See previous: 2007.05.11 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup 

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

• Iraqi Parliament Objects to Baghdad Walls
• SCIRI splits with Iran, swears loyalty to Sistani [?]
• Church sign about Islam offends Muslims
• Tufts paper guilty of “harassment” for publishing unpleasant facts about Islam
• More on those Fort Dix Terrorists
• VDH: The Creation of an Al Qaedist
• Iraqi Official Says Syria Supporting Insurgents
• Sharia creep on campus
• Ilario Pantano Asks for Help
• Iraqi Leaders: We Need Time

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Iraqi Parliament Objects to Baghdad Walls

WASHINGTON —  Iraq's parliament objected Saturday to the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods and called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to testify about other security issues.

Construction of the walls — particularly in the Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah — has been criticized by residents and Sunni clerics who say it is a form of sectarian discrimination. Even followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr complained, fearing their strongholds in the capital will soon be split by the barriers.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have defended the construction of the barriers, which began last month, as a temporary measure to protect the neighborhood during the 12-week-old security crackdown in Baghdad. When the wall is finished, Azamiyah will be gated and checkpoints manned by Iraqi soldiers will be the only entries, the U.S. military said, stressing that the decision was made in coordination with the Iraqis.

Parliament took up the issue Saturday in a raucous session that included debate on the continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq, security raids and human rights abuses. Lawmakers interrupted each other and speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhdani struggled to maintain order. ...

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Bombshell: SCIRI splits with Iran, swears loyalty to Sistani 
Allahpundit

Huge news. To refresh: SCIRI is the name of one of Iraq’s biggest Shiite parties, short for the “Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.” It was formed in Iran in the early 1980s by Iraqi Khomeinists with the goal of replacing Saddam with Iranian-style clerical rule. Since the invasion, it’s presented itself as a peaceful, mainstream political party (successfully enough to earn its party leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, a trip to the White House in December) while maintaining a militia — the Badr Organization, a.k.a. Badr Brigades — that functions as Sadr’s only serious rival for Shiite paramilitary dominance. Having kept counsel with the mullahs through the years, they’re widely suspected of being Iran’s chief proxy in Iraq.

Which makes this a rather atomic bombshell:

Iraq’s most powerful Shi’ite party will make key changes to its platform, party officials said on Friday, in a move that will increasingly align it with Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani…

Under the new platform, the party would get its guidance from the Shi’ite religious establishment as before, but more from Sistani, SCIRI officials said.

That would mark a shift from SCIRI’s current platform, which says the group gets its guidance from the religious establishment of Welayat al Faqih, led by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.

They’re also changing their name to the “Supreme Islamic Iraq Council,” ...

[Read the whole thing.] 

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Church sign about Islam offends Muslims
Michelle Malkin

Several North Carolina readers send word of this WRAL report about a church in Spring Hope that is rankling local Muslims. The church's sign is causing controversy:

Well, as Robert Spencer has noted, Muhammad did in fact command Muslims to subjugate, convert, or kill non-Muslims (see, e.g., Sahih Muslim 4294). And salvation in Jesus Christ is certainly not the message of Islam.

The other side of the billboard at Good News Independent Baptist Church is equally provocative. It reads: "When is the last time you heard of a Jew or Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?" ...

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Tufts paper guilty of “harassment”
for publishing unpleasant facts about Islam
Allahpundit

The occasion was “Islamic Awareness Week” on campus, a cause to which the conservative student newspaper, The Primary Source, merrily contributed. That thoughtcrime, coupled with an anti-affirmative-action Christmas carol published in the December issue, earned it a hearing before the college’s Committee on Student Life. Verdict: guilty of “harassment.” Sentence: a requirement that all pieces published henceforth in TPS carry a byline, presumably so that aggrieved parties in the future might know whom specifically to “confront” with their complaints. Oh, and the committee’s recommendation:

We ask that student governance consider the behavior of student groups in future decisions concerning recognition and funding.

That’s a veiled threat to put them out of business, in case you’re having trouble reading between the lines.

FIRE’s president, Greg Lukianoff, is having a righteous conniption over it: ...

