NEW TOYS FOR BELGIAN CONTINGENT IN AFGHANISTAN.

Imagine my surprise when I came across these photos, picked from the Belgian Army website. It shows troopers on a shooting range near Kabul, equipped with a weird-looking gun. After scrutinizing them, it was clear that the weapon in question is the FN F-2000, first shown to the public in 2001.



Despite its short length, an F-2000 is a relatively bulky weapon with (for a handheld gun) large vertical surfaces, which is why these examples are camouflaged. Notice that Belgian soldiers retain the older Kevlar PASGT helmet [PASGT = Personal Armor System for Ground Troops - MFBB]. Personally, I fail to comprehend why the US Army dispensed with them in favor of the new ACH [ACH = Advanced Combat Helmet], which is distinctively smaller. I have read all the stuff concerning its lighter weight and comfortable feeling, its alleged better ballistic and impact protection, its compatibility with the most recent night vision devices and communication equipment and so on. But it seems to me the soldier on the ground had definitely less protection in the neck and ears area, and I fear troopers will once again pay the price in blood for it. The reason the US Army adopted the M1 helmet back in 1941 was just because the WWI-era M1917 helmet only protected the top of the head, and it looks that in this regard the ACH is a step back over the PASGT. Murdoc Online agrees with me. Check out his post on this subject, it has a good graphic to illustrate the increased vulnerability.



The vehicle in the back is a Kraus Maffei-produced Dingo 2 multipurpose armoured vehicle with a remote-controlled machinegun on top. The Belgian army purchased 220 Dingo 2's in its various forms and currently has a handful in Afghanistan as well as some in Lebanon. Together with a host of other wheeled vehicles they are meant to replace ALL tracked armoured vehicles, which basically is an insanity, but then Belgium had for the past eight years a socialist Defense Minister, André Flahaut, who singlehandedly helped the armed forces a good way towards it transformation to the world's biggest kaki-clad transportation company, with the majority of its obese and middle aged truckers running silly errands. As has been stated on these pages before, civilized countries should have written it in their constitution that a socialist can never run a defense ministry. For some time, it looked like Canada might have committed the same fatal error as Belgium when it considered scrapping all its Leopard MBT's in favor of armoured cars. Luckily, they didn't and its Leopards have come in mighty handy in AF. Other western countries, like Sweden, are even worse off than Belgium, see this article, "Years of Cuts have left Sweden defenseless", but then Sweden has the most abominable history in Europe when it comes to leftist governance. All of this does of course not detract from the Dingo's undisputable qualities, but in my view it is rather an up-armoured Humvee than a wheeled Bradley AIFV. It will never be able to perform the duties of the latter, and this is where our policy makers have (again) gone wrong.



Now for the FN F-2000. It is probably the world's most modern assault gun, combining all modern features required of this weapon such as compact bullpup design [bullpup = shooting mechanism and magazine located behind the trigger - MFBB], modularity (the FN-2000 can literally be tailor-made by adding or leaving off diverse options), and fully ambidextrous handling. The latter means that its design is such that it can with the same easy be used by right and left handed users. It can be fitted with 40 mm FN EGLM grenade launchers as well as a computerized fire control system. The F2000's calibre is 5.56x45 mm NATO, it weighs 4.6 kg with a 40mm grenade launcher, and it's a gas operated, rotating bolt, selective-fire weapon, utilizing a short-stroke gas piston and a 7-lug rotating bolt which locks into the barrel extension. Possibly the most unique feature of the F-2000 is its patented front ejection system: the spent cases, extracted from the chamber, exit the gun via an ejection tube lading from the gun's rear its ejection port near the muzzle, where they fall out at a safe distance from the shooter's face! A special swinging guide, entering the way of the closing bolt, directs the spent case, held on the bolt face, to this ejection tube. At the same time, lower lugs of the bolt strip a fresh cartridge from the 30-round magazine.



This photo, when compared to the picture before, leaves not a shred of doubt anymore about the gun's identity. The gun sight is different... but then the rail on top of the weapon allows for different sights and scopes. An F-2000 is shorter than an M-4, but its barrel is actually comparable, possibly longer (400mm) due to the bullpup design. Its rate of fire is 850 rounds/minute, its effective range 500 meters (without gunsights).

