SAVE THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Laughing at Islam Leave a comment »For just a few dollars a day you can save the life of an oppressed Islamic Jihadist. Open your progressive heart, and bring a little joy to someone who wants to kill you.
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Dutch calling for anti-minaret referendum, too!
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Islamization of the West Leave a comment »
Dutch MP Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party has said it wants a referendum on the building of minarets similar to the one held in Switzerland. Mr Wilders expects the Dutch to ban new minarets just like a 57.5 percent majority of Swiss did.
The minarets are not the problem, the Muslims are.
The referendum result is hailed as a breakthrough by the opposition MP. “It’s the first time that people in Europe have stood up to a form of Islamization.”
MUSLIMS burning Dutch flag
Other nationalist parties in Europe are taking a similar line to the Netherlands’ Freedom Party. Mario Borghezio, a Euro-MP for Italy’s Northern League (Lega Nord) called for a referendum in Italy, saying “The flag of a courageous Switzerland which wants to remain Christian is flying over a near-Islamised Europe.” RNW.NL
Jim Prevor, at the Weekly Standard, discusses the national identity point. The larger question, though, is whether a nation is any more than a geographic entity. If some Parisian Rip Van Winkle wakes up one distant morning and finds himself in a nation that speaks Arabic, where the people are Muslim, food is by law halal and the government follows Sharia law. Is that fellow still, in any meaningful sense, in France?
Is it simple racism for, say, the Dutch to want their nation to stay Dutch — not just in terms of geography — in terms of language, food, religion, government, architecture and all the things that make up a culture?
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I thought the Muslim veil is supposed to protect Muslim women from harm?
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Women 2 Comments »As BNI has reported before, Muslim men use barbaric acid attacks to inflict unbearable suffering, lifelong disfigurement, and even death on innocent Muslim women, whom they claim to value so highly.
How nice, millions of Muslim pilgrims in Mecca pray for America and Israel, too
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Religion of Hate Leave a comment »More than 2 million Muslims on their annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia took time out of their busy ‘God is Great’ schedule to remember America and Israel in their prayers. We should reciprocate in our Christmas and Chanukah celebrations.
Coalition forces sure did miss out on a a great bombing opportunity.
Too bad the CNN reporter didn’t ask this American convert to Islam if he would also be praying for ‘Death to America’ during his pilgrimage to Mecca.
HA! HA! MUSLIM OUTRAGE over Swiss ‘Islamophobic’ minaret ban (When are Muslims NOT enraged?)
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Islamization of the West Leave a comment »Forget the minarets, BAN ISLAM. Let the riots begin.
68% of Swiss citizens think you can be Swiss and Muslim, but 40% think that Islam isn’t compatible with the values of a Swiss democracy. There are 8% out there who think you can be Swiss and Muslim provided you’re not Muslim. (INDEED!)
MUSLIM REACTIONS TO THE SWISS BAN ON MINARETS
SWITZERLAND: The president of Zurich’s Association of Muslim Organisations, Tamir Hadjipolu, told the BBC: “This will cause major problems because during this campaign mosques were attacked, which we never experienced in 40 years in Switzerland.
“Islamophobia has increased intensively.” “The most painful thing for us is not the ban on minarets, but the symbol sent by this vote,” said Farhad Afshar, leader of the Swiss Coordination of Islamic Organisations. “Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community,” he said.
FRANCE: The rector of the great mosque in Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, who has contacts with other Muslim leaders, said the the decision caused surprise, dismay and disbelief among Muslims in Europe. “The result of the referendum is an expression of Islamophobia and we don’t understand it. (It isn’t Islamophobia when they really ARE trying to kill you) Nobody had expected this ‘no’ to minarets. It’s a sight that the Swiss confuse a peaceful practice of Islam and militant Islamism,” says Dalil Boubakeur.
The referendum results has already lead to demonstration in several parts of Switzerland, in Bern and Zurich, and more protests are in wait, says Boubakeur.
UNITED KINGDOM: The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) Monday condemned as “tragic and deplorable” the Swiss vote on banning of minarets in the alpine country. The vote revealed the extent to which far-right racist groups were “winning the battle of ideas on the future of Europe,” MCB secretary general Muhammad Abdul Bari said in a statement. (Thank God for that)
“The Swiss referendum results show how far and how quickly Europe is moving in the wrong (RIGHT) direction in its attitudes and policies towards Muslims and other minority groups in Europe,” he said. ”Mosques and minarets in our European cities are manifestations of the proudly indigenous nature of Islam in Europe. It is tragic that the far right is stripping away at our illustrious heritage of coexistence between different faiths and cultures in Europe and replacing it with their warped and xenophobic outlook,” said Bari. “This is no less than a battle of ideas for the future of a plural and progressive Europe,” he added.
