'Perp Walk' of IMF Big Shot Outrages French Lefties

By David Paulin

Many in France are embarrassed and ashamed at the arrest of IMF big shot Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a prominent French socialist seen as the most likely candidate to defeat center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy.

But what's got some French lefties really upset is that New York's police put the accused sex offender through a traditional "perp walk” – paraded before TV cameras in handcuffs just like, well, a common criminal suspect!

Eva Joly, leader of the French Green Party, called the perp walk a "violent image." And she had some harsh words for America's justice system – complaining it “doesn't distinguish between the director of the I.M.F. and any other suspect."

In an amusing article about how the “perp walk” has shocked the French – and particularly French lefties -- the New York Times noted that Joly is "a well-known French magistrate who once brought charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn for corruption (of which he was later acquitted)." She's expected to run in next year's presidential election.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been denied bail, having been deemed a flight risk. He is accused of attempted rape, a criminal sex act, and unlawful imprisonment – all for his alleged sexual assault upon a 32-year-old chamber maid in his $3,000-a-night New York City hotel suite. His alleged victim is an immigrant from Africa who lives in the Bronx.

Meanwhile, other women are coming forward about nasty encounters with Strauss-Kahn, a communist-turned socialist who's known in France as the “great seducer” because of his reputation as an out-of-control womanizer. One French journalist complained of an encounter in which Strauss-Kahn, whom she was trying to interview, pawed at her like a "chimpanzee in heat."

France's right-wing politicians, meanwhile, are calling Strauss-Kahn a name that's perhaps worse than being called a sex offender: a "champagne socialist!" Among the incriminating evidence: A photo of Strauss-Kahn and his wife getting into a Porsche costing more than $100,000. The car didn't actually belong to Strauss-Kahn but to a friend. But no matter. The photo “sparked sneers on the Internet and from the Right,” noted London's conservative newspaper, The Telegraph.

The paper added that "Brice Hortefeux, (France's) former interior minister and a close friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy, quipped that the Left had abandoned the symbols of the workers' struggle used when Socialist president, Francois Mitterrand, first took power.

"Back in 1981, it was the rose and the clenched fist. Today it's a Porsche at the wheel," Mr. Hortefeux said.

"The jibe was aimed at proving Mr. Strauss-Kahn is out of touch after four years with the IMF, and sought to stoke tensions within the French Left, where traditionalists already see Mr Strauss-Kahn, a former Socialist finance minister, as too Right-wing."

During the French Revolution, the guillotine was introduced as a form of punishment symbolizing the revolution's highest ideals: It treated rich and poor exactly alike -- giving them an equally quick and painless death. Obviously, France has come a long way since those lofty ideals. Disgust among some lefties over the "perp walk" -- and view that it should be reserved only for common criminal suspects -- is testimony to that.

Originally published in The American Thinker

Police Raid Florida Mosque in Politically Correct Fashion




By David Paulin

In an early-morning raid on Saturday, dozens of Federal agents and police surrounded a mosque in west Miami-Dade County. They were after suspected jihadists – Pakistani-born American citizens who'd allegedly been providing material support to the Pakistani Taliban and who hoped for the deaths of American soldiers in Afghanistan. They wanted to see Sharia law established in Pakistan as well.

Accordingly, police weren't taking any chances. They were heavily armed. And they showed up just after 6 a.m. to ensure they had the element of surprise.

“Open up! Police!” they shouted.

But, alas, police encountered a pesky little problem: Religious ceremonies were being conducted by their prime target – a 76-year-old iman named Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan. Accordingly, 25 to 30 law-enforcement officers respectfully waited for prayers to end – and then obligingly took off their shoes upon entering the mosque, according to an article in Sunday's South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

What evidence might have been destroyed before police finally got inside the mosque to handcuff suspects? Drug dealers, mafia dons, and KKK members are never accorded such courtesies – police quickly break down their doors and arrest them. So why are suspected Muslim terrorists given such respect? Well, there's a two-word answer for that: political correctness. But at least the respectful way Saturday's raid was carried out can help President Obama prove to Muslims that America respects Islam!

Aside from the raid's troubling example of dhimmitude, the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force appear to have done a splendid job; their indictment was based on a three-year investigation involving wiretaps and the analysis of suspicious wire transactions. Khan and five accomplices -- including two of his sons -- were accused of providing at least $50,000 to America's enemies -- an amount prosecutors called the "tip of the iceberg." The money was allegedly used to buy guns for the Pakistani Taliban, support terrorism, and to operate an Islamic school in Pakistan with terrorists ties.

Kahn, after hearing the mujahideen in Afghanistan had killed seven American soldiers, also was reported to have boasted that he wished that God kill 50,000 more of them.

As the Sun Sentinel also reported:

One of the imam's sons, Izhar Khan, a 24-year-old North Lauderdale resident, was arrested in the parking lot of the Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen mosque in Margate, where he is imam, just before the 6 a.m. prayer.

Agents also seized computers from the mosque office.

The other son, Miami resident Irfan Khan, 37, was awakened by agents at a hotel in Los Angeles at 3 a.m. Pacific time and taken into custody there.

All three men are American citizens who are originally from Pakistan, authorities said.

"Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace,'' said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer. "Instead, as today's charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming."

Three others named in the indictment remain at large in Pakistan. They were identified as Ali Rehman, also known as Faisal Ali Rehman; Amina Khan, also known as Amina Bibi, who is the daughter of Hafiz Khan; and her son, Alam Zeb, Khan's grandson.

