Over the weekend, I temporarily lost access to both of my computers, apparently due to computer ... viruses.  Or is it "vira"?  Tom Christiansen gives the matter its due attention here:

[S]ome writers prefer to maintain the classical inflections on some English words, particularly in technical writing. For example, conflicting indexes/indices and minimums/minima are both easily found, depending on the intended audience and use. In that case, what's the classical plural of virus?

The simple answer is that there wasn't one. The longer answer follows.

Writers who, searching for a fancy plural to virus, incorrectly write *viri are doubtless blindly applying an overreaching -us => -i rule. This mis-inflects many words. For example, status and hiatus only change the length of the final vowel; genus goes to genera; corpus goes to corpora. Others are even worse if this rule is mis-applied, like syllabus, caucus, octopus, mandamus, and rebus.

Anyway, Latin already had a word viri, but it was the nominative plural not of virus (slime, poison, or venom), but of vir (man), which as it turns out is also a 2nd declension noun. I do not believe that writers of English who write viri are intentionally speaking of men [though that may be debatable - AGG].  And although there actually is a viri form for virus, it's the genitive singular, not the nominative plural. And we certainly don't grab for genitive singulars for the plurals when we've started out with a nominative. Such hanky panky would certainly get you talked about, and probably your hand slapped as well.

This apparently invariant use of virus as a genitive singular may also imply that it's 4th declension, as some scholars believe.

Those confused souls who write *virii are tacitly positing the existence of the non-word *virius, and declining it as though it were like filius. It's true that l/r are both linguals that sometimes get interchanged, and that f/v are just a change in voicing, but that's just reaching. *Virii is still completely silly, so don't do that; otherwise, everyone will know you're just a blathering script kiddie.

The crucial problem here is that, classically speaking, there appears to be no recorded use of virus in the plural. It was a 2nd declension noun ending in -us, which is rather common, but it was also a neuter, which is rather rare. I could only come up with three such 2nd declension neuters: virus (some poison), pelagus (the sea, usually poetically), and vulgus (the crowd). None appear to admit plurals. Perhaps this is because they are mass nouns, not count nouns.

Ton E. van den Bogaard of the University Maastricht in the Netherlands follows up with a letter that firmly places him in the camp of the fourth declensionites:

With interest I read the contribution `On the Absence of a Plural of the Latin Noun ``Virus' in the June 1999 ASM News, p. 388, by Robert J. Smutny. However, according to my Latin grammar, one of the very few books of my gymnasium (high school) days that is still up to date, the plural of the noun virus in Latin is, like the plural nowadays used for virus in Romance languages (e.g., Italian and French), also virus. The Latin noun virus does not belong to the second declension group but, like the noun fructus, meaning fruit or piece of fruit, belongs to a group of Latin words that is declined according to the fourth declension. Hence, two pieces of fruit is in Latin duo fructus and two viruses would be duo virus. According to the fourth declension the plural genitive of virus in Latin is viruum and therefore an Index of Viruses is in Latin an Index Viruum. Virorum is the plural genitive of the Latin noun vir (second declension) meaning man or husband. Consequently an Index Virorum would indicate a list of husbands or men.

Moreover, because the noun virus belongs to the fourth declension group the study of viruses should have been called virulogy and people practicing that science virulogists. My former professor in virology at veterinary school consequently called himself a virulogist and he lectured virulogy. I am afraid that these words have become extinct since he died.

It is important to realize that Latin and Greek derived expressions in biomedical English have been coined by scientists for convenience and not by scholars based on classical grammar. The old Romans might have said to these scientists modulating their language: ``Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas,' which means freely translated: ``Despite your lack of knowledge, still appreciated.'

Yes, but how would the old Romans have translated "blathering script kiddie"?

By Stephen Ohlemacher for AP:

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.

It's time to start cashing them in.

For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.

Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.

Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs, preferring to borrow from Social Security rather than foreign creditors. In return, the Treasury Department issued a stack of IOUs — in the form of Treasury bonds — which are kept in a nondescript office building just down the street from Parkersburg's municipal offices.

Now the government will have to borrow even more money, much of it abroad, to start paying back the IOUs, and the timing couldn't be worse. The government is projected to post a record $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year, followed by trillion dollar deficits for years to come.

Social Security's shortfall will not affect current benefits. As long as the IOUs last, benefits will keep flowing. But experts say it is a warning sign that the program's finances are deteriorating. Social Security is projected to drain its trust funds by 2037 unless Congress acts, and there's concern that the looming crisis will lead to reduced benefits.

"This is not just a wake-up call, this is it. We're here," said Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. "We are not going to be able to put it off any more."

Another update to this story.  By Ahmed Al-Haj for AP:

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — An American al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen fooled his hospital guards into unshackling him by asking to join them for prayers, security officials said Saturday. He then killed a guard who laid down his weapon as he went ahead at prayer time.

The new details of Sharif Mobley's failed escape attempt, obtained by The Associated Press, indicate the 26-year-old American of Somali descent has a level of training and cunning characteristic of the terror network.

Some might justifiably interpret "the terror network" as a reference to Islam itself.

[...]

At the hospital, Mobley befriended his guards and asked them to teach him Arabic. He performed prayers and read the Quran with them.

Then a week ago, the officials said, Mobley asked his guard to unshackle him from his hospital bed at prayer time. The guard did and then went into a washroom ahead of Mobley to perform ritual ablutions required before the five daily prayers in Islam, leaving his gun unattended.

Mobley snatched the gun and shot the guard twice — first in the head, then in the chest — as he walked out of the washroom.

When a second guard outside heard the shots, he rushed in. Mobley shot him in the kidney and abdomen, leaving him in serious condition. Mobley was then chased around the hospital until he surrendered.

It should have been forbidden for a Muslim to kill another Muslim, according to the Qur'an.  Maybe the guard was a Shi'ite, or maybe he didn't pray often enough, or maybe he listened to music.  But whatever it was, I'm sure there was an excuse.  There is always an excuse for a devout Muslim to justify murder.  Always.

