U.K. Mosques Exposed: If you need more evidence about the role of our pals in Riyadh, check out Undercover Mosque, a new documentary by Britain's Channel 4 program Dispatches. The producers put an undercover reporter into mosques run by some of the U.K.'s most prominent Islamic groups, which publicly present a face of being moderate and mainstream. The result: a chilling hour's worth of calls to jihad, hatred of infidels and democracy, and medieval attitudes toward women and gays. Behind the spread of extremism in British mosques, the program finds, is Saudi Arabia, through its funding of imams, schools, books, and DVDs. Could the same thing be happening in America? It already has. See the Center for Religious Freedom's 2005 study of U.S. mosques and their follow-up report on Saudi textbooks.

Chop Chop Square: Finally, here's a bit on the Saudis' charming custom of chopping off heads and other appendages. Back in November, Lebanon's LBC TV scored an interview with the man it called "the most renowned executioner in Saudi Arabia," Abdallah bin Sa'id al-Bishi (the gentleman pictured above). Under sharia, or Islamic law, Saudi Arabia still severs the heads, arms, and hands of those deemed guilty of various crimes–usually in a public square. The sentence comes the old-fashioned way, by sword. As the LBC correspondent said of al-Bishi, "There is no negotiating with him once the heads have ripened." Here's an excerpt, courtesy of the folks at MEMRI:

First TV host: When you behead more than three or four people at once, does it affect you? My second question is: Do you need a break between executions? Does it affect you or not?

Abdallah al-Bishi: Allah be praised, there is nothing to it. Three, four, five, or six–there is nothing to it. It's entirely normal. An execution is an execution, and as long as the person stands straight ... as long as the person stands straight, it makes our job much easier.

All this brings me back a couple years to when I was in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, reporting on the kingdom's role in backing jihad groups around the world. Having been stood up by every Saudi official I requested to interview, I took some time off for touring and somehow ended up at Deera Square, the city's notorious center for public executions. Better known as Chop Chop Square, the place was eerily deserted at the time. Now, I don't believe in ghosts (and I'm sure there's a fatwa against them, anyway), but this place sure felt haunted.

Photo credit: MEMRI