Tariq Ramadan in the Guardian: Posters featured a woman wearing a burka with the minarets drawn as weapons on a colonised Swiss flag. The claim was made that Islam is fundamentally incompatible with Swiss values. (The UDC has in the past demanded my citizenship be revoked because I was defending Islamic values too openly.) Its media strategy was simple but effective. Provoke controversy wherever it can be inflamed. Spread a sense of victimhood among the Swiss people: we are under siege, the Muslims are silently colonising us and we are losing our very roots and culture. This strategy worked. The Swiss majority are sending a clear message to their Muslim fellow citizens: we do not trust you and the best Muslim for us is the Muslim we cannot see.
SWEDEN: Mahmoud Aldebe of the Swedish Muslim Assocation regrets the Swiss decision.“The relationship with the Muslim world and Switzerland will be affected very negatively. (And this is a BAD thing? Get out of Europe IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, you aren’t wanted or needed there) I think that people will see Switzerland in a different way than in the past – netural and free. Now people see that there’s a lot of xenophobia and racism that somehow creeps in among the people there. But there’s lacking much, much knowledge about Muslims and it is perhaps our fault that we aren’t capable of informing about Islam and Muslims in a way that others can grasp and understand.” (NO, people now DO have knowledge about Islam which is why they understand the threat Muslims pose)
GERMANY: Head of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) Kenan Kolat told Berlin daily Berliner Zeitung that the decision was “very regrettable,” adding that basic rights such as religious freedom should not be allowed to come to popular vote. “A minaret belongs to a mosque,” Kolat said. (And mosques belong in Muslim countries, NOT in Europe) ISLAM IN EUROPE
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Why do Islamic Terrorists Love Barack Hussein Obama?
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: ISLAMOBAMA Leave a comment »Terrorist Group HAMAS throws support to Obama.
Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas have come out in support of the stealth Muslim candidate.
Hezbollah says Obama will be great for them, not for America.
The enemy of America wants your country to be destroyed.
“Thank God a Muslim named Obama came along who had studied in Islamic schools in Indonesia.”
Libyan leader al-Qadhafi goes on to say, “Our ‘brother’ Obama is ignorant of international politics because he said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. I am hoping that this is just the propaganda of electioneering where politicians tell people what they think they want to hear but don’t really intend to carry out those promises. What ‘brother’ Obama needs to say is that he will implement the ‘One-State’ solution to return millions of displaced Palestinian refugees to their homeland of Palestine.”
al-Qadhafi says, “Arab world campaign contributions may enable him to win the US presidency.“
Ali Abunimah, Palestinian activist from Chicago, describes how Obama told him he supports Palestinian rights and opposes the Israeli occupation.
Iranian religious leaders say if Obama will enter the White House, then Islam will conquer the heart of the American nation.
Iran’s leadership has expressed “great pleasure” at the prospect of a Barack Obama victory in November, according to Menashe Amir, the Iranian-born head of Radio Israel’s Persian language service.“One of the Iranian religious leaders said if Obama will enter the White House, then Islam will conquer the heart of the American nation,” Amir told Isracast.com.The Iranian leadership likes Obama “mainly because he is a Muslim,” according to Amir. His first name, Barack, comes from “al-baraq,” which is the name of the horse that Muslims believe Muhammad rode on his way to paradise. His middle name Hussein is also a Muslim name, and he was “born in a Muslim family,” said Amir.
Hat tip to Jihad Watch: 022596.php
Why aren’t Muslims calling for Obama’s head?
Shocking report on Obama’s relationship with cousin Raila Odinga and his ties to al-Qaeda and 9/11. Odinga has promised to establish Kenya as a safe haven for terrorists once he seizes power.
Authentic documents show that Obama continued to support Kenyan terrorist leader Raila Odinga even after Odinga made a pact with the Islamists to implement Shari’a law. Kenyan insiders say Obama was part of Odinga’s Islamic takeover strategy.
Percy Sutton, “Malcom X’s lawyer and former Manhattan borough president,” tells how Islamic radical and terrorist supporter, Dr. Khalid Al-Mansour, asked him to help get Obama into Harvard. Khalid Al-Mansour, the man behind Obama, says, “I long for the day that Islam takes over the world.”