An update to this story.  By Geoff Mulvihill for AP:

HADDONFIELD, N.J. – An American seized in Yemen in a sweep of suspected al-Qaida members had been a laborer at six U.S. nuclear power plants, and authorities are investigating whether he had access to sensitive information or materials that would be useful to terrorists.

Sharif Mobley, 26, worked for contractors at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland from 2002 to 2008, mostly hauling materials and setting up scaffolding, plant officials said.

[...]

Officials said Mobley passed the necessary screenings, which include criminal background checks, drug testing, psychological assessments and identity verification.

[...]

Mobley, a Muslim who grew up in Buena, N.J., was among 11 al-Qaida suspects rounded up earlier this month in Yemen. He was taken to a hospital there over the weekend after he complained of feeling ill. Yemeni officials said he snatched a gun and shot a security guard to death in an attempt to escape from the hospital.

[...]

Mobley's work came during a period in which nuclear plant security was increased in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that before regulations changed in 2003, workers could gain temporary access to plants before their screening was complete. It was not immediately clear whether Mobley had access before he was completely cleared.

[...]

A law enforcement official says Mobley traveled to Yemen with the goal of joining a terrorist group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.

A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says the U.S. government was aware of Mobley's potential extremist ties long before his arrest. The official did not say how long the government had been paying attention to him.

The U.S. government was aware of his "extremist" ties, yet he passed all necessary screenings to work inside nuclear power plants.  Those screenings may need to be a smidge more rigorous.  Just a thought.

Overwheening betweener alert.  Reported by Yasmine Saleh for Reuters:

CAIRO (Reuters) – At least 24 people were injured in northern Egypt when fires were started and fighting broke out between Christians and Muslims Friday, an official said on Saturday.

Note that the fighting took place on Friday, after Muslim prayers.  I bet the topic of the sermon was either "Loving thy fellow neighbor" or "Peace and tolerance - the way of Allah".

"Security was able to control fires that erupted [there's that passive voice again] in three homes and two cars," Ahmed Hussein, governor of the northern governorate of Marsa Matrouh, told state television. Relations between Egypt's Muslims and mainly Coptic Christians are usually calm but can become strained and sometimes erupt into violence over issues such as inter-faith relationships and land.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's roughly 78 million people. The rest are mostly Sunni Muslim.

Christians make up 10 percent of the population, but I bet they make up 100 percent of the victims of Friday's violence, barring "work accidents." 

A marvelously understated title for the article.  By Geoff Mulvihill for AP:

HADDONFIELD, N.J. – The FBI is investigating the case of an alleged al-Qaida member from New Jersey who's accused of trying to shoot his way out of a hospital in Yemen.

FBI spokesman Rich Wolf in Baltimore confirmed Thursday that the agency is looking into the case of 26-year-old Sharif Mobley of Buena but wouldn't comment further.

WMGM-TV in Atlantic City quoted "federal sources" as saying Mobley is the man accused of shooting two guards over the weekend in a Yemeni hospital where he was being held prisoner. One of the guards died, and the suspect was caught after a chase.

Mobley's mother told WMGM that FBI agents visited her and that the accusations are false.

Security and hospital officials in Yemen told The Associated Press over the weekend that an al-Qaida prisoner receiving treatment in the Republican Hospital in San'a attacked the guards while trying to escape.

Hospital officials said the patient snatched a gun from one of his guards, shot at them and fled. Security forces chased the prisoner and apprehended him. Their smoke grenades set a small fire in the hospital.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The West has expressed concern about the growing al-Qaida presence in Yemen.

Not to mention our concern about the growing al-Qaeda presence in NJ.  And Minneapolis.  And Nashville.  And ...

Until recently, I was familiar with the concept of isnad chains but was unaware that the term for the study of this is called the Science of Hadith.  The goal of the Science of Hadith is to determine the sahih (authentic) hadiths from the rest.  The muhaddith (Islamic hadith scholars) try to determine whether transmitters have ever lied, and are therefore unreliable.

But is this "science"?  Western physics is not reduced to determining what Isaac Newton said, according to his contemporaries, and whether those contemporaries ever told a lie in their lives.   Astronomy is not simply looking at the written words of Galileo.  The word "science" has a meaning, and a methodology, which are simply not fulfilled by the Science of Hadith.

In (Western) science, the scientist forms a hypothesis, and then constructs experiments that can test the validity of the hypothesis.  If the evidence disproves the hypothesis, the hypothesis must be abandoned, no matter how widely believed it is, no matter how politically powerful its adherents.  If the evidence proves the hypothesis, it must be accepted, no matter how absurd, until an alternate hypothesis is proposed and tested.  The history of 20th Century physics is replete with examples of long-held, self-evident "truths" which were disproved, one after another.

The evidence gathered during scientific experiments must be repeatable.  Different scientists must obtain identical results for identical experiments.

In Islam, the word of Allah is indisputable.  If the Qur'an makes claims that are demonstrably false, the Qur'an must be believed over what is observed.  Or more accurately, humans should not attempt to validate the contents of the Qur'an in the first place.  No amount of evidence will "prove" the inaccuracy of the Qur'an.

In the Science of Hadith, there are no hypotheses, no experiments, and no objective evidence.  There is only the subjective opinion of muhaddith regarding which transmitters are "reliable" and which are not.  Different Islamic sects have differing opinions on the importance of ahadith, and on the relative reliability of various ahadith.  There is no mechanism by which the sects could resolve their differences objectively.  Each has their opinion, backed up by reams of Islamic scholarship to defend their position, and never the twain shall meet, except perhaps on the battlefield.

For example, Twelver Shi'a and Ismailis believe that the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Mohammad, were infallible.  The members of Mohammad's immediate family are believed to have had absolutely complete understanding of the Qur'an, and are absolutely trustworthy.  Meanwhile, some Sunnis reject all ahadith, pointing out that the six major sets of ahadith were collected by Persians, not Arabs.  They point to Qur'an 6:38, which says "Nothing have We omitted from the Book [the Qur'an]".

In the Science of Hadith, there is no skeptical inquiry on the part of the muhaddith.  There is only the rote clerical categorization of who said what to whom, and an assignation of trustworthiness to each hadith transmitter.  No new ideas can be generated;  innovation (bid'ah) is specifically forbidden.  The only information that anyone can ever need was given by Mohammad 1400 years ago, and the only thing left to do is memorize what he said and did, and emulate his behavior as closely as possible.

