THE THREAT LEVEL OF JIHAD

By Michelle Malkin

***scroll for updates, including new info from Annie Jacobsen (remember Flight 327?)***

So, DHS has raised the threat level. President Bush addressed the foiled UK terror plot from Wisconsin today (Allah has the video):

President Bush this morning said the terror plot uncovered in Britain is a "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

Bush thanked British officials for breaking up the plot and also praised American agencies for their cooperation in the case.

"This country is safer than it was prior to 9-11," Bush said. "We have taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we're not completely safe, because there are people who still plot. It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America."

Bush also asked travelers to be patient with the inconveniences caused by the response to the terror threat.

"The American people need to know we're living in a dangerous world, but our government will do everything it can to protect the people from that danger," Bush said while standing on the tarmac of Austin Straubel International Airport.

More:

"This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation," he said, his remarks carried live on television.

Watch the video. Several readers have e-mailed that he sounded shaky and stumbly. At least he got the "I"-word in there. But I stopped using the terms "Islamic fascist" and "Islamofascism" a while ago, though, because they obscure rather than clarify. The views held by the Muslim jihadis who want to destroy us are not marginal views held only by a minority of "Islamic fascists." Read the polls:

Diana West noted on the 7/7 London terror bombing anniversary:

Just in time for the one-year anniversary of 7/7, a poll conducted for The Times of London indicates that 13 percent of British Muslims believe that the four Islamic suicide bombers who murdered 52 people in London last July should be regarded as "martyrs."

With a Muslim population in Britain estimated at 1.6 million, this means that some 208,000 British Muslims regard these killers with what can only be described as a worshipful attitude. Which is despicable. But Mother England, it seems, is home to an awful lot of despicable people.

One of them, surely, is Anjem Choudary, who made related news this week. Choudary is a former leader of Al Mujahiroun -- a defunct, jihad-inciting group, whose venomous pronouncements on Islamic supremacy have earned him a strange prominence in the British media. He refuses to condemn the 7/7 attacks, says Muslims shouldn't help police combat jihad terror, and advocates sharia (Islamic law) for Britain. During a BBC "Newsnight" appearance this year, the host asked Choudary why he didn't simply move to a sharia state like Iran.

"Who says you own Britain, anyway?" Choudary replied. "Britain belongs to Allah. The whole world belongs to Allah. ... If I go to the jungle, I'm not going to live like the animals, I'm going to propagate a superior way of life. Islam is a superior way of life."

And listen to this guy.

Read these interesting reflections from Eteraz, a Muslim blogger on the British Muslim problem:

Something is rotten among the state of British Muslims. There is the imminent terror plot to blow up planes at a massive scale. There was 7/7. There are British Muslims going off to fight on behalf of Hizbollah. There were British Muslims going off to fight in Iraq. There were British Muslims going off to Afghanistan (although British Muslims are also part of the British army). How did it happen that a bunch of university educated First World kids started seeing themselves as some sort of revolutionists?

Many Brits, for some foolish reason, pin the blame on British foreign policy. Oh, if only our foreign policy did not mimic the American foreign policy, we would stop producing home grown terrorists, because they would have no reason to hate us. Wrong. Dead wrong.

For jihadists, every day is a Code Red day. Jihad has been knocking for centuries.

We need a National Dhimmi Advisory before it's too late.

***

Remember Annie Jacobsen and Flight 327? Jacobsen wrote extensively of her experience on the plane, where a Syrian band acted strangely during take-off and landings--taking turns in the restroom with a McDonald's bag. Jacobsen surmised that the men were on a "dry run" practicing to build bombs on board the plane, Bojinka-style. Jacobsen wrote a book on the case and updated the story earlier this month. Interesting in light of today's events:

Since my original flight from Detroit to Los Angeles on Northwest Airlines flight 327 on June 29, 2004, I have been searching high and low for answers. I was thrilled when, during a visit to my home by four DHS agents, I learned that the Inspector General's office was investigating my flight. In May of this year, the 22-month, 44-page report of the investigation was released -- sort of. The report was originally written in two parts: one that contained classified information and a second that was unclassified. But just before its release, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) classified the entire report, according to Tamara Falkner, Congressional Affairs Liaison and Media and Public Outreach of the Inspector General's office of the DHS.

Of course, I am disappointed that you, and I, and the other passengers on the flight will not be privy to the information in that report. But more importantly, I have to wonder: Why classify a report about a flight where nothing happened, as stated numerous times by the FBI and various government officials?

See also the Brutally Honest blog.

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Previous today:

"Imminent," "massive" jihad UK plot foiled;
goal: "mass murder on an unimaginable scale"