It's a war and we have to realise it soon

The news that:

"Pakistani terrorists cheered as they heard the Mumbai attackers shoot innocent hotel guests live over an open satellite telephone line"

should leave nobody in any doubt as to how the Islamic terrorists view the lives of non-Muslims -

"Transcripts of their conversations and a confession statement of the lone surviving gunman reveal how Lashkar e Taiba leaders, a group which was once sponsored by Pakistan's intelligence services, carefully managed the slaughter from afar.

The transcripts are part of an Indian government dossier which claims the plot was planned and remotely controlled from Pakistan by LeT chiefs using live television news coverage and continuous satellite phone conversation with the gunmen.

In one section, the gunmen are told to kill all but two Muslim guests in the Oberoi hotel.

"Everything is being recorded by the media. Inflict the maximum damage, keep fighting, don't be taken alive," says one handler.

"Kill all the hostages except the two Muslims. Keep your phone switched on so we can hear the gunfire," says another.

When one of the gunmen says "we have three foreigners, including women, from Singapore and China," his handler orders "Kill them".

The transcript then records the voices of the two gunmen lining up the hostages, ordering the two Muslims to stand aside, and the sound of gunfire followed by cheering from the handlers.

But within seconds of the killings, the gunmen are quickly ordered to move downstairs to continue their attack.

Throughout the attacks, the Pakistan-based handlers spoke continuously to their volunteers at the Oberoi and Taj hotels and the Jewish welfare centre at Nariman House, driving them on to more killing and relaying media comments to them to raised their spirits.

In one conversation, just before the Chinese women were murdered, the handlers told one gunman:"Brother Abdul, the media is comparing your action to 9/11."

In a conversation with one of the four gunmen stalking the corridors of the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the handlers orders him to search for several government ministers they believed were staying there and says they should "set the place on fire".

When he is told four rooms had been set ablaze, the handler replies:"People shall run helter skelter when they see the flames. Keep throwing a grenade every 15 minutes or so. It will terrorise."

In a conversation with their gunmen at the Nariman house Jewish centre, Chabad Lubavitch, the handlers said they wanted to seriously damage India's relations with Israel by killing Israelis being held hostage.

"Keep in mind the hostages are of use only as long as you do not come under fire because of their safety. If you are still threatened do not saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages – immediately kill them.

"Israel has made a request through diplomatic channels to save the hostages. If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel," one said.

Later, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivkah were murdered along with other hostages. "

Islam traditionally splits the world into dar al-Islam (the house of Islam) and dar al-Harb (the house of war), the latter being so described to emphasise Islam's aspirations to conquer such territories in dar al-Harb and render them part of dar al-Islam.

A term that I have found recently is dar al-Hudna (house of calm). This is important as even the BBC are using the term hudna in their coverage of the Israel/Hamas war. Hudna is defined as a respite between wars and needs payment by the other side of the conflict, refusal to pay tribute in exchange for the truce means that hostilities are resumed. Furthermore, only treaties that conform to Islamic prescriptions are valid; if these conditions are not fulfilled, the treaty is worthless.

So at best Islam seems to see non-Islamic Countries as places where a truce can prevail so long as payment is made to the house of Islam and at worst a place where war will prevail until Islam conquers them. Reassuring isn't it?