Dutch MP Hirsi Ali "Fled to U.S."

Two Dutch broadsheets are reporting today that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was scuttled onto a military plane eight weeks ago, shortly after the murder of Theo van Gogh, and transported to a secret location abroad. Hirsi Ali is the Somali-born Dutch MP who received death threats after collaborating with van Gogh on the film "Submission." She is a critic of radical Islam.

De Volkskrant claims to know the destination of the Royal Dutch Navy aircraft that carried her across the border, but doesn't divulge it "so as not to endanger her safety." NRC Handelsblad, however, quotes radio amateurs who intercepted the plane's communications, and who say it was headed for a U.S. Navy base in Brunswick, Maine.

Colleagues of Hirsi Ali have said she is expected to return to her parliamentary work in exactly two weeks, when Christmas recess is over, although no one is explaining why the threat to her safety would then be any less than it was in November.