Obama says, “The Muslim call to prayer is one of the prettiest sounds on earth.”
In a New York Times interview in Feb., ’07, Barack Hussein Obama recited the Muslim call to prayer with a first-class Arabic accent, just like a good little Muslim.
.
A Vote for Obama is a Vote for Islam
Here’s a great resource on everything you ever wanted to know about Obama’s Muslim and Marxist background: www.theobamafile.com
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Cindy Sheehan & Code Pinkos get into a fight with an elderly Vietnam War veteran
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: EnemyWithin-American Leave a comment »
A Saturday rally against the troops led by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan at Travis Air Force Base nearly ended in a brawl when a military veteran physically confronted the protesters.
Videotape of the incident shows that Sheehan yelled “Get out of my face” through the megaphone at the man, who slapped the device away. Other protesters immediately joined Sheehan and traded insults with the man, and a shoving match broke out.
Cindy Sheehan
Anti-war group Code Pink demonstrated at the military base Saturday morning in the first of six planned protests against unmanned military drones currently in use in overseas war zones. (They protest on a daily basis in front of the USMC recruiting office in Berkeley)
Sheehan, a well-known anti-war activist whose son was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004, was leading the demonstration with a megaphone when a man dressed in a formal military uniform stepped up to her and berated her. Military police quickly pulled the two sides apart.
The military veteran told reporters that he was upset with the anti-war protesters’ effect on troop morale. “They ruin the troops. They get to the troops. They did the same thing in Vietnam,” he said.
The man declined to give his name to reporters. “I don’t want to be a personality over this, that’s not my intention,” he said.
Sheehan told reporters that she was disappointed her protest against what she called “morally reprehensible” military drones was interrupted by the man. “We are here non-violently, and he came up and shoved the megaphone into my face,” she said. “I’m never going to stop, no matter how we’re oppressed.”
Sheehan said she would be speaking to an attorney about legal action against the man.
Code Pink protester Xan Joy, who physically confronted the man during the incident, called the man a “bully” and said his behavior was meant to intimidate the protesters.
“He should be so happy and grateful that there are people in this country that are trying to protect him and his children and everybody’s children from war,” Joy said.
The events of the day did not end when the protesters packed up and left. When part of Code Pink’s caravan paused in the middle of the road, Sheehan was given a ticket for impeding traffic.
“I got assaulted by this old man and I’m the one given a ticket. So, yeah, it’s bulls***,” Sheehan said. (They should’ve locked up her America-hating ass) Sweetness & Light
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White House party crashers tied to Obama pal, an ISLAMIC TERRORIST supporter
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: ISLAMOBAMA Leave a comment »The Virginia couple who allegedly crashed a White House state dinner is tied to Rashid Khalidi, a pro-Palestinian professor who excuses terrorism and has been a close associate to President Obama.
The Salahis and President Obama at state dinner
Michaele and Tareq Salahi met Obama in a receiving line at last week’s event, with a “deeply concerned and embarrassed” Secret Service stating it never checked whether the two were on the White House guest list.
Tareq Salahi served on the board of the American Task Force for Palestine, where Columbia University Professor Khalidi served as vice president. The American Power blog noticed both Salahi’s and Khalidi’s names have been scrubbed from the Task Force website, although Salahi’s bio still comes up on a Google cache search of the site.
The Task Force lobbies for a Palestinian state and demands the so-called right of return for Palestinian “refugees” – a formula Israeli officials across the political spectrum have warned could destroy Israel by population genocide, with the Jewish state forced to accept millions of Arabs, thus diluting its Jewish majority.
Terrorist pal Rashid Khalidi
Khalidi is a harsh critic of Israel. He has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.
During documented speeches and public events, Khalidi has called Israel an “apartheid system in creation” and a destructive “racist” state. He has multiple times expressed support for Palestinian terror, calling suicide bombings a response to “Israeli aggression.”
He dedicated his 1986 book, “Under Siege,” to “those who gave their lives … in defense of the cause of Palestine and independence of Lebanon.” Critics assailed the book as excusing Palestinian terrorism.
Obama, Khalidi closely tied
According to a professor at the University of Chicago who said he has known Obama for 12 years, Obama first befriended Khalidi when the two worked together at the university. The professor spoke on condition of anonymity. Khalidi lectured at the University of Chicago until 2003, while Obama taught law there from 1993 until his election to the Senate in 2004.
Obama also sat on the board of the Woods Fund, which in 2001 provided a $40,000 grant to Mona Khalidi’s Arab American Action Network, or AAAN. The fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.
