Love it! Santorum takes Iowa. He spent nothing (unlike Perry, who spent the most and came in second to last). Santorum's pure determination and sheer will catapulted him to victory -- ah, the American way.

I am glad it's Santorum. His foreign policy is a complete rebuke of Obama's Muslim Brotherhood-directed foreign policy. He understands the threat, and his consistent position on Iran gives freedom lovers across the America (and the free world) great hope. Yes, I am glad.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he'll leave the campaign trail to determine if there is "a path forward for myself." Good. I am glad of that, too. I hope he is out of the race.

Romney is not the shoo-in. He can spin the results anyway he wants, but the bottom line is that this is not a fait accompli, and the GOP race is not his.

Bachmann did poorly. She placed fifth. Not good. I do not think she can come back.

Gingrich in fourth place is struggling to survive. A vice-presidential pick, perhaps.

Ron Paul came in third. He will continue to be a pox on our house, but he will not get the nod. Of that I am glad.

It was a good night for the GOP. It was a great night for America.

As Santorum said as he took the podium, "Game on!"

Despite the media and the Islamic supremacist liars (ie CAIR) focusing on a mosque firebombed in Queens, while ignoring the multi-pronged firebombing against Hindus, Christians, homes and a deli, the perp tells a vastly different story.

An unemployed tow truck driver confessed to a series of Molotov cocktail attacks because of personal grudges (sounds like one of Chuckie Johnson's friends). The suspect firebombed the deli because the clerk  there caught him stealing a Starbucks Frappuccino earlier that day and confronted the perp. "When they were pushing him out of the store, he said words to the effect of, 'We're going to get even. We're going to get back at you,' Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said before the confession was reported. Starbucks Frappuccino bottles were used in at least four of the five Molotov attacks, police said."

The suspect said he chose the mosque after being refused access to the facility's bathroom. They didn't let him use the john, how very... un-Christian-like. And he mistook one of the private residences as the home of a "crack dealer" with whom he had a dispute, the official said.

Another of the targets was a private residence where Hindu services were held, but that may have been a coincidence. The suspect had a years-old dispute with someone who may not live there anymore.

So the media mosque meme was patently untrue, and that schmuck Bloomberg looks the fool yet again after holding press conferences against "hate crime" before he knew what, who and why.

And Hamas-tied CAIR was on the radio this morning, WBAI, lying again, blaming me and other bloggers  for inciting this hatred of Muslims. Vile jihadists will say anything and do anything.

Man confesses to bombing NY mosque TVNZ

A New York City man faces arson and bias charges after confessing to a series of Molotov cocktail attacks that hit a mosque and a Hindu place of worship and unsettled civic leaders concerned the actions might portend violent religious bigotry.

The suspect, who has not been identified by name, is a 40-year-old unemployed tow-truck driver who appeared to have been motivated by personal grudges, said a law enforcement familiar with the investigation who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

The suspect, who is originally from Guyana and lives in the Jamaica section of Queens where four of the attacks took place, also made "broadly anti-Muslim statements" during questioning, the official said.

He chose the mosque after being refused access to the facility's bathroom, and he mistook one of the private residences as the home of a "crack dealer" with whom he had a dispute, the official said.

Another of the targets was a private residence where Hindu services were held, but that may have been a coincidence. The suspect had a years-old dispute with someone who may not live there anymore, the official said.

Police earlier had announced a "person of interest" in the investigation was being questioned, then later said he had been arrested upon confessing to the firebomb attacks.

"The individual is implicating himself in each of the five firebombing cases, citing personal grievances with each location," said police spokesman Paul Browne.

The suspect's grievances with the convenience store may have started on Dec. 27 when a clerk confronted a man thought to have being trying to steal a Starbucks Frappuccino, police said.

"When they were pushing him out of the store, he said words to the effect of, 'We're going to get even. We're going to get back at you,'" Kelly said before the confession was reported.

Starbucks Frappuccino bottles were used in at least four of the five Molotov attacks, police said.

Thank gawd. The candidate to the left of Obama will come in third. Good on ya, Iowa.

Santorum and Romney are neck and neck. I am pulling for Santorum.