Kim Priestap has more here, as does Curt here.

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More on those Fort Dix Terrorists
Kim Priestap

Karol Sheinin at Alarming News has an unusual perspective on two of the terrorists:

When Elvis and Dritan Duka, two of the three brothers arrested on terrorism charges in Fort Dix, were kids, they were neighborhood bullies. When they got a little older, they became drug dealers.

How do I know? They grew up in my neighborhood ...

They've been here since they were kids, illegally it turns out, lived American lives, went to our public schools, and then decided to try and kill some of our troops. I don't know that I'll ever get used to this world.

I know what you mean, Karol.

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VDH: The Creation of an Al Qaedist

There's no way I can give you a feel for this one in a reasonable-lenght excerpt. Just read it.

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Iraqi Official Says Syria Supporting Insurgents

Christopher Isham Reports:

Mowaffak al Rubaie, the national security advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, told  ABC News Thursday that Syria is continuing to harbor and support Islamist militants responsible for killing both Iraqis and Americans.

Al Rubaie, who is in the United States for official meetings in Washington and at the United Nations in New York, said Iraqi officials had presented a detailed intelligence dossier to the Syrian government of insurgent activity on Syrian territory. The information included exact locations of terrorist training camps in Syria and the names, addresses and photographs of insurgent leaders living in Syria.

The Syrians have taken no action on the camps, and on the matter of the insurgents, the response is, "He's not in Syria," according to al Rubaie.

"Just like Ocalan," said al Rubaie, referring to the Kurdish militant Abdullah Ocalan, who staged attacks from bases in Syria against Turkey for 18 years until he was finally expelled in 1998 after Turkey massed troops on the border and threatened to go to war. "But we don't have the Turkish Army," added al Rubaie.  ...

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Sharia creep on campus
Michelle Malkin

There are many fronts in the war against global jihad and the fight against dhimmitude. During the Mohammed Cartoon rage, the newspaper pages of a Danish publication became a front. The Internet--where jihadists use video-sharing tools like YouTube to recruit--is another front. And college campuses are important battlegrounds.

To wit: Eugene Volokh flags a story from Tufts University, where students published “Islam—Arabic Translation: Submission,” a satirical advertisement that ridiculed Tufts’ “Islamic Awareness Week” by highlighting militant Islamic terrorism. The invaluable FIRE has all the background. Ben Shapiro reported here. Now, a campus committee has decided that the satire--along with another politically incorrect commentary on affirmative action--constituted "harassment." ...

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Ilario Pantano Asks for Help
Kit Jarrell (H/T: Michelle Malkin)

Long-time readers of this site know Ilario Pantano, and know his story. Charged with murder during combat, Ilario found himself on trial by the same Corps he would have given his life to defend. Though his case was dismissed at the Article 32 stage, Ilario himself learned things about the military that no soldier or Marine should ever have to see. His case, while not the first of its kind, paved the way for cases like Haditha, Hamdaniya, the Iron Triangle Case, and now the MARSOC Marines, who you may not even know about yet.

I am fortunate enough to count Ilario as a friend, and when he emailed me this morning asking me to post the letter below, there was no way I could say no.

Please read this letter all the way through, and consider helping these men. As Ilario says, “There is more hanging in the balance then simply the fate of these honorable men.” When we punish those defending us for the very act of their defense, we are in a dangerous position indeed. ...

Read the whole thing, help if you can.

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Iraqi Leaders: We Need Time

WASHINGTON —  Worried Congress' support for Iraq is deteriorating rapidly, Baghdad dispatched senior officials to Capitol Hill this week to warn members one-on-one that pulling out U.S. troops would have disastrous consequences.

The lobbying push targeted Republicans and Democrats alike, but focused primarily on those considered influential on the war debate. On Thursday, hours before the House voted to limit funds for the war, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh met with more than 30 House Republicans and more than a half-dozen senators, including Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., John Warner, R-Va., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

"He understands that American patience is waning," said Sen. Norm Coleman, after eating lunch with Saleh, Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir al-Sumaidaie and Sen. Saxby Chambliss. ...