The consequences of the Islamic view of "science" are a moribund, credulous mental condition; a paucity of scientific and artistic innovations by Muslims over the centuries; and a widespread belief in conspiracy theories.  There is no need for the gathering of evidence to support this or that conspiracy;  if the Qur'an says that Christians and Jews cannot be trusted, then ipso facto they cannot be trusted.  If a trusted imam says that Jews drink the blood of murdered Muslim children on Passover, then it must be so according to argumentum ad verecundiam.

By Patrik Jonsson for Christian Science Monitor:

Why did Lars Vilks, a mild-mannered Swede who calls himself “the artist,” booby-trap his art with electrified barbed wire, keep an ax by his bedside, and build a panic room upstairs? For one, Mr. Vilks’s 2007 cartoon of the prophet Mohammed as a stray dog continues to bring death threats and even a bounty on his head from an Al Qaeda-related group in Iraq. But after US authorities on Tuesday arrested Colleen LaRose, a Philadelphia woman known on the Internet as Jihad Jane, for allegedly planning to travel to rural Sweden and assassinate Vilks, civil libertarians such as George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley are pointing to another potential incentive for European artists to protect themselves: growing deference shown to Islam by European governments and journalists worried about stoking fanatical flames.

IN PICTURES: American Jihadis Since various cartoon controversies erupted after 9/11, European governments from Finland to the Netherlands have publicly upheld constitutional ideals of free speech and expression. But those same governments have also prosecuted people under new blasphemy laws intended both to extend legal protections to non-Christians and to calm religious tension in increasingly multicultural Europe.

"Non-Christians" (a euphemism for Muslims, as it's not Jews, Hindus, or Buddhists who are pushing for these blasphemy laws) are not the ones who need protection.  They are not the victims, they are the perpetrators.  It is their violence-in-search-of-an-excuse and hair-trigger rages that are causing "religious tension" on every continent of the world, not just Europe.

It's not just Westerners defaming Islam who are being targeted by European governments. Last year, Dutch prosecutors charged the Arab European League under a blasphemy law after it published a cartoon questioning the Holocaust.

The existence of the Holocaust is not a religious tenet of Judaism, it's a historical fact.  I'm not sure how Holocaust denial comes under the rubric of blasphemy laws.

While the US Constitution does not allow blasphemy laws, the Obama administration changed policy direction last year when it supported the move by Muslim nations in the United Nations' Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech when it comes to “negative racial and religious stereotyping.” “Government prosecutions have quietly worked to chill any speech in the area of religion,” says Mr. Turley. “And I think that’s linked to journalists and artists who are living in fear of being physically attacked or killed. [Would-be terrorists] see Western governments willing to put people in jail for insulting Islam, and that tends to validate their views.” Vilks himself played down the threat by likening the alleged planned attack to a B-grade Hollywood movie plot. “It’s about the bad guys and a good guy, and they try to kill him,” Vilks told the Associated Press Wednesday. “They have this woman also, which I think is a good part of the plot with this fantastic name, ‘Jihad Jane,’ who is actually doing some scouting there in the surroundings. You have something of a film there, but … I believe they’re a bit low tech.”

Jihadis may not be Mensa candidates, but then there was never anything high tech about chopping at someone's neck with a knife.  We saw similar dismissive statements about the shoe bomber and the knicker bomber (h/t Mary).  It's a serious mistake to think that their incompetence and lack of sophistication renders them harmless.

His safe room is patterned on a concept that apparently saved Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who used a similar room to escape an assassination attempt in his home in January. Concern has spread among artists and journalists critical of Islam since the 2004 assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a descendant of artist Vincent van Gogh. Swedish police keep a close watch over Vilks, but he does not have around-the-clock protection. Unlike in the United States, Swedish law does not guarantee citizens the right to protect themselves with firearms. Even as he builds a fortress, Vilks remains outwardly undaunted by the threat.

"As an artist, you have to take a stand for things. If you do something, you have to take full responsibility for it," Vilks told the Associated Press. "I'm actually not interested in offending the prophet. The point is actually to show that you can. There is nothing so holy you can't offend it."

Why not?  Why do genocides and mass-murder, when committed by Muslims on Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and not-Muslim-enough Muslims consistently go unpunished?  Have the Muslims successfully used terror to strike fear in the unbelievers?

See here for more on the independence of East Timor.  See here for more information on jihad in Indonesia.  See here for more details on the assassination attempt on Catholic Timorese president Jose Ramos-Horta, by "rebels" whose "intentions remain unknown," and whose religion remain unstated.

From AFP:

DILI (AFP) – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday denied claims by Amnesty International that he would support a tribunal for abuses committed during Indonesia's occupation.

Amnesty had claimed he was in favour of the establishment of an international tribunal for crimes committed during the 1975-1999 occupation, should the UN Security Council set it up.

But Ramos-Horta said Amnesty International had "inaccurately reported and thus misrepresented" a discussion he had with Amnesty members at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom on March 5.

"I remain firmly unconvinced that the interests of the victims of my country and the cause of peace and democracy are best served with an international tribunal," he said in a statement.

The president said he told the meeting he would not oppose an international tribunal -- but he would under no circumstances push for it to be established.

East Timor gained formal independence in 2002 after a bloody 24-year occupation by neighbour Indonesia that led to the deaths of up to 200,000 people and there have been calls to try the perpetrators.

A reconciliation commission established jointly by East Timor and Indonesia found in 2008 that while gross human rights were committed by Indonesian forces, there should be no more trials and no further arrests.

In August, Ramos-Horta rubbished a call by Amnesty International for there to be an international tribunal set up.

"Why always should East Timor be an international experiment with international justice? I have opposed and continue to oppose an international tribunal for East Timor," he told reporters.

The president also said restoring good relations with Indonesia is more important than "prosecutorial justice".

Why is it a choice between investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the murder of more than 200,000 people on the one hand, or "restoring good relations" with Indonesia on the other?  Why is it that in order to "restore good relations" with Indonesia, it is necessary to sweep 200,000 murders under the rug?  Why is it a required precondition wherever non-Muslims attempt to maintain "good relations" with Muslim-majority nations that we "look beyond" their mass murders of us kufirs?