UPDATE: 92% reporting:

	Candidate	Votes	%
	Santorum	28,049	25%
	Romney	27,977	25%
	Paul	24,144	22%
	Gingrich	15,097	14%
	Perry	11,702	11%
	Bachmann	5,751	6%
	Huntsman	668	<1%
	Cain	55	<1%

Obama say, "Respect it!"

Muslims clash with China police who destroyed mosque Breitbart

Hundreds of Muslims fought with armed police who demolished a mosque in north China, local police and a human rights group said on Monday, with several people injured in the "riot".

The violence between local Muslims and roughly 1,000 armed police began after police declared illegal a newly renovated mosque in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and moved to destroy it, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, in Hong Kong, said.

The Hui are one of several Muslim minority groups in China.

Two people were killed and 50 injured after police fired tear gas and used knives and batons to beat back ethnic Hui Muslim protesters in Taoshan village, Hexi township, the rights group said, citing villagers.

Hexi township police denied any deaths when reached by telephone.

A policeman surnamed Ma confirmed that the mosque was torn down. He told AFP a "riot" occurred in Hexi on Saturday afternoon.

"Two police officers and two villagers got injured and several villagers were taken away by the police, but I don't know how many," Ma said.

One Taoshan local who was away when the violence occurred, said his relatives had told him over the telephone that on December 30 an official had shouted "(the mosque) is illegal" and ordered the armed police to tear it down.

Read the rest.

26% of the precincts reporting....

Three-Way Race Emerges in Early Iowa Voting FOX News

The Iowa caucuses are shaping up to be a three-man race among Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney as results from the nearly 1,800 precincts begin to stream in.

Here is what I want to know. Why is the enemy voting in our primaries and elevating a dangerous clown like Paul? What is wrong with our leadership?

Independents, Moderates Could Boost Paul (NY Times)

Another key finding in the entrance polls so far: almost 30 percent of voters identify as either independent or Democratic, much higher than in 2008 and toward the high range of the estimates that pollsters made in their likely voter models. The entrance polls report that about half of those voters are breaking for Ron Paul.

Likewise, the percentage of moderates according to the the exit polls is about 20 percent - twice as high as in 2008 - and those voters so far are breaking for Mr. Paul as well.

- Nate Silver

UPDATE 9:50 pm: 30% reporting: 

All Counties See All ›

	Candidate	Votes	%
	Romney	7,844	24%
	Santorum	7,726	24%
	Paul	7,655	23%
	Gingrich	4,440	14%
	Perry	3,433	11%
	Bachmann	1,932	6%
	Huntsman	211	<1%
	Cain	11	<1%

UPDATE 10:15 PM: 47% reporting:

All Counties See All ›

	Candidate	Votes	%
	Santorum	13,339	25%
	Romney	13,011	24%
	Paul	11,972	22%
	Gingrich	7,248	14%
	Perry	5,544	11%
	Bachmann	3,065	6%
	Huntsman	308	<1%
	Cain	23	<1%

UPDATE 10:50pm: 87% Reporting:

All Counties See All ›

	Candidate	Votes	%
	Santorum	26,443	25%
	Romney	26,398	25%
	Paul	22,728	22%
	Gingrich	14,244	14%
	Perry	11,099	11%
	Bachmann	5,496	6%
	Huntsman	628	<1%
	Cain	53	<1%

You can call a savage tolerant, but it's still a savage. A is A. Islam is Islam.

Obama say, "Respect it!" Geller say, "One man's friendly is another's jihad."

Bumper Sticker Sparks New Clash at Indonesian Church
Jakarta Globe Vento Saudale January 02, 2012 (hat tip Carmel)
 
Bogor. A bumper sticker prompted members of the hard-line Islamic Reform Movement to attack several members of the GKI Yasmin church on Sunday.

The bumper sticker, on the back of a church member’s car, said, “We need a friendly Islam, not an angry Islam.”

Scores of vociferous Muslims from the group known as the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) terrorized members of the congregation who came to the church’s New Year’s Eve service in Bogor, GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

Garis chairman Majudien was infuriated by the sticker and began to run after the car. The incident led the congregation to disband and move the service to the home of one of the members.

“What is the aim of that sticker being put there? That is a provocative action against us, the Muslims of Bogor,” Majudien said.

Bona said that the sticker was a souvenir that was distributed by the family of the late former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid during a commemoration of his death on Friday.

