Know thine enemy. Via FoxNews:

Nov. 4, 2009, marks the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, when militant Iranian students took 66 Americans hostage and began a 444-day standoff with the West. Fifty-two Americans were kept in captivity for nearly 15 months by forces loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who established an Islamic theocracy in 1979, months before the storming of the embassy.

President Jimmy Carter ordered an ill-fated rescue attempt in April 1980 in which eight U.S. servicemen died in a mid-air collision between two aircraft flying over the Iranian desert on their way back from the aborted maneuver. The failure left a lasting mark on the Carter administration and helped sink his presidency.

Iran released the hostages on Jan. 20, 1981, 20 minutes after Ronald Reagan assumed office in Washington. The 52 embassy officials were flown from Iran to Algiers, then on to a U.S. airbase in Germany to recover. From there they flew to Newburgh, N.Y., and were bused to West Point, receiving a heroes’ welcome on U.S. soil.

On June 29, 2005, shortly after the depraved Jew-hater Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidential election, several major news outlets publicized allegations that he participated in the 1979–1981 Iran Hostage Crisis.

Some previous hostages have identified Ahmadinejad as the man in the military jacket on the hostage’s left side in the photo below. Several other sources, including Ahmadinejad, and other hostage takers have disputed these identifications.

After over three years in which IDF St.-Sgt. Gilad Shalit has been held in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, Israel breathed a sigh of relief on Friday afternoon after video footage of the captive soldier was released to the media and aired on Israeli television channels.

When a culture cheers its Muslim murderers as heroes is about as detestable as a culture can get.  Via PMW:

Fatah leaders responded with loud applause when two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel’s history were referred to as heroic Martyrs by former PA Prime Minister Abu Alaa, at the opening ceremony of Fatah’s Sixth General Conference:

“We have in our midst the hero Khaled Abu-Usbah, hero of the operation [terror attack] led by the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi [loud applause from the audience]. We salute him and welcome him. And [we salute] the hero, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal. [He shouts:] All the glory! All the glory! All the glory! All the sisters here are Dalal’s sisters.”  [PATV (Fatah), Aug. 4, 2009]

Click here to view the Fatah conference applauding the terrorists

Dalal Mughrabi and Khaled Abu-Usbah are seen as Palestinian heroes for having carried out the bus hijacking in 1978 in which 37 Israeli civilians, 12 of them children, were murdered.

Former Prime Minister Abu Alaa (Ahmad Qurei), who read the statement, is the current Chairman of Fatah Department for Recruitment and Organization.

Via YnetNews:

Four Palestinians from the Kalkilya area have been arrested for the murder of Dr. Daniel Yaakobi, 59, the Israel Security Agency announced Wednesday.

Yaakobi’s body was found burned in the trunk of a car near Kalkilya on July 27, 2006.

One of the suspects, Tayun Tayun, a Fatah operative, said Yaakobi had brought his car to his brother Ahmad’s garage. He said he attacked and beat him with a wrench and a stick until he died.

Sharon Tovi, Yaakobi’s son-in-law, noted that “Danny was a doctor who helped everyone, both Jewish and Arab neighbors.”

One recruiter was killed and another wounded when Muslim convert, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, of Memphis, TN, opened fire into the office.   Recruiting commander Lt. Col Thomas F. Artis says the victims had just completed basic training and were spending two weeks in Little Rock to recruit in their home area, showing the difference that less than two months of training made in their lives.

• “Mr. Muhammad stated that he was mad at the US Military”
• “Mr. Muhammad stated he fired several rounds at the soldiers with the intent to kill them” from arrest report released this morning
• “Mr. Muhammad further stated that he would have killed more soldiers if they had been on the parking lot.”
• Minutes after the shooting, Little Rock Police arrested Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe.  He faces a murder charge and 16 counts of terroristic acts.

Islamism is a cancer.  More here at Fox16.

h/t DailyAlert. Via Guardian:

Hamas has flatly rejected Israel’s demand that it free a captive soldier in return for lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian movement called instead for international pressure on Israel to force the borders open. Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy leader of Hamas, told the Guardian in Damascus Thursday that Corporal Gilad Shalit would only be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The soldier is believed to be alive but his whereabouts are unknown and he has not been seen by the International Red Cross.

Via Compass Direct:

The murderous rioting sparked by Muslim attacks on Christians and their property on Nov. 28-29 left six pastors dead, at least 500 other people killed and 40 churches destroyed, according to church leaders.

More than 25,000 persons have been displaced in the two days of violence, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

What began as outrage over suspected vote fraud in local elections quickly hit the religious fault line that quakes from time to time in this city located between the Islamic north and Christian south, as angry Muslims took aim at Christian sites rather than at political targets. Police and troops reportedly killed about 400 rampaging Muslims in an effort to quell the unrest, and Islamists shot, slashed or stabbed to death most of more than 100 Christians.

h/t Daily Alert.  Via JPost:

To the families of those killed in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, make no mistake, this tragedy will affect you for the rest of your life.

