Thursday, January 27, 2005

Something W Understands...

...that is lost on the likes of the Kevin Drums and Scott Rosenbergs of the blogworld, is that we're in a very serious war and that we had no choice but to take it up. They might be coming to appreciate that in the Netherlands too:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The man accused of killing filmmaker Theo van Gogh dreamed of replacing the Dutch government with an Islamic theocracy and was supported by a network of like-minded fanatics, prosecutors said yesterday at the first public hearing in his case.

The suspect, Amsterdam native Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, was not at the pretrial hearing, but his lawyer said Bouyeri wants to "be held accountable for his actions" and sees them as part of a religious war.

The new details underscore concerns over homegrown radicals in the Netherlands after the Nov. 2 killing of Van Gogh, who offended many Muslims with his film "Submission," which criticized the treatment of women under Islam.

"The murder made it clear that terrorism, inspired by an extreme interpretation of Islam, is a reality in our country," prosecutor Frits van Straelen said.

"From the beginning there were signs that the murder did not come out of the brain of just this suspect, but that there was an organization behind it," he said.

Bouyeri faces charges of murder and 12 others face separate charges for allegedly plotting to kill politicians and belonging to a terrorist group known as the "Hofstad" network, which prosecutors said provided support for the slaying.

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