“All guests who came, including the chairman of the Constitutional Court, the deputy religious affairs minister and other VIPs also got the same souvenir, the same sticker,” he said.

Read the rest.

The tarnished gold-plated standard of journalism, 60 Minutes, featured Leslie Stahl going on a Jew tirade against Eric Cantor that you have to see to believe. It's a jaw dropper (as is her red lipstick application. Who applied, Helen Keller?). The great pity is that Eric Cantor didn't respond to this depraved social xray with right answers.

Stahl pounded Cantor for being Jewish and Republican, as if the talmud commands membership in the Dem slavery party.

That said, most religious Jews are to the right. Most lovers of Hashem are on the right. The godless cultural Jews (who do not speak for Jews) worship at the church of human secularism. Their church, the church  of socialism, is their religion.

Tikun Olam does not mean steal people's work and money and give it arbitrarily to others. That is not Judaism, that is slavery. Tikun Olam means "repair the world," like, for example, the work I engage in at Atlas on a daily basis. Tikun olam, defeat evil fight for truth. The left has attempted to co-opt "tikun olam," but hey, it's what they do, they steal. They do not begin to understand what it actually means.

I would love to see Stahl pound imams, religious leaders and Muslim congressmen on the true teachings of jihad and Islam. lml.

In a just world, Stahl would be reassigned to Michael Moore's outhouse. Check out the Stahl freak show:

60 Minutes Chastises Eric Cantor for Being Jewish but Not a Socialist Moon Battery

Bad Jew, bad! Never mind how Obama has been treating Israel, you’re all supposed to conform to caricature and be Democrats. Looking unnervingly like the Crypt Keeper, Leslie Stahl administers a sound whipping to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) for escaping the Democrat plantation:

The assumption that only those who embrace socialism care about the poor is so ingrained in statist apparatchiks like Leslie Stahl that she probably has no idea how absurd she sounds to anyone outside her smug bubble of liberal elitism. Obviously freedom has alleviated far more poverty that socialism, as a comparison of North and South Korea easily confirms. Too bad Cantor didn’t make the case.

Which ideology alleviates poverty?

Iowa, you have fought for first caucus status, and we reluctantly acquiesced. But if you elect the freak candidate on the Republican ticket, Ron Paul, I will join forces with whatever groups who are actively seeking to remove your golden status. It's a dare to be great situation; do not let lovers of freedom down.

Ron Paul is to the left of Obama. Ron Paul is to the left of the Muslim Brotherhood. Left wing media organizations have not smeared or libeled this clown -- they only do that with our best, most rational candidates.

I am rooting, hoping, cheering for Santorum and Bachmann. Let the games begin.

VIDEO: Iowa Stubborn, from the supreme musical classic, The Music Man.

This joyful film of the 1,375-performance Broadway smash remains an irresistible skyburst of Americana. Robert Preston recreates his Tony-winning Broadway triumph as con artist Harold Hill, arriving in River City, Iowa, to form a boys band, much to the disapproval and later delight of town librarian Marian Paroo (Academy Award winner* Shirley Jones). Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford and 7-year-old Ron Howard co-star. Meredith Willson's sassy, brassy score featuring the unforgettable Seventy-Six Trombones and Till There Was You among other marvelous melodies is orchestrated to brilliant Oscar-winning* effect by Ray Heindorf.

Spencer: Jihad plotting persists in mosques

1,400 years of genocide, oppression, apartheid and monstrous inhumanity, and still western civilization continues to cover up for, mask its true nature and "respect" this homicidal ideology.

Obama say, "Respect it!" Geller say, "Learn everything. Defeat jihad!" Father Christmas .... was unavailable for comment.

'Father Christmas' stabbed to death in Tajikistan (hat tip James G)

By Roman Kozhevnikov DUSHANBE | Tue Jan 3, 2012 10:02am IST

(Reuters) - A young man dressed as "Father Frost" - the Russian equivalent of Father Christmas - was stabbed to death in Tajikistan on Monday in an attack police believe was motivated by religious hatred, two police sources said.

A crowd attacked 24-year-old Parviz Davlatbekov and stabbed him with a knife as he visited relatives in the early hours of Monday dressed as Father Frost, who by tradition brings Russian children presents at New Year. Russian cultural influence remains strong in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic.