People will ask you: Do you hate the killers? And when you answer no, they will think that something is wrong with you. But hate is not something you have the energy for; you are too sad to hate. Besides you are a person who loves. To turn to hate would make you like the killers.

Don’t let others tell you that your loved ones died for nothing. They died because they were innocent victims of radical Islamic hatred. They died because radical Islam is vicious and evil and worships destruction and stands against everything you hold dear.

It is paramount that you seek justice – but do not seek revenge. Revenge embitters you while justice elevates you. Justice is motivated by love; revenge is motivated by hatred. Revenge is the modus operandi of the terrorists, and their hatred for others will in the end be defeated.

Keep speaking about the evil that was perpetrated against your loved one. Don’t allow the media or others to call the murderers militants or freedom fighters. Insist that your loved one’s murder be remembered.

The writer’s 13-year-old son Koby was murdered by terrorists in 2001. She and her husband Seth created the Koby Mandell Foundation which offers healing programs for families struck by terror (kobymandell.org).

The Nanavati-Mehta judicial inquiry commission on the Godhra train carnage has based its conclusion of it being a “pre-planned conspiracy” on the recorded evidence of over 100 witnesses, who claimed to having heard a crowd of about a 1,000 Muslims shouting “set the train on fire and kill the Hindus.” The report said “instigating slogans” were also made through loudspeakers from a nearby mosque to attack the Hindus.

The evidence recorded by the commission also claimed that a mob of Muslims attacked the train and stoned the coaches so heavily that the passengers could not come out. This was to ensure maximum casualties when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was “set afire.”

The commission in its 168-page report said the “conspiracy” was hatched by some local Muslims at the Aman guest house in Godhra the previous night. The conspirators immediately made arrangements for collecting about 140 litres of petrol from a nearby pump on the night of February 26, 2002, and the next day when the train arrived in Godhra, Hasan Lala after forcibly opening the vestibule between coaches S-6 and S-7 entered S-6 and threw burning rags setting it on fire.

The report named Moulvi Umerji of the local mosque to be the “mastermind” of the conspiracy and said Rajak Kurkure, Salim Panwala, Saukatlal, Imran Sheri, Rafiq Batuk, Salim Jarda, Jabbir, and Siraj Lala were among those who participated in the conspiracy to “cause harm to the kar sevaks travelling in that coach.”

Welles Remy Crowther, age 24.

Place killed: World Trade Center.

Resident of Upper Nyack, New York.

Welles Remy Crowther was an equities trader on the South Tower’s 104th floor, who helped dozens of people to safety on September 11.

His body was found in March, 2002, alongside several firefighters and emergency workers bunched in a command post in the South Tower lobby.

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I am honored to have the opportunity to post a tribute to Welles Remy Crowther, in memory of the eight year anniversary of the unprovoked attack on the United States by Muslim terrorists.

Welles Remy Crowther was born the oldest of three children, displaying his fearlessness, spirit and selflessness early and often growing up in the New York’s northern suburbs, his parents say.

He doted on his two younger sisters, Paige and Honor, and followed his father Jefferson’s lead, always carrying a bandanna in his back pocket (Welles preferred red, his father blue) and joining him as a volunteer firefighter as a teenager.

In high school, he was the type of kid who would selflessly feed the puck to the hockey team’s lowest-scoring player, hoping to give his teammate his first goal.

To his friends, he was the guy who would always listen and lend a hand.

Rain or shine, as a child, he would find something to do with his younger sisters, whether it was practicing lacrosse moves or having pillow fights in the hallway of their home.

At the age of 16, after years of helping his dad clean his village’s fire trucks, he became a junior volunteer firefighter. Two years later, he earned his certification.

A stellar student and lacrosse player at Boston College, Crowther joined Sandler O’Neil and Partners after graduation, settling into his office on the South Tower’s 104th floor.

While he loved his job, Welles told his dad that he really wanted to join the FDNY — or possibly the CIA or FBI — so he wouldn’t be stuck behind a desk and would be able to help others.

But that’s where he was on the morning of September 11th. Behind his desk.

He made one final call to his mom, Alison, from his office at 9:12 a.m., minutes after his tower was struck, leaving a brief, calm message saying, “Mom, this is Welles. I want you to know that I’m OK.”

That call was all the Crowthers knew about their son’s final moments until police knocked on their door in March, 2002, six months after the devastating attack on the United States.

Alison Crowther said the New York medical examiner’s office told them Welles’ body had been found intact, with no signs of burns, alongside firefighters and emergency workers then running a command center in the South Tower’s lobby.

Welles Remy Crowther was a hero on September 11. One of his greatest ambitions in life was to help others.

To help others. How many people do you know whose singular ambition in life is to Help Others?

Welles Crowther trained to be a volunteer fireman and his personality and character and spirit drove him to elevate and soar above the rest of us; he helped others escape the burning, twisted metal so that they could live, while he in turn, risked his own life so that others could survive. Welles Crowther spent his final moments, not thinking of his own safety, but helping others. He was truly a remarkable man.