On most Internet sources you'll find that the FN F2000 rifle is only operated by Belgian Special Forces (since 2004), the Slovenian Army, and Peruvian and Chilean Special Forces. Since the current batch of soldiers on duty in Afghanistan is actually drawn from an artillery unit (2nd Artillery Regiment) these photos prove that the FN F-2000 has found its way to mainstream Belgian Army units. With regards to other users beyond the ones above, I cannot exactly rejoice in the rumour that Saudi Arabia signed a deal with FN Herstal in 2005 to procure 50,000 (!) F-2000's... to complement its FN P-90's!

Whether the FN F-2000's will ever be used against Taliban is another matter. The 300 troops in Afghanistan are still only guarding KAIA (Kabul International Airport), and the Belgian government issued a truckload of caveats with regards to their use. The Netherlands is a comparable country, but they have been effective and stalwart allies of the US in Iraq and especially in Afghanistan, where they have the equivalent of a light brigade (some 2,000 personnel with a LOT of heavy matériel) operating in the dangerous Uruzgan province. Maybe, just maybe, Belgium's engagement in the WOT may be upgraded a bit in the coming months. I admit it's a big maybe since Belgian politicians, regardless of their stripe, usually have backbones as consistent as spaghetti which has been lying in boiling water for over one week. There have been parliamentary elections on June 10 and while we are still waiting for a government to be formed, it does look as it's going to be a coalition of liberals and christian democrats. Not that these have any basic understanding of defense matters, but at least the socialists will very likely land in the opposition. And that alone is a big step in the right direction.


MFBB.

AMSTERDAMS WESTERMOSKEE AND OTHER STORIES: NEVER TRUST ISLAMISTS. OR IS IT RATHER 'NEVER TRUST ISLAM ITSELF?'

On March 20, 2006, we reported on these pages how the then Duch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, a dhimmi multiculti idiot if ever there was one, had his signature chiseled in a commemmoration plaque marking the start of the construction of the Westermoskee, in Amsterdams "De Baarsjes" neighborhood. This mosque is to become Hollands biggest, with a 43-meter high minaret and a sprawling complex with apartments and offices around it. One year and a half later, the project is bogged down in shady conflicts between the muslim overseers from Milli Görüs on the one hand and the Dutch building association "Het Oosten" and the Dutch authorities on the other hand, and between muslims themselves. There is a huge fraud scandal with so-called "Green funds" involving a former Turkish financier and Milli Görüs, which is, according to the German Bundesverfassungsshuetz, an extremist organization. In the course of one year and a half, the muslim project organizers have behaved so callously and untrustworthy that in Dutch Parliament even the socialist party PvdA now wants to scrap the Westermoskee's building authorization.

The following is the response in the Dutch magazine Trouw of Fatih Dag, strongman of the Dutch Milli Görüs branch responsible for building the mosque:

He [Fatih Dag] would find that "very stupid". "I will then immediately call for a demonstration. A bus [with demonstrators] from every Milli Görüs mosque in Europe, that's going to be busy you know. I haven't tipped Al Jazeera, but it will certainly get a whiff of it, and I will speak to them. This is going around the whole arabic world, I brace myself for the backlash. All muslims have a satellite disc, so they see how a magnificent muslim project is forbidden here. Don't forget: we started out here with some Turks, but after all the objections it has become quite something for a lot of muslims in Europe. I expect among them an uprisal, of course (sic) within legal bounds,but still: our people are more emotional than you, Europeans. And there may be a madman among them." Is that a threat? "No, it is insight in how sensitive this issue is. I worry about that."

What has happened is that:

a.) Shortly after the symbolical first stone laying on March 20, 2006, the two strongmen of the mosque project were shoved aside. First the chairman of the local Milli Görüs branch, Haci Karacaer, who resigned "because he was tired". Then it was the turn of moneymaker and businessman Üzeyir Kabaktepe , who, it seems, had to go because of the German branch, which is (not so) secretly pulling the ropes behind the whole project. Of course, given Europes experience with "liberal" muslims, it is not too far fetched Kabaktepe was as liberal as someone who favors throwing gays off buildings instead of burning them to death.

