"Allahhu Akbar" in SLC?

After linking my post from yesterday, Clayton Cramer learned more about the reported yelling of "AllahuAkbar" (which I linked and quoted from the Toronto Blade). This allegation is specifically disputed by KSL TV:

Was 18-year-old Suljmen Talovic yelling, "Allah Akbar, God is Great," while shooting people? KSL found out: no.

Robin Snyder/SLCPD: "We have no indication he was yelling anything of that nature at all."

Cannon's spokesperson said he heard it on Fox cable news. It could have started with a video from inside Trolley Square. You hear yelling, but if you listen closely, it's the off-duty police officer, Kenneth Hammond, yelling "Ogden Police Department," or OPD.

I should not have assumed the Blade reporter was correct when he stated that "the Associated Press and other news services the paper subscribes to reported [that he shouted "Allah Akbar" during his killing spree]." I should have added the caveat of saying "assuming this is true."

This didn't settle the inquiry, though, so I looked further, because I don't think the opinion of a single congressman (or a video I couldn't get to load) is dispositive one way or the other.

I found this from Charles Gibson at Fox News:

....he was reported to have been shouting "Allah Akbar" at the end of the shootout when he was cornered, at least according to some witnesses.
"Witnesses" sounds like more than a single congressman, and so I found this video link via this Freerepublic discussion, where many of the readers who watched the video claimed to hear "AllahuAkbar." Listening carefully, there's no way to tell who is saying what. It sounds as if a voice in the background may be saying "Allah" towards the beginning, but the rest is garbled. The closest thing I heard to the phrase was towards the end of the video (in Mozilla, by sliding the cursor to just above the "ey" in "Trolley"). A stressed male voice (not the police, who are louder) says what does sound like muffled "Allahuakbar", then a grunt, then "Allah. Allah." Whether what I heard came from the shooter I do not know, but it does not sound at all like anyone yelling "Ogden Police Department" or "OPD."

Bear in mind that this is just my impression and it is far from conclusive. It would be helpful to hear how the words sound spoken with the Bosnian accent. And video and audio are notoriously easy to tamper with; it's tough to place 100% trust on anything posted on the Internet. Of course, my speculations mean nothing.

As to the AP reports mentioned in the Blade, where are they? I can't find them.

The "AllahuAkbar" stuff was news to me until yesterday, and I'm not convinced one way or the other. I'd like to hear what the witnesses said before drawing conclusions.

Hmmm...

(Maybe it isn't a good idea to assume there are witnesses just because a journalist says there were.)


AFTERTHOUGHT: Would any of this matter? I mean, even we assume the Talovic did say "AllahuAkbar," aren't the flying imams contending that shouting "AllahuAkbar" is a perfectly normal thing to do in daily life?

posted by Eric on 04.18.07 at 02:52 PM





TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/4902






Comments

Post a comment

You may use basic HTML for formatting.





Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)



May 2007
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
    1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31    

ANCIENT (AND MODERN)
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR


Search the Site


E-mail




Classics To Go

Classical Values PDA Link



Archives




Recent Entries



Links



Site Credits