Fortunately, the arrests had absolutely nothing to do with Islam or the two Florida mosques that were raided. As the Sun-Sentinel reported in a separate article:

Yazid Ali, the board president of the Margate mosque, said those who know Izhar Khan were "very surprised" by news of his arrest.

"We are in full cooperation with all of the authorities involved in this case," he said. "We would like everyone to know that Margate mosque Al does not support terrorism, for this is a forbidden act in Islam."

Mosque secretary Fazal Deen said, "I never, ever heard anything that came close to militancy from him."

The indictment does not charge the mosques themselves with any wrongdoing. The U.S. Attorney's Office said they are charging the individual defendants based on their support to terrorism, not on their religious beliefs or teachings.


Originally published at The American Thinker

Outraged Texas Lawmakers Seeking to Stop TSA Abuses



By David Paulin

Little girls, grandmothers, beauty queens – all are unlikely terrorists. Yet all have been victims in recent months of invasive Transportation Security Administration pat-downs at the nation's airports. The searches have sparked public outrage -- despite claims from the Obama administration that they're needed to stop would-be terrorists.

Now, Texas lawmakers are seeking to end this insanity after a former Miss USA complained last month that TSA agents "molested" her at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. On Thursday, House members passed a bill banning pat-downs in the Lone Star State in which a TSA agent "touches the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through the clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person."

Moreover, TSA agents who conduct such pat-downs could be found guilty of sexual harassment and official oppression. They could be charged with misdemeanor crime and be subject to a $4,000 fine and one-year in jail under the measure, according to news reports.

"Indecent groping searches when innocent travelers are seeking access to airports and public buildings would be outlawed under this bill," the measure's author, Republican David Simpson, was quoted as saying.

"This has to do with dignity in travel," he said. The House must take a final vote on the bill and it must then be approved by the Senate.

Of course, there's another side to this story -- whether TSA agents ought to be able to carry out invasive pat-downs on certain travelers who fit a profile that, well, nobody in the Obama administration dares to talk about. Israeli airline El Al does do profiling that's based on a variety of criteria. It has a stellar safety record.

Speaking of profiling, here's a YouTube clip of a TSA agent groping a little girl -- apparently checking for, ah, plastic explosives or box cutters. At least it's all very politically correct; the 6-year-old, after all, is not wearing a burka or from the Middle East.

Imbed of video clip



Originally published in The American Thinker

Jay Leno Does Osama: 'The Pakistani Hillbillies'

By David Paulin

Americans have a sense of humor, even when confronting abject evil. The "Tonight Show's" Jay Leno, for instance, has been finding lots of humor this week in the death of terror master Osama bin Laden. One gem from Leno's show was a skit called "The Pakistani Hillbillies" -- starring none other than Osama bin Laden.

Americans during WW-2 loved poking fun at two larger-than-life and goose-steeping manifestations of fascist evil -- Hitler and Mussolini. So it's perhaps no surprise that Islamo-fascists should be good for plenty of laughs, too.They may be terrorists and existential enemies, but in the end they're also a bunch of squares -- or hillbillies if you well.

Enjoy the show.



Originally Published at The American Thinker.

Iraqi TV Commentators Trade Blows While Discussing Saddam Hussein



By David Paulin

In Iraq, two television commentators on a show called "The Democratic Club" recently came to blows when their discussion turned to Saddam Hussein's legacy.

"I will chop off your tongue if you talk about Saddam!" shouted one.

"Eat Shit! I will talk about Saddam!" shouted the other.

That's when the two jumped out of their chairs, exchanged blows, and began grappling. They stumbled out of camera range -- but their political discussion continued.

"Come here, you son of a bitch!" shouted one.

"You dog, you low life!" shouted the other.

"You're sister is a whore!" one said at another point.

Iraq is a much better place today than it was under Saddam Hussein, even if things there can, well, get a bit raucous. Iraq's government also is far more in line with America's interests than it had been. Even so, perhaps the Obama administration ought to reconsider plans to disengage from the country. You can see the whole segment of "The Democratic Club" here:



Hat Tip: Robert J. Avrech at Seraphic Secret.

So Long Bastard. Have A Nice Trip To HELL!



By David Paulin

It wasn't supposed to be like this. President Obama was going to make the world love us -- all while fighting the war on terror with Marquess of Queensberry rules. No more "torture" such as Bush-area waterboarding, during interrogations of 9/11 suspects. No more Guantanamo. Our foreign policy would be based on "mutual respect."

Yet there was Osama bin Laden, mastermind of 9/11, hiding in practically plain sight in Pakistan, a supposed ally. He was in a resort town just down the street from a military academy. No doubt Pakistan's intelligence service knew all about it.

Now Osama bin Laden is dead, and millions of savages in the Middle East and elsewhere are enraged – going into anti-American fits because America defended itself and sought justice for 3,000 murdered civilians on 9/11. How ironic that information used to track down bin Laden came from the Bush administration's waterboarding of some of the 9/11 conspirators.

The war on terror is far from over. This is simply a pivotal stage in a long war -- one pitting Islamic extremists and their cheerleaders in the Muslim world against American, Israel, and the West. These jihadists, of course, have their friends in the West – sympathizers and facilitators in the international Left, a fact that complicates the war on terror.

So long bastard. Have a nice trip to HELL!