Belgian 'al Qaeda cell' linked to 2006 airline plot

A CNN documentary, One Woman's War, broadcast on Tuesday evening claims that the alleged cell had high-level links to al-Qaeda. The shocking story of Malika el Aroud, a Belgian-Moroccan woman convicted of running a Web site promoting terrorism.

An alleged terrorist cell arrested as Gordon Brown prepared to meet European leaders in Brussels is said to have connections to the highest levels of al-Qaeda, it can be revealed. The cell was suspected of being directed by a senior al-Qaeda planner.

According to Belgian counter-terrorism sources, the group was radicalised by a woman whose former husband has links to Abu Qatada, the radical preacher in jail in Britain. Belgian police rounded up the alleged cell as European leaders gathered in the Belgian capital for a two-day summit in December to discuss the economic crisis and climate change.

Johan Delmulle, the Federal Prosecutor, claimed one suspect had "received the green light to carry out an operation from which he was not expected to come back" and added: "This information, linked to the fact that a European summit is getting underway at this moment in Brussels, left us no choice but to take action."

The group of five men and a woman was only charged with membership of a terrorist organisation because investigators were unable to positively identify their target.

Walloon terroists are blowing up Flemish hamburger stands!

Not really, but it sounded legit eh? Belgians should probably stick to the frites and leave the burgers to the Americans.
The injured all sustained burns.

The Festival of Ghent is the country's largest street party with scores of concerts across the centre of the East Flemish capital.
The festival that started on Saturday runs until next Monday.
The explosion happened at the heart of the revelry in a street near the Belfry and Saint Bavo's Cathedral.
The area attracts large crowds until the early hours.

The explosion happened at 5AM when many people were still partying.
The emergency services were at the scene within seconds.
Ghent chief commissioner Steven De Smet says it was a very big explosion. Several surrounding streets were cleared.

The cause of the blast is the matter of an investigation. It is believed the accident occurred when the stall owner drove his truck over a gas canister.
The stall burned to a cinder.

Lessons in Cultural Understanding

These kids got more "cultural understanding" than they bargained for.

Okay, so the teachers of the 10 year-olds decide, in the wake of one of their politician’s film “Fitna“, that it would be a nice gesture of goodwill, and a learning lesson for their kids, if during their next tour of a religious organization, they visited a local mosque to see what Islam is really all about, and thus, gain a better understanding of muslims and perhaps even learn a little tolerance…

A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs.

Angry parents had sent the letter on to De Telegraaf but were reportedly rapped on the knuckles by the school's management. "The school wishes to play this down. That is precisely the problem", as one mother commented. STORY

Next on the agenda, time to learn their own culture, and what have we here? Could that be a coffee house, and what are those people smoking?

Geert Wilders posts the movie Fitna

Look out for some serious blowback on this. Geert Wilders has posted Fitna on his political party's website.


LiveLeak link. has the English translation, although I had a lot of problems with it yesterday, probably overloaded server. It's atrocity footage interspersed with scenes of imams preaching, the film and text is Dutch. Music by Tchaikovsky and Grieg.

Wilders didn't pull any punches at all, this is incendiary. Funny thing about multiculturalism. We have to respect the immigrant culture, but they don't have to respect the host culture. If some liberals would care to enlighten me about that, I'd like to hear it.
Death threats by proponents of the religion of peace have led to the removal of the Geert Wilders film "Fitna" from LiveLeak's servers that was linked to yesterday. In a kind of "I am Spartacus" response, numerous sites have reposted the video. Victor Trombettas, for example, has posted it here on his blog's YouTube account; Pat Dollard has posted it here on his site with the vow that he "will NEVER bow to your ******** yappity yapping"; Michelle Malkin has posted it here; Hot Air has posted it here; Rusty Shackleford has posted it here. As of this moment, it is still posted on Google here. Download your own copy here

Three little pigs deemed too offensive!

I'm going to start taking large quantities of drugs. Wake me up when this is over.

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.
The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues". STORY

Brussels cancels New Years Fireworks

The city of Brussels has cancelled its traditional fireworks display to see in the New Year on Monday night due to an ongoing state of heightened security.
Mayor Freddy Thielemans decided to limit festivities on the advice of Belgium's crisis co-ordination centre on Sunday, a spokesman for the centre said.
Christmas market stalls and the city centre's ice rink would also close earlier than normal on Monday due to the alert prompted on Dec. 21 by authorities unveiling what they said was a plot to spring an al-Qaeda suspect from jail.

I'm curious.....what group of people might this offend?

STORY IN HERALD TRIBUNE

Privacy? What privacy? You don't need no stinkin privacy.

American travelers' personal data would for the first time be exported to all European Union states by airline carriers flying to Europe under a proposal to be announced this week.The data, including names, telephone numbers, credit card information and travel itinerary, would be sent to E.U. member states so they could assess passenger risk for counterterrorism purposes, according to a draft copy obtained by The Washington Post.

The European Commission proposal would allow the data to be kept for 13 years or longer if used in criminal investigations and intelligence operations. It would cover all passengers flying into and out of Europe, not just Americans. READ THE POST