Speakers at AAAN dinners and events routinely have taken an anti-Israel line. The group co-sponsored a Palestinian art exhibit titled “The Subject of Palestine” that featured works related to what some Palestinians call the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding in 1948.
In 2003, Obama delivered an in-person testimonial for Khalidi, who at the time was departing the University of Chicago for a new teaching position at Columbia University in New York. At the 2003 event, poetry reportedly was read comparing Israelis to Osama bin Laden and accusing the Jewish state of terrorism.
In May 2008, WND noted, Obama termed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “constant sore” in an interview just five days after Khalidi wrote an opinion piece in the Nation magazine in which he called the “Palestinian question” a “running sore.” WND
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OK, Muslim readers, what say you about this?
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: Muslims vs Muslims Leave a comment »Saudi liberal, Muhammad Jamil Kutbi, wrote that the Arabs and Muslims are unjustified in regarding themselves as morally superior to the West.
“We Falsely Accuse the Westerners… of Being Liars, Forgers, and Criminals”
“…We Arabs and Muslims see the Jews and Christians as people who do not acknowledge or fear Allah, and are not ashamed before Him. We also falsely accuse the Westerners, the Christians, and the Jews of being liars, forgers, criminals, and money lenders who charge usurious interest rates.
“But when we look reality in the face and follow the developments [in the world], when we examine the facts as they are and investigate the Muslim and Arab reality in which we live – including all the exaggerations, [empty] statements, faults, flaws and problems – we discover that, though we are called Muslims, we do not truly embody the qualities, values and principles of Islam…
“We claim that the Westerners love money and material things, while we Muslims are better than they are: we are ascetic, pious and charitable. As an example, we present one of the Prophet’s companions, ‘Abd Al-Rahman bin ‘Awf, who was known to possess great wealth but donated half of it to the cause of jihad for the sake of Allah. We Muslims take great pride in his example.
“But today there is a Westerner named Bill Gates, owner of the world’s richest and most powerful computer company, who gave away all his wealth, leaving only $3 billion for himself. [The rest] he donated to the poor and the needy, and to social organizations. Now, in the Arab and Muslim world there are hundreds of wealthy people like him, who appear on the list of the world’s billionaires. But we never heard of them performing a humanitarian act like that of Bill Gates. Where are these wealthy Muslims [when it comes to performing] human, Islamic and civilized acts of this kind?
“The Arabs accuse the West of loving the [pleasures] of this world and of pursuing power, but that is not true. It is we Arabs who love and sanctify power. It is we who invented the concept of hereditary rule. Mu’awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, the first Caliph of the Ummayad Dynasty, was the first who created and shaped [this concept]. This Arab greed [for power] is insatiable and is the cause of internal conflicts, wars and problems.
The Arab and Muslim Judiciary System [That] Regards Itself as the Purest, Noblest and Best in the World – [Is] Nothing But Deception and Fraud, and Is Controlled by the Regimes and Their Associates”
“We Arabs claim to be a nation that does not cheat, lie or deceive, but the Arab leadership, which regards itself as a model for emulation, [certainly] lies and deceives. [The late Egyptian] president Gamal Abdel Nasser was the first Arab leader to invent the concept of forging elections, giving himself 99.9% [of the votes]…
“The Arab and Muslim judiciary system regards itself as the purest, noblest and best in the world. But in reality it is just the opposite. [This system] is nothing but deception and fraud, and it is controlled by the regimes and their associates.
“The Western judiciary system is better. A Paris court [recently] rejected a lawsuit by French President [Nicolas] Sarkozy, and [the latter], despite his authority and clout as president, was not able to force the court to rule in his favor and according to his will.
“The Prophet Muhammad said, ‘By Allah, if [my own daughter] Fatima bint Muhammad had stolen, I would have cut off her hand.’ This is the nature of a just and equal society according to Islam, and these are the values and principles of Muslim rule.”
The Jews… Are Better Than We Arabs and Muslims” in Implementing Justice And Equality
“But the Muslim nation does not implement these values and principles of justice and equality between the rulers and the ruled. [In today's Muslim world,] the ruler does whatever he pleases, however he pleases, and whenever he pleases.
“The Jews, on the other hand, are better than we Arabs and Muslims [in this respect]. [Former] Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was indicted and tried for accepting bribes and for abusing his political office, and was forced to resign from his party and from his post as prime minister, in a political scandal that ended his career. This is the lexicon of justice and equality.”