b.) Exit Karacaer and Kabaktepe, enter Fatih Dag. Immediately upon arrival, it became clear that Dag's new Milli Görüs staff had AND close ties with the Milli Görüs HQ in Koeln, Germany, AND that he had no interest anymore in following the "liberal" line promised by Kabaktepe. Indeed, the main reason the Dutch building association "Het Oosten" and Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen (a jew) had given their full support for the project was that Kabaktepe & Co. had promised the new mosque would herald the grandiose start of "the international renewal of islam". By the way, the multiculti fata morgana had been so convincing that two gullible jewish architects had been found willing to design the mosque in the first place. When Fatih Dag made it clear that the Westermoskee would definitily NOT follow a progressive course, the relation with "Het Oosten" and mayor Cohen worsened. A silly attempt by the Amsterdam City Council was made to "assure" themselves that the new mosque board would still follow the "liberal" course, whatever that may have meant, and to unconditionally cut all ties with the German branch of Milli Görüs, by proposing a Declaration of Intent to be signed by all parties. Dag signed... and kept visiting Yavuz Çelik Karahan, Chairman Milli Görüs Germany.

c.) Another element undermining the credibility of Milli Görüs is a fraudulous scheme whereby countless ordinary Turks had been duped for possibly millions of euros by a dubious Pyramid Game organised by so-called "Green Funds" [islamic funds - note by MFBB] and offered by Milli Görüs. Explains Fatih Dag: "Maybe we offered some office space for that, but it [the Pyramid Game] never happened under our authority. Only one of the curent Board members had links with the game. We investigate that now. He will likely (sic) resign.... the guilt lies with my predecessor [Kabaktepe] and his board."

d.) The gist of the Trouw article is that by the time that "Het Oosten" and Cohen realized what a Trojan Horse of islamic radicalism the Westermoskee would become, they wanted to get rid of the whole project - and Milli Görüs' Pyramid Game scandal came in just handy to stop the whole thing.

e.) The worst of all is that apparently both Cohen and "Het Oosten", probably struggling to find a way to get out of the whole affair without the stigma of having gullibly allowed islamic radicals in, blundered in providing Milli Görüs with an exit mechanism for "Het Oosten" - read, it seems that Milli Görüs can legally buy "Het Oosten" out of the whole project. In their despair, both the building association and Cohen probaly thought that if they could convince the public they were no longer involved, they could not be blamed for the Westermoskee becoming some kind of madrassah.

f.) Fatih Dag answer: "I won't go away." ... "We are going to build the whole area full ourselves. Apartments, parking garages, commercial spaces and the mosque. We pay those 6.2 million euros [the exit sum needed to buy "Het Oosten" out - MFBB] and say: "Bye bye, Het Oosten. You can sod off." The Trouw article says laconically: "Building association Het Oosten was yesterday unavailable for comment."

g.) On May 19, 2007, Fatih Dag issues his infamous threat, see above.


And how do things stand today, August 1st, 2007? For the moment, the whole affair seems to be in limbo - which is not a good sign. Keep in mind that in March, the city neighborhood council of "De Baarsjes" did issue a building permit, although at the same time it started an investigation into the Pyramid Game fraud. Because of Milli Görüs' financial troubles and the negative publicity, it is unlikely that building activities will start this year, but next year? What is certain is that the whole affair has - once again - cast a very bad light on the reliability and credibility of the muslim organizations when dealing with local authorities. Time and again the latter herald with great fanfare another fantastic initiative - based on mutual respect of course -meant to "build bridges" amongst the different communities, only to find out they have been cheated and lied to. One and a half year after a beaming Piet Hein Donner laid the first stone for what was to become a model project for a tolerant islam, the "bridges" are blown up and not exactly by Jan Klaas, building corporation "Het Oosten" does not want to have anything to do anymore with the mosque itself, "only the apartments" [good luck with that, idiots - MFBB], and the guys at the steering wheel are extremist muslims in a Koeln, Germany HQ.

