defendant killed his sister in a fit of rage", it said. ...

"The victim ruined her honor with immoral behavior and by practicing prostitution, which harmed her brother's feelings. Her actions constituted a dangerous unlawful act," the court said.

And in tolerant Iran...

Iran's new police chief has vowed to crack down on illicit alcohol, music CDs and parties where people of the opposite sex mingle, months after promising a policy which would respect people's privacy.

"The crackdown will be on corruption centres where mixed parties are held and gangs distribute alcohol and CDs," ISNA student news agency quoted Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam as saying.

"Young Iranians are victims of moral corruption. We will strongly react against it," he said.

Ahmadi-Moqaddam had promised when he took office in July an ethical and modern police force which would respect people's privacy, countering fears he may roll back fragile social freedoms in the Islamic state. ...

Parties where people of the opposite sex mingle or drink alcohol are regularly raided by police or basij militia.

Ahmadi-Moqaddam is a former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards and acting commander of its militia wing, the basij, who are often used to enforce strict religious codes.

TEHRAN, Iran - Two bombs planted inside trash bins exploded Saturday at a shopping mall near the Iraqi border that was previously targeted by extremists, killing four people and wounding at least 102, Iranian state television reported.

The explosions struck a shopping center in central Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province. Shops in Naderi street and cars outside were damaged. Some of the injured were in critical condition, the broadcast said, showing pools of blood on the pavement. ...

State television said the bombs went off five minutes apart at the Karoun Mall, the site of four bombings in June that killed at least eight people.

Iranian security officials blamed those attacks — the deadliest in the nation in more than a decade — on Iranian Arab extremists with ties to foreign governments, including British intelligence. **Yeah whatever.

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