“We Are a Nation Without an Identity or Future, and Without Essence, Power, Opinion, Morality, Values or Principles”
“What would have happened in our Arab and Muslim countries if some leaders were brought to trial? Think about it, and don’t be too angry when you realize the answer. You will eventually arrive at the realization that we are a nation without an identity or future, and without essence, power, opinion, morality, values or principles…” MEMRI
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MUSLIM women choose suicide by self-immolation
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: Women Leave a comment »Death by self-immolation is the most painful of all methods of suicide, but Muslim women choose it rather than staying in abusive marriages.
For many women trapped in abusive marriages in Afghanistan, death can seem like the only way out. In the northwestern province of Herat, doctors this year have treated at least seventy women who attempted to take their own lives by setting themselves on fire. More than 40 of them died, in what doctors describe as a lingering and painful process.
And Obama wants to give 25% of Afghanistan to the kind of people (TALIBAN) who cause women to kill themselves like this.
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HOORAY! SWISS majority vote to ban MUSLIM Minarets
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: Islamization of the West Leave a comment »Voters in Switzerland have approved a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques. Local media called the apparent prohibition a “slap in the face” to the government, which opposed the ban. 
Maybe Muslims will take a hint and leave Western countries that don’t want them there. Before they are forced to leave.
Supporters of the proposed ban say minarets represent the growth of an alien ideology and legal system that have no place in the Swiss democracy.
One of the arguments by those DHIMMIS against the ban is that it will provoke Muslim extremism, a religious boycott by wealthy Muslims, as well as Muslim protest violence. These are similar to the consequences two years ago after a Dutch cartoonist published a caricature of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.
Projections a week ago showed that less than 40 percent favored a minaret ban, but exit polls revealed that nearly 60 percent of the voters supported it. Backers of the ban said the minarets are a symbol of militant Islam. Muslims comprise approximately five percent of the country’s population, more than double the number in the 1990s.
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who opposed the ban, told theSwissinfro.ch website, “Its supporters say they are against minarets. But they want to fight what they consider creeping Islamization and Sharia law.” (As they should) ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS
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Royal Navy could have rescued these hostages, but weren’t permitted to.
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: EnemyWithin-foreign Leave a comment »Paul and Rachel Chandler were sailing around the world when their boat was hijacked by Somalian pirates. Pirates are demanding a $7 million ransom for their release.
Sorry, but I’d like to know what they were doing sailing in such a notoriously dangerous part of the world? 
An investigation by The Mail on Sunday demolishes accounts by the Ministry of Defence and the head of the Navy which suggest that a naval vessel at the scene had no rescue force available. In fact, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Wave Knight was within seconds of unleashing a crack team of 20 lethally armed Royal Marines.
Wave Knight’s crew have been so angered by the official portrayal of events that one witness has given us a career-risking statement. His evidence raises troubling questions about Government and military policy on piracy. And many people will want to know why an elite commando troop, mustered in black combat fatigues only yards from the kidnappers, was not permitted to put its air and seaborne assault training into action.
The astonishing stand-off occurred on day six of the hostage crisis as the pirates attempted to transfer Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife, Rachel, 55, to their mother ship. READ MORE: UK DAILY MAIL
FACEBOOK FATWA
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: Women Leave a comment »Young Saudi woman has been honor-killed by her father for having an online chat on Facebook.
Former CIA officer says we do not take the threat of Islamic terrorism seriously enough in this country
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: EnemyWithin-American Leave a comment »Stresses the need for ‘permanent monitoring’ of mosques and Muslim communities here and says the FBI must be more aggressive in making certain assumptions about Muslims in order to prevent the next terror attack.
Not with a terrorist-sympathizer in the White House. Oh wait, there are no Muslim terrorists, just Muslim friends we haven’t made yet. My bad.
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Father of the first British woman soldier killed in Afghanistan eases his unbearable grief with the animals she left behind
Posted: November 29, 2009 Filed under: Military stories Leave a comment »Des Feely’s world fell apart when his only child, Sarah, was killed in a roadside bomb blast last summer.
My heart sank. I knew we were causing something of a hold-up on our country lane and possibly even making a nuisance of ourselves. But I’d only just seen the police patrol car at the end of the line of traffic. I wasn’t sure there was a specific law banning a pedigree black labrador from riding a Dales Cross Cob horse across the Cumbrian countryside, but I reckoned there’d be something on the statute books outlawing this act of canine and equine eccentricity.
