Danish troops in Afghanistan under fire

From today's Berlingske Tidende (Link in Danish):

Presumed Taliban insurgents [sic!] fired upon the the Danish force in Afghanistan with handguns and mortars, the Danish Army reported.

The Danish troops at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan requested air support from the international forces in the country.

During the air strike a building used a a mosque was hit and destroyed. No civilian causualties were reported, according to the Danish Army.

The possibility of a cooperation about rebuilding [the mosque] is already being discussed with the local counsel.

This happened just two days after the Danes had arrived at the Helman province.
Yesterday the troops also came under fire:

The day after the Danish soldiers arrived in the troubled Helman provinse it came under attac.
According to the Army, a reccon squad came under fire outside their camp at Musa Qala.The patrol returned to the camp, which was subsequently fired upon with hand weapond, grenade launchers and mortars.

The enemy fire was returned, and air-support was called in.

No soldiers where injured in the firefight, the first since the arrival on Wednesday.

Before the Danish force arrived at Musa Qala it was repeatedly attacked by Taliban forces, and three soldiers where wounded when their vehicel hit a landmine during the advance into southern Afghanistan.

Denmark have some 300 troops in Afghanistan as part af the NATO force staioned there.

More on the Hitzb rally in CHP- beating up infidels

From an article in Sappho a Danish magazine founded by the Freedom of print Society, a group of well-respected writers and commentators in Denmark, concerned of the growing islamo-fascism in Europe. They are therefore not all that respected by the intellectual establishment in Denmark.
The original article can be found here (in Danish.)(pix from Sappho, captions are mine.)

"The anti-semetic feelings was vented freely during the rally friday in Copenhagen. It was also the first time supporters of Hitzb ut-Tahrir openly attacked stand-byers. On july 21 in Copenhagen there was three [not just two as I reported in my last post] rallies regarding the escalated conflict in the Middle East. One demonstration supporting the right for Israel to defend itself, and two turning against Israel. One of theese demonstrations was arranged by Hitzb ut-Tahrir, the other by the Danish extreme left. In both theese rallies, flags where flying with the Star of David replaced by the nazi swastica, as well as the banner of Hezbollah."

Even though the rallies was conducted in mainly a peaceful manner, the violent rethorics of the Hitzb ut-Tahrir inflamed some of their followers:

"Shortly after the [Hitzb] rally had started moving the Sappho photografer had to seek shelter in a shop after been attacked by four young Hitbz ut-Tahrir followers who threatened to beat him up him and smash hos camera. Only the resolute reaction of the shop staff and the police prevented [further damage]

The second attack occured in a bus when a man, who had attended the pro-Israel rally was mugged. He had a Danish and an Israeli flag in a plastic shopping bag, and that apperantly was enough to provoke an "arabic-looking man" to beat him up and try to choke him.

"Non of the shocked passengers in the overcrowded bus had the wits or the courage to interfere, except for one foreign man [*] who saved the man from further harm.
The driver succeeded in blocking the doors, so the attacker could be arrested by police rushing to the scene."

A Zionist agent giving his statement to a
Danish police officer after he was attacked on a bus

Moonbats in Copenhagen

It is extremly worrying, that an openly fascist organisation like the Hitzb ut-Tahrir can virtualy claim the streets of Copenhagen, rallying hundreds of potentially violent followers. It's worrying, that someone can get attacked in a crowded bus for carrying an Israeli flag in a bag and no one dares to to do anything!

In the 1920's a bunch of moonbats sat in a Beerstube and everybody shook thier heads at those idiots, until one day the most outspoken critics didn't have a head to shake and everyone else found it best to "go along".

We really ought to know better by now.



[*]
The original text describes the man as of of non-Danish ethniticity, which is really a silly way of describing anyone not being white.
I know it sounds like something you'll be hearing in places like Bosnia or South Africa, but so far that's the concensus in the press to describe anyone non-white in a political correct manner. The brave gentleman could be Chinese, Arab or Cherokee, I have no way of knowing.

Update: I have mailed Sappho about the man of non-Danish ethnicity and recieved a kind answer From Helle Merete Brix, on of the authors of the article. The man in question was of Mid-East origin.

Two worlds in Copenhagen

No less than two demonstrations where held in Copenhagen this afternoon. One that supported Israel, and another called on by Hitzb ut-tahrir, an organisation incredibly enough still not outlawed by the Danish authorities.

The Danish blogger Steen from Snaphanen was at the pro-Israel meeting outside the Danish parlament.



As You can see, not exactly a great turn-out, but then again a peaceful and dignified gathering.