"We have witness statements that say the crowd beat Parviz and stabbed him with a knife, shouting: 'You infidel!'," one of the sources told Reuters.

The second source said religious hatred was being investigated as the motive for the crime, which occurred in the capital Dushanbe.

Tajikistan is officially secular, although the vast majority of its 7.7 million people are Muslims. Authorities have cracked down on religious freedoms in the last few years and jailed dozens of people for membership of Islamist groups.

President Imomali Rakhmon has ordered students at foreign religious schools to return home and told his security services to tighten control over religious education and mosques in Tajikistan, which he says are often used to foment radicalism.

[..]

Tokhir Normatov, chief of staff of Tajikistan's Interior Ministry, said the victim had died in hospital from a loss of blood, but made no comment on the motive for the attack.

 

Why should my taxpayer dollars be used to advance sharia finance? Goldman Sachs, one of the largest recipients of Obama's redistribution of taxpayer money, is going Islamic. Many of Obama’s cabinet and appointed czars are directly connected to Goldman Sachs.

The Muslim Brotherhood is dictating Obama's foreign policy, and now its financial policy as well.

Sharia finance prohibits investments in whole American sectors -- tobacco, pork, alcohol and some forms of entertainment. Further, 2.5% must go to zakat (Islamic charity aka jihad). I do not want my money going to advance jihad and starve American business.

Where is the separation of mosque and state?

We need hearings on taxpayer dollars being used to fund Islamic finance (thereby funding jihad and prohibition on whole American business sectors).

Goldman Defends Islamic Bond Program as Conforming to Sharia Law Advisor One

Firm counters charges that funds could be used for purposes unlawful under Islamic rules

A program begun by Goldman Sachs in October to offer a $2 billion sukuk that conforms to sharia law has been defended by an advisor to the firm. The program, registered with the Irish Stock Exchange and issued through a Cayman Islands-registered special purpose vehicle, Global Sukuk Co Ltd., was undertaken to issue a sukuk (Islamic bond program) based on murabaha, a cost-plus-profit arrangement that is compliant with Islamic law.

However, according to a Reuters report, there have been criticisms of the program from some analysts, who say Goldman might use the proceeds to lend money to clients who would have to pay interest; that would be against Islamic law. Other assertions are that the issue might not trade at par value on the Irish exchange, which also is a violation of sharia law.

If either charge is true, it could have detrimental effects on other financial institutions that might want to enter the field of Islamic finance, which has been largely unaffected by the turmoil in other markets and offers an opportunity for Western banks to raise money from its billions in investment funds. Islamic law, though, forbids the charging of interest and making money through pure speculation.

In May HSBC's Middle East unit Amanah became the first Western bank to issue a sukuk, with a $500 million Islamic bond that will mature in five years. French bank Crédit Agricole is also considering either issuing an Islamic bond or creating a broader sukuk program that could spawn several issues.

I will be appearing on television this evening on Michael Coren's Show, The Arena, SUN TV in prime time (7 - 8PM) to discuss Islamic imperialism. Consider it your Islamic jihad update.

Also, I will be interviewed this afternoon on News Talk 710 KURV in Texas at 5:10 Eastern time. You can listen live here.

And don't miss my regular gig on today's Jaz McKay Show, 1560 KNZR at 4pm. Listen LIVE. Jaz is now FM, too. 1560 AM and now 97.7 FM.

No, I kid you not.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SAUDI ARABIA (hat tip Tom Gross)

Merry Christmas From Saudi Arabia
Holiday greetings from a regime that prohibits Christians from worshipping publicly or wearing crosses.
By David Keyes
The Wall Street Journal

If you want a good laugh, read the holiday card sent out by Saudi Ambassador to the United States and public relations genius Adel al-Jubeir. Citing a Quranic verse, he writes "Behold, the angels said: 'O Mary, God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to God.'"

Christmas greetings from an ambassador whose government prohibits Christians from worshiping publicly, building churches, wearing crosses or importing Bibles. Invoking the names of Mary and Jesus while representing a government that this year beheaded Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar and Abdul Hamid Al Fakki for "witchcraft."


Saudi Arabia has perfected the art of cognitive dissonance - or, in plain English, hypocrisy. For example, Saudi Education Minister Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed recently spoke at the Saudi-U.S. Business Opportunities Forum in Atlanta. The Saudi Embassy reported that "Prince Faisal characterized the educational system in the Kingdom as a model for the Middle East and North Africa."