The policeman parked and approached me on foot. I looked at him rather sheepishly, bracing myself for a stiff telling off, or worse. ’Could I have a word, sir?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you think,’ he went on, ‘that if you are going to let your dog ride your horse, he should be wearing a high visibility jacket?’ And then he gave me a big grin, turned and walked away.
You might be wondering, rather like that bemused policeman, why I was out walking my dog not just with my horse, but actually on it. The answer, I’m afraid, is somewhat prosaic.
After my daughter Sarah left home to join the Army, she left me in charge of both of her pets. Tyler, her black labrador puppy, was too young and scared to be left alone, so I used to tuck him inside my tatty waxed riding jacket and take him with me like a baby in a sling when I exercised her horse Monty.
Then, one day when I was picking out Monty’s hooves after a particularly muddy and stony ride, Tyler began making a nuisance of himself in the stable, threatening to knock Monty off balance. So I scooped him up and sat him on the horse’s back out of the way. The two of them were as delighted as each other and it was a natural step to try taking them for a short walk with Tyler using his big thick tail to keep his balance.
Over the following weeks they progressed to longer distances and greater speeds – even a gentle canter – eventually becoming a regular sight in the lanes and fields around our house in the village of Cotehill, near Carlisle. Often Tyler would carry a ball in his mouth, almost to show how easily he could handle the ride.
Tyler began by thinking he was doing a clever dog trick in riding Monty, but finally it must have dawned on him that it was all about friendship and trust, that it required teamwork.
Monty could have thrown Tyler whenever he wanted to, but Sarah had imbued them both with her sense of fairness and respect; she’d made a horse and a dog love and understand each other. As always, Sarah had managed to get the most out of every living creature – animal or human.
The day Sarah came home on leave, I simply tossed Monty’s lead rein over his neck and let him walk towards her with Tyler on his back. I had kept it a secret from my animal-mad child and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her laugh with such delight.
I treasure memories like that. I have to. For my beautiful daughter, Corporal Sarah Bryant, would become the first female British soldier to die in Afghanistan. She was killed alongside three SAS reservists when their Snatch Land Rover hit a massive roadside bomb planted by the Taliban near Lashkar Gah in Helmand.
She had just earned her sergeant’s stripes, was happily married to Carl, a fellow soldier, and I knew that one day she wanted to become a mother. She died on June 17 last year, aged just 26. Her death sent me fleeing into what I can only describe as an emotional air-raid shelter. It was too raw and painful for me to deal with. She was my only child, my world.
I sought comfort in the past, the childhood memories, the perfect summers and of course, the fun with Monty and Tyler. Now I have turned their story into a children’s book, dedicated to my daughter, to raise money for Forces charities.
We were not a military family – save for Maureen’s brother who is a commander in the Royal Navy.
Maureen and I took Sarah to the tri-Service recruiting office in Carlisle. She was just 18 but she already had her career mapped out – she was hugely excited because she knew she was on the cusp of a whole new life. Right at the very end, the officer who was doing her paperwork said: ‘I have to warn you, you might get killed.’ We all laughed nervously and ignored it. It could haunt me now, but I won’t let it.
She went to Baghdad on a second tour in 2004 and impressed both British and American top brass.
No matter how gruelling her work and conditions, she was relentlessly upbeat. When I asked her what she was up to, she’d invoke the old Second World War maxim and say: ‘Loose lips sink ships, Dad!’ The last email she ever sent me said: ‘Don’t worry, Dad, I have the best bodyguards a girl could have, I’ll be home in a month and I can’t wait to see you. Your little girl is now a sergeant. Wait ’til I show you my stripes!’
Sarah’s third operational tour, to Afghanistan, was to be her last. She was doing challenging and complex counter-terror work as a member of 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group. She loved the physical and intellectual rigour, but she paid for it with her life.
She was given a funeral with full military honours. A volley of shots was fired over her coffin and a lone bugler played The Last Post at Holy Trinity and St Constantine church in Wetheral on July 7 last year. It was the same church in which I had walked her down the aisle to marry Carl. Her loss is excruciating and it returns to me every single time I hear of another fallen soldier because I know all about the murderous twists and turns of unfolding grief.
There have been times when I have wanted to simply leave the country. The sight of the Union Jack draped over my daughter’s coffin made me never, ever, want to see one again used in that way. But somehow you have to find the kind of unwavering strength of character Sarah showed in all she did and carry on.
Writing the story of Monty and Tyler helped me through, if only by giving some structure to my days. Odd though it seems, I have found myself roaring with laughter at some of the memories. It has given me a purpose and I have come to suspect this book is Sarah’s parting gift to me. UK DAILY MAIL
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