Excerpts from the F.B.I.'s file on W. D. Fard, a.k.a. Wallie Dodd Ford, a.k.a. Wallace Dodd, a.k.a., a.k.a. Wallace Farad, a.k.a. Prophet Fard Mohammed, a.k.a. F. Mohammed Ali, a.k.a. Muck-Muck, a.k.a. David El, a.k.a. Allah. 

Fard is the founder of the Nation of Islam, and considered by followers to be the Mahdi.  Prior to the founding of the Nation of Islam, during WWII, Fard was the Supreme Being of the Allah Temple of Islam in Chicago.  He disappeared in 1934, and was succeeded by Elijah Mohammad.

"As of early August, 1942, it was noted that the Allah Temple of Islam met at 104 E. 51st. St., Chicago, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.  It was also noted that the Supreme Being of the organization, W.D. Farad, was reported to be in Mecca."

"On 7/27/42, (redacted) Chicago, was interviewed.  At that time, she advised of her attendance at two Moslem meetings in Chicago.  (Redacted) stated that the Moslems preached at their meeting that there was no God but Allah, that the white man's God was really the Devil and that the true Allah was a living individual who was presently the head of the Japanese army."

"The report stated that W. D. Farad, also known as "Muck-Muck", apparently was the Son of Man who was then in the East in the Holy City of Mecca, which was the one and only Heaven."

Exhibit No. 177, taken from the home of Elijah Mohammed during his arrest on 9/20/1942:

"Pen and ink sketch entitled "Calling the Four Winds" which was a picture of a US map containing a figure in the center identified as Fard.  Guns, bearing the name Asia on the barrels, pointed to the US from each side.  The drawing bore the signature of R. Sharrieff (an Islam Temple member)."

"In a signed statement, dated 9/20/42, [redacted] furnished information regarding his membership in the Islam Temple.  He also stated his belief that the present war would be won by Japan at which time Japan would free all of the black people on earth.  He advised that in such case he would assist the Japanese government in any manner with the exception of bearing arms, 'as the Japanese have been designated to do the fighting with arms by Allah W. D. Fard.'"

There are references in the document to Nation of Islam members as "Asiatics", and Fard is described as the "Finder of the Lost Nation of Asia."  Fard's birth nation is not known (possibly Afghanistan), but Nation of Islam members may have used the term "Asian" as it is used in the U.K.  The fact that Japan was also "Asian" may have had some significance, and caused them to feel some misplaced kinship with the Japanese, of course in addition to the fact that they were waging war against the U.S.

By Jon Gambrell for AP:

LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria's ruling political party has said it wants a Muslim from the north to stand as its candidate for the oil-rich nation's presidential election next year, blocking the country's Christian acting president from seeking the office.

The announcement by Vincent Ogbulafor, national chairman of the People's Democratic Party, late Tuesday appears to cut acting President Goodluck Jonathan adrift as he manages a nation that saw its elected president disappear into a Saudi Arabian hospital for three months. The country of 150 million people still have yet to see President Umaru Yar'Adua, who apparently returned to Nigeria's capital last week in an ambulance during a nighttime military convoy.

Nigeria splits roughly in half between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. Under a power-sharing agreement in the PDP, candidates for the presidency must alternate between the two faiths. Yar'Adua, a Muslim, is still in his first four-year term. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former dictator who became the civilian elected leader in 1999 and preceded Yar'Adua, is a Christian who served two terms.

"The south had the president for eight years and it is proper to allow the north to have the presidency," Ogbulafor told reporters late Tuesday night.

That statement appears to confine Jonathan, a Christian from the Niger Delta, to his current role as custodian of the nation.

Yar'Adua left the country in late November to seek medical treatment for what his doctor described as acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart. However, Yar'Adua did not follow the constitutional steps that would have put Jonathan in charge in his absence.

That would have required the Muslim president to allow a Christian to rule over Muslims in the north.  It's not surprising that he balked.

Instead, the nation remained rudderless for months as oil contracts went unsigned and government largely ground to a halt. That standstill ended when the National Assembly empowered Jonathan to take over as acting president on Feb. 9.

Yar'Adua returned Feb. 24 to Nigeria, again causing confusion among the political elite despite a statement from his spokesman saying Jonathan would continue to serve as acting president. Access to Yar'Adua remains extremely limited, with his wife Turai Yar'Adua apparently controlling who sees and speaks with the ailing president.

Good luck to acting-President Goodluck Jonathan and the Christians of southern Nigeria in their quest to set up an equitable and stable power-sharing agreement with the Muslims of the north.

By Kathy Gannon for AP:

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan – A man who was freed from Guantanamo after he claimed he only wanted to go home and help his family is now a senior commander running Taliban resistance to the U.S.-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, two senior Afghan intelligence officials say.

Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.

The story of Abdul Qayyum could add to the complications U.S. President Barack Obama is facing in fulfilling his pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo.

U.S. intelligence says 20 percent of suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison have returned to the fight and that the number has been steadily increasing.

[...]

"[Qayyum is] smart and he is brutal," said Abdul Razik. "He will withdraw his soldiers to fight another day," he said, referring to the Marjah campaign.

And U.S. officials will label this a victory, point to statistics showing a decrease in the number of attacks, and claim that this proves the Afghan peoples' lack of support for the Taliban, and their support for our "war on terror".  And the jihadis will patiently lay low and re-appear when it is to their advantage.

Qayyum, who is about 36 years old, is close to the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. He has been tipped as a candidate to replace the militia's second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was among several Taliban leaders arrested recently in Pakistan.

A Taliban commander in the 1990s who was notorious for brutality and summary executions, Qayyum was captured in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo. According to interrogation transcripts, he identified himself to his American captors by his father's name, Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, and said he had been conscripted by the Taliban but left at the first opportunity.

According to a military transcript of his subsequent hearing, he said: "I want to go back home and join my family and work in my land and help my family."