The banners says: "Fight Terror, Support Israel." The statue is that of King Frederick VII, who willingly gave up his absolutist powers in 1848, thereby allowing Denmark to evolve peacefully into a democracy.



Less than a kilometer away, at the same time, at a rally called by the Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Town Square:


(Pix from Thomas Lønbæk who have posted many more. Check them out.

You will notice the gentleman on the poster.

It's hard to see on this reproduction, but the text on the plackard in the background reads: "Where is the Army of the Muslims?" indicating that the poor Arab world is defenseless against the overwhelming might of Israel.

I hope I'm not revealing any millitary secrets here, but perhaps the Muslim Army is somewhere around here:






On a side note, the Hizb's flier for the rally against Israel reads: "Stop the Jew state's terror and crimes in Lebanon and Palaestine"

No, not the "Jewish state" but the "Jew state", the way one might expect Heinrich Himmler to refer to Israel had it existed in his time.

No doubt, he is proud of his new followers.

The Danish flag is back in the Mid-East

This Edititorial (Link in Danish) is from today's Jyllands-Posten about the evacuation of thousands of foreign nationals from Lebanon, amongst those some 4500 Danish nationals. (My translation):

"Dannebrog [the name of the Danish flag] is again visible in the Mid-East. Busses evacuating Danish citizens from Lebanon are decorated with it. Danes with Lebanese or Palastinian passports wraps themselves in it to show what values they stand for through their Danish citizenship.

All but forgotten is the well orchestrated, hysterical scenes during the climax of theMohammed-crisis when Dannebrog was spat upon and burnt for the benefit of the international media.

Dannebrog represents all the best in the Danish values - openness, tolerance, security, decency. Amidst the many personal tragedies in Beirut and Lebanon it is refreshing to find renewed evidens that the hatred back then was only casual and passing simply because it was so well staged.

One can use this opportunity to ask why so many here [in Denmark] where so willing to assume that the international credibility of Denmark suffered a major drawback. The truth after all, is that the credibility of Denmark did not suffer in the slightest, indeed amongst some of our most importent partners - especially the US - our bold attitude in the defense of freedom of speach actually strenghed our position.
(...)

Flag burnings says more about the arsonists that of the flag. But never the less, it is nice to see Dannebrog back, also in the Middle East."

****

I guess it is nice to see the Danish flag beeing used in the way it was intended: A banner for those believing in freedom to rally under.

Then again, I wonder when and where the Zippo lighters will come out next.
Well, not en route to Denmark, I'll wager you!

Arab media: Racist Danish Queen behind the Motoons

A few weeks ago some 55.000 pages af files and documents regarding the Muhammed Crisis were declassified by the Danish Foreign ministry. As a result, journalists are now digging up stories of what really happened in the Mideast and why things got so out of hand.

This [link need subscription] is from the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, the paper that originally posted the cartoons. (My translation):

The evil Queen of the Danes

From a simple statement to misconceptions, exaggerations and direct manipulation. That is how the story was born, that in reality it was Queen Margrethe who was behind the Muhammed-cartoons.

By Kim Hundevadt and John Hansen

Queen Margrethe was the great villain behind the Dane's malicious campaign against islam and muslims, culminating with the 12 drawings of the prophet in Jyllands-Posten.

It was her who set things in motion when she, in the spring of 2005, called on her people to resist islam and oppose the country's muslim minority.

This fantastic disclosure was printed in numerous media in the islamic world when the Mohammed-crisis peaked in february with the burning of flags and embassies.

Two examples from arabic newspapers were at that time refered to in the Danish media, but documents in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which the press and the public now has gained access to, shows that the stories about the evil and islamophobic Queen of the Danes reached a far greater circulation than assumed up to now.

The stories probably also helped legitimize that the boycot-actions and demonstrations was not only targeted at the impertinent newspaper, but against an entire nation, because it was now documented that the insult came from the highest place.

It began with a small but importent error in a translation: In the book "Margrethe" published in april 2005, the Queen talked to journalist and writer Annelise Bistrup about the totalitarian side of islam, which she found frightening.

"A response must be shown and sometimes one have to take the risk of being labeled in a less flattering way. For there are some things one cannot be tolerant about", the Queen said. The first reaction from Danish muslims was actually positiv:
"That was the right thing for the Queen to say," imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen stated. "We must challenge each other on religion. There is no better way to find tolerence than by meeting one another."

However, the story was also picked up by the foreign news agencies in Denmark. Reuters made a soft translation of the Queens remark: »A certain response must be shown,« was Reuters version of the sentense. The American agency AP tightened it quite a bit: »Resistance must sometimes be shown (to religious fanatics).« But the French bureau, AFP gave it all they got: »We have to show our opposition to Islam,« the Danish Queen was cited for saying.