God help us if that's true. An eighth-grade textbook currently published by the Saudi Education Ministry declares "The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians." A ninth-grade textbook echoes "The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims." Six million schoolchildren are indoctrinated with this every year in Saudi Arabia.

Had Jesus been born in Saudi Arabia today, he'd likely be imprisoned, flogged or beheaded.

It seems unbelievable that the Muslim terrorist Rajib Karim would even think that he had a legitimate complaint about not being able to use Skype while in prison for plotting to murder hundreds of kaffirs, but why not? After all, he was able to get a job at British Airways and start plotting to plant a bomb on a plane. Why wouldn't he think that the infidel authorities were clueless and soft, and would give him whatever he demanded?

'Why can't I Skype my friends and relatives abroad from prison?' Whine of Bangladeshi terrorist jailed for plotting to blow up passenger jet Daily Mail January 2, 2012

Terrorist: Former BA computer expert Rajib Karim has lodged an official complaint that he is not allowed to use Skype to contact friends from prison

An islamic terrorist who plotted to blow up a passenger jet has complained that he is not allowed to use Skype to make low-cost phone calls from jail.

Rajib Karim, 32, wants to use the system, which offers cheap international calls from phones as well as free video link-ups, to contact friends and family in Bangladesh.

But officials at maximum security HMP Frankland in Durham barred the move saying it would pose a serious security risk.

One source said: ‘This guy planned on killing hundreds of people.

'He is a former British Airways software engineer who knows a lot about computers and telecommunications.

'The last thing he should be given access to is a computer or method of free communication.’

Karim was jailed for 30 years last year after being found guilty of planning a 9/11-style terror attack with former Al Qaeda warlord Anwar al-Awlaki.

The father-of-two claims using a prison payphone costs him too much money.

In a letter written to Inside Time, a newspaper for prisoners, he said: 'The international call rates cost a lot using the prison PIN system and the Skype option looked like a perfect solution.

'The best part was that it was legal and no breach of prison rules as the call was made to a direct number and was not being redirected.

'But when I recently tried making my first call I was told by staff here at HMP Frankland that I am not allowed to make any calls through Skype.'

He said he 'tried to explain' how other prisons in the UK reportedly allow inmates to use the service, but said: "The response was a firm "no" as HMP Frankland is part of the high security estate.'

Karim's complaint has been passed on to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).

He was imprisoned for 30 years last year after Woolwich Crown Court heard he wanted to use his position at British Airways to plant a bomb on a plane as part of a 'chilling' conspiracy with Anwar Al-Awlaki, a notorious radical preacher associated with Al Qaeda.

What will Joe Biden say about this? He just recently said that the Taliban was not our enemy, and yet they're uniting against the US? Biden's statement once again demonstrates how incoherent and reckless Obama's foreign policy is, and why it continues to fail as conditions on the ground in Afghanistan deteriorate. The enemy is the Taliban, and the Taliban knows that O is weak. The jihad never misses an opportunity to exploit weakness.

Previously at Atlas:

Bolton: Biden's Statement that Taliban Not Our Enemy Was No Gaffe

Taliban on Veep: "Biden is talking both sense and nonsense—if we are not your enemies, then what are you doing in Afghanistan?"

Days after reports of tentative negotiations between the US and the Taliban, Channel 4 News learns of a probable deal between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban to fight under one banner, for one aim.

The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have formed a five-member council and pledged to stop fighting their own armed forces, in order to concentrate their fight against US-led forces in Afghanistan.

After weeks of hectic efforts, a high-level delegation of the Afghan Taliban - sent by the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar - finally succeeded in bringing together different Pakistani militant groups under a single platform.

They have united and promised to stop the suicide attacks, kidnapping for ransom and killing of innocent people in the country, particularly in the militancy-torn tribal areas, which was all part of a fight against Pakistani security forces.

Taliban sources said Mullah Omar was not happy with the Pakistani Taliban's actions and sent a message via his senior commanders: either stop what he termed 'un-Islamic' activities or to stop claiming him (Mulla Omar) as their supreme leader.