"Family" as in "ummah".  A relevant hadith about trust and treachery from Tabari:

Tabari VIII:90 “Abu Basir went out with his companions. When they stopped to rest he asked one of them, ‘Is this sword of yours sharp?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘May I look at it?’ Basir asked. ‘If you wish.’ Basir unsheathed the sword, attacked the man, and killed him. The other Muslim ran back to the Messenger, saying, ‘Your Companion has killed my friend.’ While the man was still there, Abu Basir appeared girded with the sword. He halted before Muhammad and said, ‘Messenger, your obligation has been discharged.’” 

Whether or not Qayyum made a promise to forgo jihad, no-one familiar with the writings of the Qur'an and the ahadith should be surprised that he returned to jihad at the first opportunity.  We trusted him by handing over his freedom, and he used that freedom to kill more of our troops.  I would hope that the next time Qayyum comes into contact with Coalition troops, he will not be taken prisoner.

The Vigenère cipher was named after Blaise de Vigenère, although Giovan Battista Bellaso invented it earlier.  It was thought to be unbreakable, but Friedrich Kasiski published a solution, unimaginatively named the Kasiski Examination, although Londoner Charles Babbage discovered it earlier.

An explanation of the Vigenère cipher can be found here.

An online Vigenère cipher cracking tool can be found here.

NNVTMSYXSGOMLUREKVPWXFNVUKSBJSLKTDDNSWUJWRTRWAWMF
MEZQUWAKYGWZHAJTJAEZQWELJMKOJNLQNXDJEVQUOMKTKQDWD
YHWOMSPTWKCVVUSTZGUGDSIFIEZQSYGWESWJYGWKSDWYLJMKO
JNLYQLTDOMTIJQQYOJMFKTUSTMOAWKAPOQAZHSNNKUYFJKOZFJN
WFILKTUJFMKWFNVKBKMXIXAWMIJRWNQNUSGAPAGRYMMFGGGWHSP
LSPTRFGLOUYHSRMFYTVWUPWMAIDAIFPJVWTUGDJGJCDWXDTZGEG
DQDAUBMDSIFIQFFTAFQBZQWWSTIZGSGJAKDAZDYQJTXJSLJMKWDS
EKTVNQUWCVVMXILFIJWJNKAWMDDOMPOOUKEHWBKTJRSTUKMWOM
PLQAZAFFEWQUSEKSDAXRSFVGFN

(The message must be concatenated into a single line in order for the cracking tool to work properly)

That's the original headline.  It brings to mind the recent disasters in Haiti and Chile, but this collapse was not an act of G*d.  By Ahmed Al-Haj for AP:

SAN'A, Yemen – Security officials in southern Yemen say a three-story building collapsed when explosives stored in its basement went off, killing at least eight people.

The ubiquitous disembodied passive voice:  Explosives went off.  Buildings collapsed.  People died.

The officials said it was unclear what set the explosives off early on Tuesday in the southern town of Taiz. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.

The officials say the basement was used by an arms dealer to store dynamite and other explosives. They say the blast was so strong the building, which had six apartments, totally crumbled.

The officials say rescue operations are still continuing and that 15 people were injured in the blast. Two nearby buildings were damaged and have been evacuated.
 

By Tom Maliti and Raphael Satter for AP:

NAIROBI, Kenya – An extremist Islamic group is blocking food deliveries to hundreds of thousands of hungry Somalis, officials said Monday, after the militants accused aid agencies of secretly supporting those who have renounced Islam.

Britain also said Monday it will ban Somalia's most dangerous extremist Islamic group, al-Shabab, an action already taken by the U.S. State Department in 2008 when it designated the group a terrorist organization. Al-Shabab is believed to have links with al-Qaida.

[...]

On Sunday, al-Shabab said it would prohibit the U.N.'s World Food Program from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.

It also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting "apostates," or those who have renounced Islam.

How many non-Muslims will die now in Somalia, due to al-Shabab's blockade of food aid to kuffar?  How many non-Muslims will convert to Islam, given the choice between starvation or Islam?

First, Sgt. Derwin Longmire was placed back on the streets with a badge and a gun, and now a trial of 4 defendents from the Your Black Muslim Bakery for assault and torture have resulted in zero (0, goose-egg, nada, zippo) convictions;  three of the four are now released, at least temporarily.

Have I ever mentioned what a bang-up job the Oakland PD is doing, and what fine, delicious, wholesome products Your Muslim Bakery produces?  Mmmm, mmm!   I just want to welcome our Your Black Muslim overlords back, and suggest there may be a role for a certain blogger to play in the area of positive public relations for the bakery.  In fact, he may well be more useful alive than lying on a sidewalk in a pool of his own blood.  Just a suggestion!  Bygones!

From the Chauncy Bailey Project:

OAKLAND — A jury Monday deadlocked on assault charges against three men who once were members of Your Black Muslim Bakery and acquitted a fourth, ending a two-week trial with no convictions.

Jurors told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner that they could not reach verdicts against Dahood Bey and Basheer Muhammad, who were accused of leading an attack Dec. 21, 2008, against a man who rented a room from Bey. Bey also was charged with torture.

Ajuwon Muhammad, the third defendant, was acquitted on a robbery charge; jurors said they could not agree on an assault charge against him. The fourth defendant, Jibrial Muhammad, Ajuwon’s brother, was acquitted of assault, the only charge he faced.

Ajuwon Muhammad was returned to jail because of a probation violation. Bey and Basheer Muhammad remain free on bail. The three are scheduled to appear in court March 1, when a second trial could be scheduled.

[...]

The defendants were charged with beating a man on Bey’s orders Dec. 31, 2008, at a house in East Oakland. The victim testified that as many as 12 men took part in the assault. He suffered four broken ribs, a badly swollen eye and other injuries.

Defense lawyers repeatedly had challenged the credibility of the victim, saying he had started a fight with Bey and Basheer Muhammad, lost it and invented a story out of ego and a hope that he could qualify for victim compensation funds to pay his medical bills.

They pointed out that he had once knocked out a Pittsburg police officer with a single punch and had hit a pregnant woman in a dispute over a parking place.

