From the moment John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo were arrested in the Beltway-area sniper case last fall, the media and Muslim activists wanted us to believe that the serial killings had absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism.

CNN downplayed Muhammad's religious conversion -- calling him by his old name, John Allen Williams, when his identity was first revealed. Malvo was cast as a clueless dupe with no true convictions. Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) argued: "There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims." Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper railed against conservative commentators such as the indomitable Mark Steyn, who had taken note of Muhammad's Islamic faith and his reportedly expressed anti-American sentiments after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Roeper also ridiculed National Review columnist James Robbins for astutely observing that the sniper was acting "like a jihadist warrior." Roeper smugly concluded: " . . . an awful lot of conservatives really, really wanted the snipers to be terrorists. But they were wrong. I'll say that because they never will."

Now it is time for Roeper, CAIR and the militant Religion of Peace propagandists to face the facts once and for all. A chilling stack of evidence, introduced by Malvo's own lawyers last week at his capital murder trial, exposes accused sniper Malvo as an unrepentant Muslim extremist. He may not have been a card-carrying member of al Qaeda, but as Claremont Institute fellow John Hinderaker notes on Powerlineblog.com, Malvo was more of a "freelance" Islamofascist -- as legions of aggrieved fanatics around the world are.

Malvo's violent drawings and anti-American and anti-Semitic rantings show him to be every bit as blood-thirsty, hatemongering and martyr-craving as any Sept. 11 hijacker or Palestinian suicide bomber. Among Malvo's jailhouse artwork, (online at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/courts/cases/malvo_defendant_exhibits.htm ):

Exhibit 65-006: A self-portrait of Malvo in the cross hairs of a gun scope shouting, "ALLAH AKBAR!" The word "SALAAM" scrawled vertically. A poem: "Many more will have to suffer. Many more will have to die. Don't ask me why."

Exhibit 65-013: The word "INSHALLAH" above a portrait glorifying "Muammar Kaddafi" as "The Liberator" dressed in full military regalia.

Exhibit 65-016: A portrait of Saddam Hussein with the words "INSHALLAH" and "The Protector," surrounded by rockets labeled "chem" and "nuk" (sic).

Exhibit 65-043: Father and son portrait of Malvo and Muhammad. "We will kill them all. Jihad."

Exhibit 65-056: A self-portrait of Malvo as sniper, lying in wait, with his rifle. "JIHAD" written in bold letters.

Exhibit 65-057: A drawing of the Twin Towers burning with a plane flying toward the buildings. Captions: "JIHAD ISLAM UNITE RISE!" along with "America did this" and "You were warned." Portrait of Malvo as sniper labeled "Believer" and portrait of Osama bin Laden labeled "prophet." A poem: "Our minarets are our bayonets, Our mosques are our baracks (sic), Our believers are our soldiers." The American flag and the Star of David drawn in cross hairs.

Exhibit 65-067: A suicide bomber labeled "Hamas" walking into a McDonald's restaurant. Another drawing of the Twin Towers burning captioned: "85 percent chance Zionists did this." More scrawls: "ALLAH AKBAR," "JIHAD" and "Islam will explode." Continued...