Maybe NOW Europe Will GET IT! Are WE Ready For THIS?

I actually wanted to do a post today that was mostly light-hearted and humorous. This changed once I viewed the film "Submission." The film was directed by Theo Van Gogh, great grandson of Vincent Van Gogh's brother. Theo was a Dutch filmmaker and had received death threats after "Submission" was aired on Dutch TV. He was assassinated on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 (Election Day here in the US). The film is a powerful insight to the treatment of women in Islam. What makes this story even more amazing is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ayaan stars in this film. She does a compelling 1st person narrative of the abuses that Muslim women endure from their own families and how they are kept enslaved to this treatment by their own faith.

Ayaan is a refugee from Somalia. Her father arranged a marriage for her, and she fled to freedom in the Netherlands. Her story is that of a true hero. First she learned the Dutch language, and then she went on to study political science in college. She learned about citizenship and government and went on to become a member of Parliament for the Liberal Party in Holland. She has openly denounced Islam and its treatment of women. Her courage has made her a target of death threats, including a specific "open letter" to her that was pierced with a knife and stuck into the dead body of Theo Van Gogh at the time of his assassination. (View the film Submission Here, the film starts with prayer chants, but she will speak in English to tell the story. It lasts about 11 minutes, but WELL WORTH WATCHING!)

Since Theo's assassination, things in Holland have been getting very tense. First reports of the assassination were accompanied by a statement from Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in which he urged the Dutch people to be calm and was quoted as saying "Nothing is known about the motive," he said in a written statement. "I want to call on everyone not to jump to far-reaching conclusions. The facts must first be carefully weighed so let's allow the investigators to do their jobs." This written statement was issued despite the five page letter laced with Islamic verses and the usual Jihad rhetoric. This is the best translation of the original letter I could find. While I understand the importance to keep people calm, it is insulting to claim that "NOTHING" is known about the motive. Even just admitting that it "appears" to be motivated by revenge for the film's unflattering peak into Islam would at least be believable.

Since the assassination, the conditions in Holland have not been calm. Tension is building:

• Ayaan has been placed under heavier police protection.
• Eight men have been arrested in the investigation of the murder. These eight men are suspected Islamic radicals (shocking!), and were previously detained and held for 24 hours back in October of 2003 during an investigation into a possible terror attack (just perfect!).
• Another local artist painted a mural, in honor of Theo Van Gogh's memory, on a wall along a path that Theo was known to travel. Moroccan teens passed by the portrait and began spitting on it. The graffiti artist Donovan Spaanstra, 33, attempted to talk to the teens about the murder, but the teens just shouted "Hamas! Hamas!", and ran off.
• Artist Chris Ripke painted a mural saying, "Thou shalt not kill." When the head of a nearby mosque complained that the mural was "offensive and racist," local authorities came and sandblasted it. Yes, you read that right. "Thou shalt not kill," is now "offensive and racist."
• Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, found a threatening letter in his mail. It called him an "ugly dog" and warned him that he was not safe.
• A Muslim man from Amsterdam, his identity not given, was quoted in an inteview as saying that "Murder is normal."
• On November 8th the BBC reported "A powerful bomb gutted a Muslim school in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven Monday, another in a recent series of anti-Muslim acts."
  The Washington Times also reported "There were no injuries in the blast, but a police spokesman said the explosion was powerful enough to blow out windows from neighboring buildings.
  Mosques in several Dutch cities have been targeted by vandals and failed arsonists in what police believe are revenge attacks since the murder last week of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by suspected Islamic militants.
  In the past three days, attacks against Muslim targets were reported in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Breda and Huizen."

In light of these events, I ask, "What did we miss?" Many of us have seen this coming. While Holland has been making efforts to embrace "Non-Westerners" into their society, which is a noble task. However, when we start to buckle to their attempts to change our laws, and call those laws "racist," or consider murder to be normal, what are you embracing? Embrace them yes. Letting the radical and violent newcomers dictate freedom of speech by acts of violence is DANGEROUS!

UPDATE: Amazingly enough, I had no idea when I posted the above story early this morning, that Holland was on the verge of SERIOUS ACTION! I don't usually read the BBC at all, but my interest in this story has kept me tuning in to watch for developments. This story just keeps growing and growing. The MSM (Mainstream Media), here in the US don't seem to find this story the least bit beneficial to their agenda; hence, I am left with the BBC! Forgive me!

Anyway, here is the update. The Dutch launched and anti-terror raid today in The Hague, and caught 2 suspects, while a third was picked up in Utrecht. The seige lasted 14 hours with 3 Dutch police offecers wounded. Holland took action today and has warned the EU (European Union) about the dangers they are experiencing. You can read the entire story HERE