Michael Cordoza, Bey’s lawyer, told the jury in his closing argument that there was a lack of evidence in the case. Joseph Penrod, a public defender who represented Basheer Muhammad, called the victim a “very cunning” man adept at manipulating people. Moriarty argued that Bey was the captain of a paramilitary organization modeled on the Nation of Islam’s Fruit of Islam. Bey ordered the attack because the victim had disrespected one of his men who lived in the house and threatened to kill him, the prosecutor said.

Bey was a spiritually adopted son of late bakery founder Yusuf Bey. Basheer Muhammad was one of Yusuf Bey’s lieutenants.

The victim, whom Moriarity asked not be identified because he fears for his life, testified that he is a member of the Nation of Islam. Dahood Bey is the leader of a separate, local Black Muslim sect, as was Yusuf Bey.

Intra-Islamic violence includes not only Sunni-on-Shi'a, but also Nation of Islam versus other Black Muslim sects.  This has been true since the 1960's, when Malcolm X was murdered  by Nation of Islam members.  Also, at least two leaders of Your Black Muslim Bakery became murder victims, possibly due to power struggles within Your Black Muslim Bakery: Waajid Aliawaad Bey in 2004, and Antar Bey in 2005.

At least the victim in this case was no angel himself, and evokes little sympathy.  We'll have to wait and see how some of the upcoming murder trials go, and whether any of the other unsolved murder cases linked to Your Black Muslim Bakery are ever even brought to trial.

[...]

Bey IV is jailed without bail on three murder charges, including on charges of ordering the 2007 killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in 2007. In a separate case, he also is charged with kidnapping and torture. His murder trial is scheduled to begin in May.

From Reuters:

ALGIERS (Reuters) – The chief of Algeria's national police was shot dead on Thursday at his headquarters by another police official who was acting in a moment of insanity, the Interior Ministry said.

"The death of Ali Tounsi ... took place during a working session, in the course of which a police official, apparently gripped by an attack of madness, used his weapon and fatally wounded Colonel Tounsi," Algeria's official APS news agency quoted a ministry statement as saying.

There sure are a lot of Muslims suffering from "attacks of madness".  If only we could see some sort of pattern developing.

Earlier, a security source told Reuters that Tounsi, who had been national police chief for more than a decade, was shot inside his office by a senior police official with whom he was having an argument.

"This guy was unhappy, he took out his pistol and he fired it," the source said. "Police officers nearby fired back."

The Interior Ministry statement said that after shooting the police chief, the attacker shot himself and was now in serious condition in hospital. It made no mention of police firing back.

A Reuters photographer outside national police headquarters, in the center of the capital, said an unusually large number of police were there, including elite armed-response officers.

No doubt they were there to diagnose and treat any passersby who showed similar signs of mental illness.

From AP:

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said Tuesday that its security forces have captured the leader of an armed Sunni group whose insurgency in the southeast has destabilized the border region with Pakistan.

The Jundallah group had no immediate comment on the reports that leader Abdulmalik Rigi had been seized. But reports carried by state-run media gave conflicting accounts of his capture.

Lawmaker Mohammad Dehghan told the official IRNA news agency that Rigi was flying over the Persian Gulf en route from Pakistan to an unidentified Arab country when his plane was ordered to land inside Iran. Dehghan gave no details.

State-run English-language Press TV said, without elaborating, that Rigi was captured on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.

[...]

Jundallah has claimed responsibility for bombing attacks that have killed dozens in recent years, including five senior commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in October.

The group, which Iran claims is linked to al-Qaida, gained notice six years ago after it launched a campaign of sporadic attacks and kidnappings. It claims minority Sunni tribes in southeastern Iran suffer discrimination at the hands of Iran's Shiite leadership.

Rigi has said in the past that Jundallah did not seek to break away from Iran but that violence was necessary to draw attention to alleged discrimination.

Iran has accused the U.S. and Britain of supporting Jundallah in an effort to weaken the Iranian government, a charge they both deny.

Press TV quoted Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi as saying that Rigi was spotted at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his arrest.

State radio said Moslehi accused the U.S. of providing Rigi with an identity card and passport from an unidentified country. State television's Web site published photos of Pakistani and Afghan identity cards bearing Rigi's photo.

Pakistani authorities repeatedly had claimed Rigi was hiding in Afghanistan. At the same time, they say they have been cooperating with Iran and have handed over a dozen suspected militants in recent months, including Rigi's brother Abdulhamid Rigi.

If the U.S. is covertly supporting Jund'Allah in order to weaken Iran, then it is another ill-advised collaboration with jihadis that will someday spawn unintended consequences.

By Hannah Allam, for McClatchy Newspapers:

BAGHDAD — Assailants burst into the home of an Iraqi campaign volunteer before dawn Monday, fatally shooting the man before they stabbed his pregnant wife and their five daughters to death, relatives and authorities said. A sixth child, the only son, was found hanging from a ceiling fan with key arteries severed, a cousin said.

Over the last week and despite warnings that it was too dangerous, 47-year-old Hussein Majeed Marioush had been hanging campaign posters in the volatile mixed-sect district of Zafaraniya, a semi-rural area on the outskirts of southern Baghdad . He was a volunteer for Entifadh Qanbar, a secular candidate and longtime associate of the controversial politician Ahmad Chalabi . Both are running on the main Shiite Muslim ticket in parliamentary elections March 7 .

By late Monday, no clear motive had emerged in the killings. Iraqi authorities offered scenarios including a robbery, a financial dispute and sectarian violence. Qanbar and Marioush's family, however, think that the slayings were retaliation for his campaign work with the Iraqi National Congress , Chalabi's political party. The party has led the push to remove former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from state jobs and to disqualify them from running in elections.

"This is a completely political message," Qanbar said. "There's no family feud, no robbery, no case of someone hating someone so much that they kill a whole family with six children. This is political."

"This is political," only in the sense that Islam is raw political power, wrapped in bloodlust, boxed in sex-lust, tied up with a "religious" bow.

Qanbar provided McClatchy with cell-phone images taken from inside the house. One shows Marioush, the father, with a blood-soaked head. Another is a close-up shot of Widad Ibrahim Ali , the mother, with her throat slit so severely that she's nearly decapitated. Three of the five slain girls lie in blood-spattered clothing.

