Call For Terror

Spiegel is reporting that an online magazine run by an Islamic terror group is calling for freelance hits against journalists and newspapers that printed any of the Mohammed cartoons. The magazine published lists of newspapers that published the cartoons.

At the end of the article, the authors formulate a call to violence that may seem roundabout at first, but which is unlikely to be misinterpreted by the online journal's readership. It's not a matter of a single newspaper, the authors write, but rather one "of international significance." The gist of the article is this: Something needs to be done, the prophet must be avenged.

The publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper in September eventually sparked violent demonstration in the Islamic world, where millions were offended by the caricatures. European consulates were set on fire in Damascus and Beirut, people were killed at demonstrations in Afghanistan, and Danish products were boycotted for weeks in the Middle East. Then things quieted down again and the crisis seemed to have passed. But has it?

Europe has a big problem on it's hands. Officials know there are terrorist organizations with troops already on the ground in most, if not all, European countries. The call to arms by the magazine, along with similar calls from bin Laden and Zwahiri is not a good sign.

Steinberg points out that Ansar al-Sunna has a network of militants already on the ground in Germany, Scandinavia and Italy. The founder of Ansar al-Islam, the organization out of which Ansar al-Sunna developed, lives in Norway. In recent years, Ansar followers have been caught trafficking militants in and out of Iraq from Italy and Germany. The Iraqi exiles thought to have planned an assassination attempt on Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in Berlin last year come from the same network. For a time, it is also believed that the Ansar al-Sunna Web site was run from Germany. And it can't be coincidence that so many newspapers from these countries have been listed — it seems likely that followers residing from these countries contributed information. According to Germany's domestic intelligence service, there are roughly 100 Ansar al-Sunna followers here.

People have to start realizing that there is a war on and ignoring it will not make it go away.