Sources also said that Mullah Omar was worried over increasing numbers of Pakistani Taliban diverting their attention from Afghanistan towards Pakistan and making it difficult for the Afghan Taliban to continue their resistance against the powerful Nato and ISAF forces in Afghanistan.

Focus on foreign forces

Mulla Omar, according to Taliban sources, wants Pakistani Taliban groups to focus on Afghanistan, where their fight against foreign forces was in decisive phase.

"Convey my message to the Pakistani Taliban that you had forgotten the real purpose. The real purpose was to fight against invading forces in Afghanistan and liberate it from their occupation," a Taliban leader quoted Mulla Omar as telling him.

Convey my message to the Pakistani Taliban that you had forgotten the real purpose. The real purpose was to fight against invading forces in Afghanistan and liberate it from their occupation. Mulla Omar

The source also said that Mullah Omar was upset over the frequent kidnapping and killing of people who were suspected of spying for US forces, and urged them to stop it immediately.

The Taliban on Sunday issued a pamphlet in North Waziristan in which all militant groups were directed to stop kidnapping for ransom and killing innocent people. The five-member Shura council said it would investigate any complaints and would suggest punishment against the said group, if found guilty.

The five-strong council

The militant groups which signed accord and promised to work together with the Afghan Taliban include the Maulvi Nazeer group in South Waziristan, Hakimullah Mahsud group, Maulana Waliur Rahman group, both operating in South Waziristan and part of the TTP, Hafiz Gul Bahadur group in North Waziristan, and the powerful Haqqani network....

Militant groups have now been directed to cooperate with the Shura members. The Taliban's pamphlet also threatened that any individual or group if found guilty would be dealt according to the Islamic Sharia law.

 

Again, the obsession with geography when anyone with a pair of eyes can see it is ideology, not borders or nationality. The news reporting on the most serious mortal threat would be comical if it weren't so deceiving and wrong.

As the news of the global jihad increases and whole countries fall to Islamic supremacists, note the relentless use of the nonsensical term "islamist." Islamist, indeed. What does it mean to say that someone or something is "Islamist" as opposed to "Islamic"? Nothing, really, except that the person speaking doesn't want to offend Islam by speaking unwelcome truths about the political nature of the religion. Spencer wrote on that here: Islam and Islamists

The term "Islamist" is in common use to refer to Muslim individuals and organizations that adhere to Islamic law's political aspects (most notably its denial of any legitimacy of a separation between religion and the state) and consequently most fiercely oppose America, Israel and the West in general. The implication is that Islam itself, in its authentic form, has no requisite political aspect, and no incompatibility with Western values or democratic government.

The problem with this is that it is a Western, artificial distinction, imposed by non-Muslims upon the Islamic world and lacking any real substance with reference to Islamic law as it has always been formulated by the Sunni and Shi'ite madhahib (schools of jurisprudence). Islam has always been political, and the union of religion and the state has always been essential to its political program; the idea that all this can and should be separated from Islam proper is the wishful thinking of Western analysts who do not wish to face the implications of the fact that these ideas represent mainstream Islamic thinking.

In line with this, I recently received this email from a Jihad Watch reader in Canada:

A conversation with several friends on Facebook erupted into something quite extraordinary. An 18 year old Muslim student, from Western University and born in Mississauga had this to say about the distinction between Islam and Islamism:

"case and point on why you dont understand Islam. No one makes this distinction [between Islam and Islamism] other then the Western world, for the sake of having a tidy little system to classify everything. Our religion and political ideology are one. Furthermore, I really wouldnt use the term islamist or Islamism. Many muslims, including myself, find the term deeply offensive."

In other words, IN CANADA, there is an entire generation of Muslims who openly subscribe to 'Islamism' as indistinguishable from Islam.

And that should come as no surprise. Except to willfully blind non-Muslim analysts in the West.

British voice behind a call to arms for Somalia's Islamic terrorists Independent

Video reports of al-Shabaab battles with Somali forces feature jihadist with London accent

A militant Islamist group in Somalia that has declared its allegiance to al-Qa'ida is using a young British man to file video propaganda from the front lines of the country's civil war to try to draw English-speaking Muslims to the Horn of Africa for jihad, The Independent can reveal.

The man, who remains masked throughout his videos, speaks in fluent English with a clear London accent and presents breathless reports of battles that the militant groups have fought against Somali government and foreign forces.