Ahmed, the 6-year-old boy, whose hands appear to have been tied behind his back in the photo, was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

Local news channels initially reported the deaths as beheadings, while other news agencies reported "some" beheadings among the dead. Security officials from various agencies gave statements that differed slightly from the family's version as to the manner of and possible motive for the killings, but no one disputed that a particularly savage attack had claimed an entire family. Four suspects were in custody late Monday, police said.

"This is a very clear message," said Abdullah Hassan Karim , a cousin of Marioush's who'd recruited him for the campaign. "The whole crime is related to his work. The enemies of the past and those who want to destroy Iraq are many."

That is, those who want to destroy the current collaborative kufirocracy of occupied Iraq and replace it with pure sharia are many.  In fact, they claim against all evidence to the contrary that they are a majority of Iraq's population.  They are devout, mainstream Sunni Muslims, attacking and killing the "Rafidite dogs".

Qanbar said Marioush had signed up to distribute posters for his campaign after an introduction through Karim, who'd attended high school with Qanbar. At a campaign meeting last week, Qanbar said, Marioush had seemed determined to hang posters in his neighborhood of Wahda even though others tried to dissuade him. Marioush and his family were Shiites and parts of his district are known for Sunni Muslim insurgent activity, including sectarian attacks on Shiites.

"He said, 'No, there's a Shiite area that's safe and a Sunni area that's bad, and I'll only hang them on the Shiite side.' He told us he could do it without anyone knowing," Qanbar said. "He took posters and other campaign stuff, and I got a call the next day that he was doing a great job."

As we await the outcome of Geert Wilder's trial in the Netherlands for the grievous crime of insulting Islam, we should remember that in the past the U.S. has also forbidden the discussion of certain sensitive subjects.

In the early 1800's, pro-slavery advocates in Congress had blocked any discussion of slavery in Congress.  Abolitionist and former President John Quincy Adams used the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to defend the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances", in this case to petition for the abolition (and therefore discussion) of slavery.  In response, the Pinckney Resolution of 1836 stated:

Resolved, that all petitions, memorials, and papers touching the abolition of slavery or the buying, selling, or transferring of slaves, in any state, district, or territory of the United States, be laid upon the table without being debated, printed, read, or defined and that further action whatever shall be had thereon.

It remained in effect until 1844, when John Quincy Adams finally garnered enough votes to overturn the gag rules, and slavery could once again be discussed in Congress.

The various gag rules didn't resolve the issue of slavery one way or the other.  They didn't prevent war, or even delay it.  They didn't improve the working climate in Congress, or spare the hurt feelings of any one group.

Banning discussion of sensitive topics in the name of frail gentility or political expediency is unproductive.  The underlying issues remain, unresolved and festering.  If open and frank debate and discussion are impossible, the only remaining avenues to resolution are the less civilised.

The Netherlands needs to allow a rigorous examination of the core teachings of Islam, and the link between mainstream Islamic beliefs and Islamically-inspired violence.  If there is no link and Islam truly is The Religion of Peace, then unfettered discussion will bear that out.

And on the other hand if there is a link, then that should be taken into account when setting public policy in many different areas.

Another possible case of torture and abuse of domestic servants by Saudis, this time taking place in London.  From Arab News:

JEDDAH: Police in London are investigating the murder of a 32-year-old Saudi man whose body was found late Monday at the five-star Landmark hotel in London.

He had been strangled and beaten to death. A 33-year-old man was taken into custody on Tuesday evening but has not yet been charged.

It has been widely reported in the British press that the arrested is a minor Saudi prince who had employed the victim. However, the British police have not named or charged the man.

[...]

The cause of death was given as “manual compression of the neck and head injury.” A Saudi Embassy official said that the matter was in the hands of the police. The Landmark, next to London’s Marylebone station, is in an area popular with many Arab visitors to the city.

From AP:

AUSTIN, Texas – A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service plowed his small plane into an office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees on Thursday, officials said, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.

A U.S. law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack — whose home was set on fire just before the crash — and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him. The Web site outlines problems with the IRS and says violence "is the only answer."

Federal law enforcement officials have said they were investigating whether the pilot, who is presumed to have died in the crash, slammed into the Austin building on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

And now, the rest of the story, according to Artemis:

Law enforcement officials later clarified that Stack's published statements regarding the IRS were in no way related to the accidental plane crash.  Reports that Stack was heard via radio with air-traffic controllers shouting "I'm going to crash my plane into the IRS building and kill them all!" have been dismissed as the panic-stricken cries of a pilot dealing with an unexpected midair emergency. 

The fact that the threats against the IRS published on his website exactly corresponded to his coincidental plane crash into the IRS building could not immediately be explained by officials, who nonetheless declared, "This was not an intentional act of terrorism."  A senior U.S. law enforcement official who has no training in psychology, and who has never met or even heard of Joseph Stack, said that Stack was suffering from mental illness, and that violent anti-tax protesters actually enjoy paying taxes.

Melissa Block of  'All Things Considered' interviewed former IAEA head Mohammad El Baradei on National Public Radio:

Dr. ELBARADEI: Well, I'm not sure they [the Iranians] are building a bomb. There is a concern, Melissa, that their program needs to be clarified. There are, as you know, concern that they have been doing some studies on how to develop a weapon. I'm not sure this is the case, but Iran need to engage substantively where is the international community to clarify this concern. It's a very frustrating situation, Melissa, frankly because it has been on again off again for many, many years. When the Iranian were ready to talk, the Bush administration was not ready to talk and there were certain condition Iran has to fulfill before they start their dialogue.

When Barack Obama is now ready to talk them they are into certain domestic hype of some sort inside Iran, and they are not a position to put their act together.

BLOCK: You said that you do not believe - you're not convinced that Iran is building, or has intentions to build a nuclear bomb. Iran is certainly concealed its intentions in the past. I mean, it had a whole uranium enrichment facility that was not disclosed until this past fall, which surprised everyone. What makes you so convinced that their intentions are not exactly that - to build a nuclear weapon?

