You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Arabia
Al-Qaeda Starts Chick Magazine
2005-01-19
I don't know if this is the third or fourth time we've seen an article on this?
Somehow, I don't think Vogue's too worried...
Al Qaeda has introduced an online women's magazine with articles including dietary advice for suicide bombers and tips on how to "dominate the passions" before blowing yourself up, according to Italy's SISDE secret service.
You mean al-Qaeda has a "no fat girls" rule? Who knew?
SISDE analysts disclosed the existence of Al Khansa, the unusual monthly Internet publication for female militants that is hosted by several Islamist Web sites, in the Italian spy service's quarterly review Gnosis. Khansa is a popular name for Arab women, recalling a 7th century female poet, Tumadir bint Amr, who was known by the sobriquet of Al Khansa — meaning "she who is illiterate because who wants a woman who can read?" "gazelle" or "snub-nosed 38 caliber" — because of her beauty and exquisite, petite nose. She became "the historic symbol of the woman warrior, and, at the same time, of all the mothers of the martyrs," according to SISDE, which is responsible for preventing terrorist reprisals against Italy's deployment of troops in Iraq. "If you want to read up on the latest model of hijab [veil] or abaija [tunic], don't let yourself be taken in by the rosy image on the front of Al Khansa,"
Damn, and I was so ready to cancel Cosmo!
the newspaper La Stampa of Turin quoted one SISDE analyst as saying. "Among the Web pages of this newly born female review in Arabic, you won't find the usual fashion features that fill the pages of ladies' magazines the world over, except for a section dedicated to fitness with advice on diet and training to follow so as to acquire not a catwalk waistline, but martyrdom in the holy war."
"Does this explosive belt make my butt look big?"
With its bizarre format including articles on "breathing gymnastics to conquer the passions," evidently essential knowledge for those tempted to have a final fling before strapping on an explosive-laden corset, Al Khansa could indicate that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has made a strategic choice in favor of "women's emancipation through martyrdom," according to the Gnosis report. "This is a turning point in the project planning of international terrorist networks, which until now, unlike in the Palestinian intifada or in Chechen nationalist extremism, were limited to the exclusive employment of men in operations," the SISDE analysts said.
Actually, I think it's a good sign that they're running out of men who want to kill themselves for nothing....
But, the Italian spy review said, it is not clear whether al Qaeda's call to arms for women represents "female emancipation,"
You gotta be kidding me....
or rather "a tactic to involve all components of the [Islamic community] in the global jihad." The enhanced role for women evidently reflects a sense that recruiting isn't going very well of urgency to drive foreign forces from Islamic territory, Gnosis concluded. It noted that as recently as May 2003, the influential Egyptian sheik Yussuf al-Qaradawi issued an edict blessing "aspiring [female] kamikazes for use in the interests of the holy war, freeing them of the duty of modesty and public invisibility."
Ok, then I got a question for the holy man.....So, as long as I blow up infidels, I can walk around in a thong bikini?
An aspiring female martyr, or "mujaheda," must learn the Koran by heart, have basic first aid training [and] be able to prepare an emergency kit "in which natural honey and water from the Zemzem spring at Mecca are indispensable since they flow directly from Paradise," Al Khansa advised.
I guess to help all the poor injured baby ducks, kittens and puppies....
A female militant must also "be content with what is strictly necessary, sending televisions and air conditioners to be burned."
Yeah, a MAN might want that stuff, you uppity broad!!
She should offer her own money for the cause and know how to shoot and "how to carry munitions on her shoulder," the Web site said. "This is obviously an 'emancipation' that is light-years distant from what the West means" by the word, the SISDE essay said. "The portrait of the new heroine is of a woman paladin suspended between stupidity and a shallow gene pool tradition and renewal, capable of protecting the family and the community against both outside aggression and the moral degeneration that insinuates its way inside society dominated by the 'corrupt' Saudi royal family." Al Qaeda's concept of emancipation does not extend to "the promiscuity of Arab television stations," SISDE's analysis added. Al Khansa considers "as a form of prostitution the presence of female announcers without burqas on the Saudi television network Al-Ekhbariya."
Those trampy little minxes!
In Al Khansa, the theorists of al Qaeda offer women "a path to reach freedom that would be denied in every other way — using the dominion of religion to oppose the dominion of men," the Italian secret service report said.
Posted by:Desert Blondie

#7  Jeeze Louise! Learning the Koran by heart before she blows herself up. Now that will make you want to be a martyr just to get away from that. The first aid deal I do not understand, however. Unless a boomer screws up and wants a second chance at martyrdumb.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-01-19 7:31:47 PM  

#6  Still looking for the Beltsuit edition (similiar to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition), females modeling the latest in suicide belt fashions. Something we can all get a bang outta, heh.
Posted by: Captain America   2005-01-19 7:19:10 PM  

#5  The magazine will also have to feature articles about significant relationships with farm animals or it won't sell.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen   2005-01-19 7:00:47 PM  

#4  Heh - I though it had to be at least a Misdemeanor...

I know this stuff is older than sin, but it's still timely, here and there. You can answer this one for him, I'd bet.
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 5:35:34 PM  

#3  Ah, yes, some of my friends' favorites. Although I do admit to the "What are you thinking about?" when my sweetie looks particularily lost in space. I think that's fair, especially if he's driving and just went through a stop sign. ;)

Posted by: Desert Blondie   2005-01-19 5:28:15 PM  

#2  DB - ROFL!!!

"Does this explosive belt make my butt look big?"

That was, prior to your adaptation, one of The Dreaded Questions, lol!
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 5:17:56 PM  

#1  Best to let the ladies kill themselves. Reducing the number of females will have a more significant impact on their birth rates than culling the males.
Posted by: BH   2005-01-19 4:53:08 PM  

00:00