The Centre For Social Cohesion

Sorry, the website is called "reasononline" and the headlines can be scrolled down to the interview "The Trouble is the West".

J. Isaacs

Please please read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's interview with Rogier van Bakel on www.reason.com\news. She is brilliant and nails it with every word.

J.Isaacs

It appears I owe Mr. Isaacs an apology. I disagreed with him on principle over the protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the U.S. and here in Holland.
Unbeknownst to me, Prime Minister Balkenende said after last week’s Ministerial Council that he ‘advised Hirsi Ali to return to the U.S. to take care of her personal protection, for it could not be that she would return to Holland solely because she was offered protection here.’
I consider this remark an outrage, and it sadly renders the earlier discussion irrelevant.

Bart Roozendaal

Mr. Isaacs’ pedantry bespeaks his gender. No need to burden the
U.S. tax payer – we’ll take good care of Ms. Hirsi.

Bart Roozendaal

Why does Mr. Roozendaal refer to me as "Mr. Isaacs" when I have not given my first name? Clearly he is no feminist. To find out my gender please read and sign the petition, linked by Nathaniel Adams below, to protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the US.

J. Isaacs

If Mr. Isaacs were my neighbour, I would sue to have him evicted on the grounds that he is twisting my words.
Twice now I have set forth the facts concerning Ayaan Hirsi Ali as they are on record. Twice he has failed to refute them, hiding behind allegations immaterial to the discussion.
If he is so desperate to seek Joan of Arc status for his idol, he should not clog the blog, but peddle his sweeping statements in Hollywood.

Bart Roozendaal

you should have the courage of your convictions - you must KNOW that this campaign is pure cynical propaganda - is your organization going to be part of the solution or part of the problem - call a spade a spade - ISLAMISPEACE is a lie with the objective of keeping the British public subservient whilst Islam slowly takes over the country - bit by bit by bit by bit............!!

The petition to persuade the U.S. Government to protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali can be found here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/hirsiali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been hounded out of her Dutch home by her neighbours, who are not merely petty-minded, as Mr. Roozendaal admits, but also cowards. So much for social cohesion in Amsterdam.

Former immigration minister Rita Verdonk has brought down Balkenende's government, shown the true face of the Dutch to the Islamists with their threat to the free world, and found herself out of a job for her pains.

Having exposed the Dutch to universal opprobrium by refusing to pay for a security detail abroad, the new government is now forcing one great standard-bearer of freedom to live in the country which betrayed her.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali would have been such a fabulous ambassador for the Netherlands, which is now commiting slow cultural suicide, assisted by the Islamists.

J. Isaacs

It is a shame that a person like this cannot live in a free society and be free from murder by those who are attempting to enforce their religion as well as their view by the sword.

There needs to be a movement in the world which makes it possible for people to express their opinion and their religious preference without fear.

I personally hope that Ayaan Hirsi can continue to live and communicate to those who do not understand the negative influence of Islam in the lives of free people.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, as a Dutch MP, openly declared in parliament that she had lied about her family name when first applying for asylum.
Petty-minded or not, in Holland this is sufficient legal ground for any asylum seeker to be deported immediately.
Hirsi Ali was not. She kept her passport, and her citizenship. She left this country of her own volition, as she chose to work for the Enterprise Institue.
The issue under discussion is not whether the Dutch government fell, but whether it should continue to pick up the bill for Hirsi Ali´s bodyguards when she is abroad.
The administration has offered her continued protection when on Dutch soil.
Ad hominem slurs such as expressed by Mr. Isaacs do not change the above facts.

Bart Roozendaal, Amsterdam

The use of the mixed metaphor, "The whole affair is no skin off Ayaan Hirsi Ali's back" by Bart Roozendaal, when he should have used the word "...nose" is laughable. It is also pernicious.

This bravest of women is now in hiding for her life after a Muslim murderer shot and cut Theo Van Gogh's throat and stuck a death threat note to his body with a knife through his heart.

Mr. Roozendaal omits to mention that the affair has brought down the whole Dutch Government, and for what - a fudged asylum application years ago by a woman who has become one of the brightest beacons of freedom in the modern age.

The world is justifiably outraged at this disgrace the Dutch have brought upon themselves and Mr. Roozendaal's comment emblematises the petty-mindedness for which the Dutch are now being blamed.

J. Isaacs

This is just another way of closing down all criticism of islam and muslims which was demanded by those in power at the top.
By that i mean the Arabs via The little known about EU/ARAB dialogue.
Strange how this subject is kept hidden in the main from the European peoples.
Arab puppet masters convey their requirments to those at the EU, they in turn pass on the demands to all the SERFS That pretend to be serving their own nations.
When she lays in a pool of blood with a message pinned to her chest what then?

Although Ayaan Hirsi Ali is certainly a woman of stamina and courage, for Douglas Murray to say that she was forced to leave Holland is inaccurate.
At this moment in time, Hirsi Ali is in the possession of a Dutch passport, and holds Dutch citizenship.
It is true that last year, the then Minister of Immigration, Rita Verdonk, threatened to take away Ali’s citizenship, because she had given a false name when first entering the country to apply for asylum. Normally, in Holland this is ground for asylum seekers to be deported right away.
The real reason for ms Verdonk's threat was party political: Hirsi Ali had changed allegiance from Dutch Labour to the (right of centre) Liberal Party, of which ms. Verdonk was a prominent member. Hirsi Ali was rocking the liberal boat by making uncompromising statements about radical Islam and muslim immigration, thus evoking the wrath of the party elders who were in favour of a softly-softly approach.
Consequently, she was forced out of the party, not the country. Her citizenship was never revoked.
The whole affair was no skin off Hirsi Ali’s back, as she had already decided to join the Enterprise Institute anyway and move to the U.S.
In a further ironic twist, last month Rita Verdonk was thrown out of the liberal party – now in opposition- for making uncompromising noises about crime and immigration.

In all fairness, it needs to be said that it is not unreasonable for an administration to offer its citizens protection on their own turf, yet put a limit to that protection when they voluntarily choose to leave the country.

Bart Roozendaal, Amsterdam

Melanie Phillips has called Ayaan Hirsi Ali "a heroine of our times," while Andrew Anthony, in his new book, refers to the Dutch treatment of her as "symptomatic of a malaise in European liberalism, an attitude of social indifference and political evasion."

Now that the Dutch are trying to force Ayaan Hirsi Ali to stay, it appears Anthony was prophetic in quoting Joni Mitchell; "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone."

I too would be happy to donate to a Freedom Fund. Can we expect equal contributions from her liberal critics who are currently magnetising their press clippings to the fridge. Meanwhile Ayaan Hirsi Ali has to hide for her life like Anne Frank?

J. Isaacs

She would be more than welcome to live over here in the French countryside.

Forget State protection - there are many English people here now who would happily defend her having seen what Islam is doing to our own country and a principle reason many of us have voted with our feet.

What a good idea. We can all contribute. She's a treasure, an inspiration to many. Shame on the Americans, though; I'm disappointed with them.

The US' problem is that it cannot legally provide secret service protection for those from all over the world who, coming to the US legally, are under death threat from terrorists or others (including some governments).

The Ali case is, however, clearly deserving of the strongest support from women's rights groups, defenders of free speech, and many others. Thus a solution is to regard this as a special case, indeed, and obtain funds for non-governmental protection services via foundation grants, and donations from both within and outside the US.

The US should take some the secret service protection from Carter, Clinton or Bush I and protect this great person from Islamic threats. I would glady contribute to a Ayaan Hirsi Defense of Freedom Fund.