Dr. ELBARADEI: I'm not convinced that they're entirely clean, Melissa. But as I said I'm not panicky because I haven't seen any concrete evidence that Iran is actually building a nuclear weapon. But the solution is to try to see how to get Iran to turn around and make good in what they say that this is a program for peaceful purposes. There's a lot of psychology there. It's at the end of the day, I believe that Iran was using the nuclear program as a mean to an end, which is to recognize Iran as a regional power. Whether they're doing it the right way, whether the West is responding the right way, there is a lot to be said about that.

I'm not entirely convinced that Dr. El Baradei would be panicky if mushroom clouds started appearing over U.S. cities.  His smug lack of concern does not instill confidence.

[...]

BLOCK: Dr. ElBaradei, you have been accused by your critics as having been too soft on Iran at the IAEA. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that you muddied the message to Iran. We're really engaging more in diplomacy than in the proper mission of nuclear safeguarding and verification. I wonder, as you look back on your time with the agency, did you do enough do you think? Did you pursue the right strategy to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power?

Dr. ELBARADEI: I think I did Melissa, everything I can within the authority I have. I don't have God's [erratum: Muslim El Baradei  means "Allah's"] authority. I have a very limited authority and, you know, you cannot just go and give them order. You have to understand where they are coming from and you have to also try to provide them with incentive. And you cannot really separate diplomacy from verification. They are very much linked together as you see today.

BLOCK: And to those who would say that the time for dialogue and engagement is long past and that the only way to stop Iran would be through some kind of military intervention, you say what?

Dr. ELBARADEI: Well, I say that this is the way to Armageddon, you know. I say there is no military solution. I, you know, and I'm not the only one who's saying that. Secretary Gates said that couple of months ago, that maximum, if you use force you will delay the Iranian program for a couple of years, but then they will come back with a vengeance. You cannot bomb the knowledge. Iran could go easily underground if you will get every Iranian, even those who do not like the regime, rally around the regime policy. So, I don't see that to be a solution at all.

I don't understand the 'Iran is going to get atomic weapons sooner or later' fatalism from El Baradei and the Obama administration.  You cannot "bomb the knowledge", as El Baradei puts it, but you can destroy their equipment, you can block their access to the raw materials, you can block their access to the technology, you can sabotage their sites, you can eliminate the few people onsite who have the required knowledge to build the weapons, you can block their access to our universities where they gain the required knowledge to build the weapons to use against us, and so on.  You can make a clear statement, similar to JFK's declaration during the Cold War, that any nuclear attack on any Western city will result in the immediate concomitant retaliation against Mecca and Medina.  You can instill in the Iranians a fatalism that no matter what they try, they will be eventually blocked from attaining nuclear weapons, that they must offer some sort of incentive in order for the suffering to end.

Despite El Baradei's bluster, it is a difficult task to construct a nuclear weapon.  It is a comparatively simple task to throw a spanner into any of the myriad processes required to get there.  It's a question of resolve, which is dangerously lacking at the moment.  We as a nation are much better at responding to disasters than at preventing them.

Actually, it is Islamic discouragement of rational thought that stokes conspiracy talk, and Islamic hatred for kuffar that stokes "anti-American sentiment".  Tim McGirk for Time:

From the Pakistani army barracks to the roadside chai stands along the Indus River where truckers gulp down cups of muddy tea, anti-Americanism is roiling across the country. It is whipped up by the often sensationalist, ratings-hungry Pakistani TV news talk shows - think of Fox News cranked up to full volume, in Urdu. It resounds from the mosques, in virulent anti-U.S. sermons during Friday prayers. But most ominously, according to Islamabad observers, this deep suspicion of America's intentions in the region seems to be shared by elements within Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services.

Here's a sample of a few conspiracy theories making the rounds: the U.S. military has a secret plan to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal; more than 9,000 agents of Blackwater, the U.S. security company, now called Xe Services, are roaming the country like bogeymen, at the CIA's behest, kidnapping people and setting off bombs that are later blamed on Pakistani Taliban militants; B-52 bombers are constantly circling the skies over Pakistan, waiting to strike when the signal is given (to strike what is never exactly clear from the rumors).

[...]

This anti-U.S. resentment strikes many in Washington as a tad ungrateful - not to mention misplaced - given that last fall, Congress enacted the Kerry-Lugar bill granting Pakistan over $7.5 billion in economic aid over the next five years. In addition, Pakistan receives military hardware and training to combat Pakistani Taliban - whose wrath is focused on Islamabad - in the mountainous borderlands with Afghanistan.

So what gives?

Pakistan has long been characterized as a country whose rulers may be pro-American but whose people are decidedly not. In 1979, for example, Pakistani radio falsely reported that U.S. aircraft bombed Islam's holiest site in Mecca, prompting a mob to storm the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, killing five American and Pakistani staffers. This simmering hostility was stirred again after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and boiled over, more recently, with drone missile strikes inside Pakistan's tribal territory in which dozens of suspected terrorists - and civilians - died. The Feb. 3 conviction in New York City of a Pakistani woman scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, nicknamed Lady al-Qaeda, on charges of trying to shoot Americans in Afghanistan has also ignited anger in Pakistan against the U.S. The verdict was decried by Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and lawmakers and sparked anti-U.S. protest rallies in Lahore.

On top of that, Washington's latest act of largesse, the Kerry-Lugar bill, has unintentionally riled the Pakistani army. The billions came with strings attached. The generals opposed one of the conditions of the bill: that the U.S. must be satisfied that the Pakistani military was fighting terrorism and not, as the legislation said, "subverting the political and judicial processes of Pakistan." Says Talat Masood, a retired general and military analyst in Islamabad: "Some in the army think this is intrusive and a loss to our sovereignty."

Islamabad politicians and diplomats say that the military opposes any measure that might boost the current President, who was swept into power in 2008 on a sympathy vote for his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, assassinated the previous year. Zardari has been dogged by old corruption charges and his current administration has proved highly unpopular, allowing the army to take a commanding role in security and foreign affairs, and that includes dealing with Washington.

Unfortunately, Western politicians see all this as evidence that $7.5 billion is insufficient, therefore aid must be increased.

I wish the bit about the U.S. having a plan to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal were not a false conspiracy theory.