Ling Young is one of the people Welles saved. She sat bloody and petrified with some others in the World Trade Center — the lights out, smoke engulfing the room and pain searing through their bodies. There was no escape from where they were in the South Tower, in pieces after being hit by United Airlines Flight 175 as far as they could tell.

Then out of nowhere, a young man burst in and took control – with a red bandanna on his face. In a strong voice, he directed them to the stairway — which was veiled by darkness, wreckage and haze — telling the injured to get out and the healthy to help them down.

“I see this incredible hero, running back and forth and saving the day,” recalled Judy Wein. “In his mind, he had a duty to do — to save people.”

“He’s definitely my guardian angel — no ifs, ands or buts — because without him, we would be sitting there, waiting [until] the building came down,” echoes Ling Young.

Wein and Young were separated by a few minutes and a few floors that day, but they share a similar story and a single hero: Welles Crowther.

Judy Wein remembers his penetrtaing eyes, firm voice and the red bandanna he wore over his nose and mouth — but didn’t know his name.

His name was Welles Crowther.

“If he hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have made it,” said Wein. “People can live 100 years and not have the compassion, the wherewithal to do what he did.”

Welles’ father, Mr. Jefferson Crowther, wrote the following about his late son:

He was courageous and strong and selfless on that terrible morning. He faced the devil head on three times to help the victims down from the 78th floor skylobby of Tower 2, and when he got to the lobby he stayed to assist in the orderly evacuation. His body was found on March 19, 2002 with the Firefighters of Ladder 4 FDNY. He too was a firefighter, a volunteer with Empire Hook & Ladder Company #1 in Upper Nyack, NY. His mother, Alison, and I with his two younger sisters are incredibly proud of his actions that morning, and we hope it inspires other young people to become involved as volunteers, either as firefighters, ambulance corps personnel, or in any capacity that your community needs. For that is the true strength of the United States of America. Thank you, and may God bless all of you.— Jefferson Crowther, father of the late Welles Remy Crowther.

Welles gave his life for people he did not even know. His mother, Alison Crowther, said:

I think he was blessed by God, and I think he was surrounded by a protection from God to be able to do what he did that day, and I think that that is — maybe all we can ask of life, is that we live our lives as fully and as beautifully and as completely and as spiritually whole as what Welles did, as he did.

Paige Hope Crowther, Welles younger sister, wrote the following on the 9-11 Heroes site:

Welles was my older brother, my protector. He was an amazing young man and, although our loss was great, I find solace in knowing that in his last moments, he took on the role of being the protector of so many others. He was truly a guardian angel that day, and still is today. He is with me always, and I will forever feel his presence. He is in my thoughts, dreams and prayers everyday and if we pass his heroic story on, in this way, he will live forever.

Jeff Crowther hopes his son’s story will inspire people to become a volunteer firefighter, to give money to the homeless every day like Welles did, to set goals and follow through.

“If Welles’ story helps people to think of others then God bless them, God bless him,” said his father. “He didn’t live long enough to be head of a corporation or do good works or endow a museum. But what he did on September 11, that’s his legacy.”

The Crowthers have established a trust fund that will fuel awards given to high school students who exemplify the type of person their son was, as well as so many others who lost their lives that day.

“Yes, we mourn their loss, but if we only think about what we lost and not what we’ve had, we’ll just die,” Alison said. “So we have to live in the beauty of what their lives were — and who they were as human beings because that’s what we celebrate and that’s what we fill our lives with.”

Tax-deductible contributions in memory of Welles Crowther can be sent to:

The Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust
P.O. Box 780
Nyack, NY 10960

Details can be had from the trust at 106 Birchwood Avenue, Upper Nyack, NY 10960.

TigerHawk, the famous blogger, is Welles Crowther’s cousin. Read TigerHawk’s tribute to his cousin, here.

Read Boston College’s tribute to Welles Crowther, here.

On September 23, 2006 the second annual Welles Remy Crowther Red Bandana Run, a 5K road race, will be held as an annual tribute to Welles Crowther. The race is co-sponsored by the Boston College Volunteer and Service Learning Center and the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust. The day is designed to bring all levels of runners (and walkers!) together to have fun and raise funds for the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust. For more information on the race, click here.

Read Winds Of Change’s painful account of what happened on that dreadful day, including a mention of TigerHawk’s post to his cousin, here.

You can leave a message of your own to Welles Remy Crowther, here.

You can view the entire list of contributors to the 2,996 Project here.

Welles Remy Crowther, you are an inspiration to all of us to achieve greatness, to be like an angel unto others, to love others as you love yourself.

“A person can only love according to the degree he knows the object of his love. If he knows a little, he can love a little. And if he knows a lot, he can love a lot.” (Laws of Teshuva 10:6).

Welles Crowther’s acts of herosim elevated deeds of loving kindness to the highest possible ranking among soul-traits. Only some problems have solutions, but all are alleviated by the loving response of those around us.
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Here are two more links on Welles Remy Crowther; Fox News has devoted a column to him here, and September11Quilts displays a quilt his grandmother, Jane Ernst Remy, made in Welles’ memory, here.