The Westermoskee is but one amongst a great many mosques being built in Europe. Unlike their predecessors, they are now highly visible, with domes and minarets. Of this so-called "third generation" mosque, Germany can "boast" 159, and a further 184 are under construction. An overview of the political affiliation of the mayors in all the localities where these builing projects have either been completed, are underway or else being considered, almost reads like a membership list of the socialist party. Amsterdam: Job Cohen, PvdA (Dutch Socialists); Londen: Ken Livingstone (Labour); Haarlem (The Netherlands): Bernt Schneiders, PvdA (Dutch Socialists); Aachen (Germany): Juergen Linden, SPD (German socialists). The latter, upon issuing the building permit for his city's mosque, even proudly proclaimed the advent of the mosque "that Muslims have become a part and parcel of society." Only they haven't. Or at least not in the way gullible fools like Linden would like them to be. They think the increasingly visible mosques will help integration. The opposite is true. Many of these mosques are built, as we have seen in the case of the Westermoskee, with adjacent and even surrounding apartment blocks. Those who think that indigenous Dutch, Spaniards, French or Germans will hurry like madmen to procure these flats because they like so much to be awakened by the call of the muezzin at 5 o'clock in the morning, are ludicrous fools. The apartments will be inhabited by muslims, period. Even in localities where there is no place for an ambitious building scheme around the mosque, the dome and minarets invariably attract muslim-oriented facilities and shops, like e.g. in Mannheim, where the Yavuz Sultan Selim I-mosque and its surrounding centers and - dare we say it - soukhs, now attract thousands of muslims: a purposefully created muslim-only community. A much more realistic view was offered by Borough of Newham Councillor Alan Craig, of the Christian Peoples Alliance , who at the occasion of the building plans for London's megamosque "Markaz"-project remarked:

“I am concerned about the community and security impact of the mosque…although permission has not yet been given, Muslims are moving into the area in preparation. The Savile Town area of Dewsbury where Tablighi Jamaat is currently based is now more than 90 per cent Muslim. This part of London has always been a very diverse community and that is how it should be kept. We can't have one group taking over."

The Markaz mosque is a gigantic monstrosity which will, if built, be able to accommodate 70,000 worshippers. It is actively supported by London's mayor Ken Livingstone, who coincidentally happens to be a socialist. The organization behind the project is Tablighi Jamaat, to which the would be Glasgow bombers had ties.

It is tempting to see this sudden surge in highly visible mosque buildings as part of some hidden policy, and unfortunately, many indicators do indeed point in that direction. Not for nothing Msgr. Georg Gaenswein, Pope Benedict's secretary, stated last July that "Attempts to Islamize the West cannot be denied..." The danger for the identity of Europe that is connected with it,” he said, “should not be ignored out of a wrongly understood respectfulness." And if it wouldn't be bad enough to find out that this attempt at islamization was the work of "local" muslims, unfortunately there's growing proof that it is stimulated, if not coordinated, from the muslim world itself. Saudi Arabia has long been known as a financier of muslim centers across Europe, one notorious example being the Saudi-funded King Fahd Academy in Cologne, Germany - a breeding place for hatred of everything the West stands for. But then take a look at the financiers of the planned Cologne Mosque itself, which is scheduled to offer place for 2,000 worshippers and will have two 170-foot minarets. It will be funded by Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği (DITIB), a branch of the Turkish government's Ministry of religious affairs... Who financed the Freimann Mosque in Muenchen, southern Germany? Libya. (notice that this is possibly the Muenchener mosque which is under poice surveillance because of its ties to extremists). The proposed new mosque in Sendling, also in Muenchen? To be financed by DITIB again. Can you imagine a European Ministry of Religious Affairs - assuming such a folly could exist here - financing a newly to be built church in, say, Egypt? Of course you can't. But here we have coordinated attempts by foreign governments to interfere in the religious life of ethnically related population groups living abroad. And not only in the religious life. The Moroccan Interior Ministry issues a list with first names where Moroccan parents living abroad have to choose the names for their newborns from. The so-called Amazigh names, or names from pre-islamic times, are haram - forbidden. If parents do choose these names, their children will not be regarded by the Moroccan state. It is indeed true that Morocco keeps regarding children born off Moroccan parents as Moroccan state citizens - even if they are third generation immigrants elsewhere. In the meantime useful leftist idiots keep blabbering about integration, reaching out to other faiths and other nonsense.

As the reporter from the Dutch magazine Trouw entered Fatih Dag's office for an interview, he remarked a gleaming silver plaque emblazoned with the heraldic symbol of the Ottoman Empire above the door. Fatih Dag said to him: "The weapon of the Ottoman Empire - I am not a nationalist you know, but I like it."

Fatih Dag and his Board have long since stopped speaking about their mosque as the Westermoskee. To them, it's going to be the Aya Sophia Mosque.


EPILOGUE.

We don't want to fight
but by Jingo if we do,
We've got the ships,
we've got the men,
we've got the money too


MFBB.