A Berlin correspondent from the British paper, The Daily Telegraph, apparently saw the AFP's wire as a confirmation of her own view on Danmark as a xenophobic country and therefore gave the story an extra layer:

"Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has said her country needs to find a "counter-balance" [*] to Islamic fundamentalism, regardless of the opprobium such a stance provokes abroad.The Danish government has already been accused of fuelling xenophobia by introducing measures which effectively closed the country to asylum-seekers.

But in overtly political passages from an official biography published yesterday Queen Margrethe makes comments certain to complicate her nation's relationship with Muslims," The Daily Telegraph wrote.

Via the pan-arabian London based paper, Al-Hayat, this version reached the islamic world where it was cited in a few media - though without having any significant effect. But more than nine months later, when the cartoon crisis was nearing a dramatic peak it resurfaced from the archives. The Saudi paper, Saudi Gazette set the stage with a highly exposed article on january 30 based on the piece in The Daily Telegraph, Te Gazette announced that the drawings had been part of a larger pattern, involving an islamophobic goverment and Queen.

Racist Queen

Now the story really broke. Documents in the Foreign Ministry shows that Danish embassies in the following days found it in a number of versions in the Arab press. They tried in several cases to correct the most wildly exaggerations, but the more times it was told, the worse it got, and the more the rethoric was heated up.

Akhbar Al-youm in Egypt asserted february 1 that the Queen was actually behind the cartoons because she had called Islam a threat and had encouraged the Danish goverment not to show tolerance towards Islam.

The next day Al Watan i Saudi Arabia hinted, that the Queen was not only islamophbic but also racist. She had among other things: "encouraged her right-wing goverment not to show any tolerence towards the muslim minority."

An angry comment under the Hamlet-inspired headline, "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" was printed in the large English-langueged paper, Arab News, was put on Al Jazeera's home page.


War against Islam

A no less angry commentator established in the Sausi Gazette that Jyllands-Posten was taking part in deliberate plan, supported by Queen Margrethe, who had requested her subjects to show intolerance.

By now, it had been established as an absolut fact, that the Queen and the goverment was cahooting in a great conspiracy against Islam and muslims.

The story was picked up in Indonesia by the paper Repubilca on february 7, causing furious muslims, among them members of the extrem organization Hitzb ut Tahrir to take to the streets in the capitol of Jakarta to demand an appology. A spokesman for the organiztion told the AFP that when one first had heard the Queens remarks and then seen the drawings, one had proof that this was a war against Islam.

The large Tyrkish paper, Milliyet did not take the matter lightly either, and on the large islamic news service IslamOnline a commentator sort of wrapped things up on february 14:
The boycot against Denmark was not simply caused by a single paper printing some drawings insulting the prophet. It was caused by a national attitude towards Islam, he explained and pointed three things out:

1. Queen Margrethe had published a book in which she criticized the muslims.
2. The Danish prime minister had three times since the printing of the cartoons described muslims as: "The scum of people".
3. A number of newspapers had printet articles criticizing Islam and muslims.

The commentator also wrote, that the boycot was working because half the Danish agricultural exports went to Saudi -Arabia, and he stated that in the matter at hand, Denmark had offended muslims more than the US had ever did, as all danes were bragging about the ridicule of the prophet.


Helle Lykke Nielsen, head of the Center for Middel East Studies at the University of Southern Denmark are not suprised the story about the Evil Queen.
"It is a natural reaction from people living in authoritaerian societies that everything comes from above. The higher the reponsibility can be placed, the more things make sense. Of course the Queen have to part and parcel with the islamophobic goverment and the paper that printed the drawings. When she is found to be mixed up in the whole affair it blends in with the views people allready have. That is what conspiraty-theories are made of", says Helle Lykke Nielsen.

__________________


[*]
The Telegraph notes on its online edition of the story that: In the original version of this story, relying on a translation provided by an international news agency, the Telegraph quoted Queen Margrethe as saying "We have to show our opposition to Islam". But the correct translation should be "counter-balance". The story was re-published on Feb 16, 2006 to reflect that.

So the Telegraph got cold feet in the midst of the crisis, perhaps (hopefully) realising the implications of Hannah Cleaver's piece.
Personally I find the word "response" more than suitable. After all, Her Majesty did not call for a new crusade, she simply hinted that the muslim immigrants should pay a little more respect to their new home country. The "increep" of islamic values in society is creating a subsonic and ever growing rumble of resistance within the native Danish population. Something is going to snap sooner or later unless we put our foot down and draw the line. Give Our "response" so to speak.

Update:
Zonka has also done some translation of the JP-article