Intelligence sources and terrorism experts believe the man was either born in Britain or spent considerable time here and that he may have even had some media training before heading abroad to join the militant network.

The Independent has collected at least three videos in which the man features. The first – which runs for 11 minutes and is titled "African Crusaders" – was released in June 2010 and only contains the man's voice. A second 21 minute long video – "Mogadishu – the Crusader's Graveyard" – was released a month later and shows the young reporter appearing with his face covered in front of burning tank that he claims was destroyed by Islamist fighters.

He disappeared from Al Shabaab propaganda videos until October this year when he returned with a new documentary called "Battle for Deyniile – the Burundian Bloodbath". The 33-minute report features footage from the front lines of a recent battle between militants and African Union peacekeepers on the outskirts of Mogadishu in which a number of AU troops were known to have perished. Shabaab fighters display the uniformed corpses of at least twenty fighters that they claimed belonged to the Ugandan and Burundian peacekeeping forces currently in control of central Mogadishu.

The documentaries – which were all released through Shabaab's media wing the al-Kataib Foundation – are a vivid example of the slick propaganda now being produced by violent Islamists in the Horn of Africa and their determination to turn the area into a new base for international jihadists.

Britain has become so concerned about the deteriorating security situation inside Somalia that it has convened a summit for February to discuss what to do about the failed state. MI5 head Jonathan Evans has repeatedly warned that the Horn of Africa has become the second most popular terrorist training ground after Pakistan with Brits of Somali, Pakistani, Yemeni, Bangladeshi and North African heritage flocking there.

Whitehall sources believe that there are between three to four people working full time on Shabaab's media wing, one of whom is a Yemeni who previously worked with al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula. A second individual is a British Pakistani – thought to be the reporter who appears in the videos.

The group's latest output represents a tactical shift in the way militant networks are producing their propaganda in that the more recent productions are presented as objective news reports, mimicking the way mainstream news organisations present information.

"Instead of featuring a field commander what we're seeing is supposedly a journalist reporting the facts on the ground in a dispassionate way whilst manipulating the narrative to his group's advantage," said Bruce Hoffman, a leading expert on Islamist terrorism at the University of Georgetown. "You wouldn't put Shabaab in the top bracket within the pantheon of terror groups when it comes to strategies or tactics. But their communication techniques are highly sophisticated."

The Independent sought comment from al-Shabaab through an email account known to be used by the militants for international enquiries. In a statement the group said their aim was to inspire Muslims in the West: "We are not able to reveal the identity or nom de guerre of the person in question but the aim of our English documentaries is quite simple. With most journalists serving merely as subservient vessels at the hands of warmongers and politicians, the purpose of the Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen's documentary films is to reveal the reality of the current warfare in Somalia to the world and, in particular, to the Muslims living in the Western world."

The statement added: "It is our hope that these English documentaries will enlighten the Muslims by illuminating the reality of the so-called war on terror and help further elucidate the events as they really are on the ground –not as they are erroneously portrayed in the western media."

Shabaab are a brutal off-shoot of the comparatively moderate Islamic Courts Union which brought a semblance of calm to Somalia after 20 years of fighting but was thrown out of in 2006 following a US-backed invasion by Ethiopian troops.

The militant group controls large tracts of southern Somalia and has fought a vicious insurgency against the country's beleaguered and highly unpopular transitional government whose writ extends little further than the capital Mogadishu. They promote a draconian interpretation of Sharia law and have pledged allegiance to al-Qa'ida and its philosophy of waging violent jihad to establish a global Islamic caliphate.

After withdrawing their fighters from the capital in August, they have shifted to more asymmetric tactics such as suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. A spate of kidnappings hit northern Kenya prompting Nairobi to invade from the south claiming that they would eradicate Shabaab. Ethiopia's military has invaded once more from the north but there has been little sign so far of any palpable military successes against the militants who have called on help in repelling "infidel crusaders".

Fearing Somalia is becoming a new gathering point for international jihadists, the United States has increased drone strikes within the Horn of Africa operating out of bases in Djibouti, southern Ethiopia and the Seychelles.

The exact number of foreign fighters within Shabaab's ranks is currently unknown but western intelligence agencies have watched with alarm as both hardened veterans and new foreign recruits have flocked to the area.