In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

Al-Qaeda improving ability to attack US: US intelligence

February 6, 2008 - 2:24AM
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The US intelligence community warned Tuesday of the threat of terrorist attack against the United States as Al-Qaeda improves its ability to identify, train and position operatives for such operations.

In an annual threat assessment, US intelligence said it had detected an influx of new western recruits to Al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan's federally administrative tribal areas since 2006.

"Al-Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the US- the identification, training, and positioning of operatives for an attack in the Homeland," the report said.

Al-Qaeda improving ability to attack US: US intelligence
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Al-Qaeda 'eyeing nuclear weapons'
Kabul, 4 Feb. (AKI) - United States intelligence sources are reportedly claiming al-Qaeda nuclear weapons expert Abu Khabab al-Misri was the real target of last week's CIA airstrike in northern Pakistan which is said to have killed one of the terror network's key leaders, Abu Laith al-Libi.

Al-Misri is reportedly able to make so-called 'dirty bombs' that contain radioactive waste mixed with explosives.

US intelligence services reportedly believe that al-Qaeda has since 1997 been seeking to acquire 'dirty bombs' and other weapons of mass destruction.

A missile strike, believed to have been carried out by an unmanned CIA Predator aircraft, killed al-Libi near the town of Mir Ali in the lawless tribal North Waziristan area on the Afghan border early last week, according to US officials.

Al-Libi's killing was interpreted as a coup for the US-led war on terror.

Al-Qaeda 'eyeing nuclear weapons'

[Shammu]

Egyptian FM: We'll break infiltrators' legs
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST    Feb. 7, 2008

Egypt's foreign minister said that no further violations of its borders would be tolerated in the wake of a 12-day breach on its frontier with Gaza and said anyone daring to cross would have their legs broken, the state news agency reported.

The uncharacteristically assertive remarks by Ahmed Aboul Gheit came during a late night interview on state television, in which he criticized both Israel and Hamas for creating the unstable situation on Egypt's border.

"Anyone who violates Egypt's borders will get his legs broken," Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying. He added that Egypt only allowed the Palestinians to cross the border after Hamas blew up the wall because of fears over the humanitarian situation resulting from Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

He blamed Israel for the humanitarian crisis and hardship that Gaza is experiencing, and for "responding to the Palestinian (Hamas) missiles with collective punishment."

He also criticized Hamas for launching those missile attacks, describing the confrontation as "laughable caricature" resulting in self-inflicted wounds.

"After Hamas's takeover of Gaza, it has decided to clash with Israel, though this clash seems to be a laughable caricature, because clashing with an opponent in battle is supposed to mean damaging them," he said. "You do not go into battle just to damage yourself."

He said Hamas's missiles either fall back in Gaza and injure Palestinians or give the Israelis a pretext to attack them.

The Egyptian's remarks drew a quick response from a Hamas leader in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, who called them "inappropriate" and said he did not believe they reflected the official Egyptian stance.

"All we want is an open border crossing," Abu Zuhri said. "Instead of making these threats against the Palestinian people, [Aboul Gheit] should voice his anger against the Israeli occupation, which is what is closing the border crossings between Gaza and Egypt."

After 12 days during which Palestinians stocked up on food fuel and consumer products, Egypt reclosed the border pending a return to the 2005 international monitoring agreement involving Israeli and EU monitors.

Hamas rejects the agreement and has called for a role in controlling the border. Since the closure, Palestinians have clashed with Egyptian border guards.

Egyptian FM: We'll break infiltrators' legs

[Shammu]

That shows the true love for their muslim neighbors. I guess there will be some busy orthopedic clinics.......

[Shammu]

Egypt boosts troops on border
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST    Feb. 8, 2008

Egypt boosted troop security along the volatile border with Gaza on Friday, a security official said, following an alleged threat by Hamas that the group would stage kidnappings of Egyptian troops if its operatives arrested in the Sinai were not released.

The remarks came amid stepped-up rhetoric by Egypt against Gaza's Hamas rulers, reflecting Cairo's growing frustration in the wake of the 12-day breach of its frontier with Gaza and the ensuing border chaos.

Snipers were deployed on rooftops in the Egyptian part of the divided border town of Rafah on Friday, while Egyptian forces were told to move only in armed groups of at least three soldiers, the security official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the new orders followed a threat by Hamas commanders to abduct Egyptian security personnel if Egypt fails to release 15 Hamas members arrested last week in the Sinai.

He did not say how or when authorities received the alleged threat.

The Palestinians arrested here were found carrying weapons and explosives near the border and other remote parts of Egypt's Sinai desert, and were said to have crossed from Gaza after Hamas blew up the wall separating the Mediterranean strip from Egypt on Jan. 23, setting of an influx of tens of thousands of Gazans.

But a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, promptly denied any kidnapping threats against Egyptian troops and reiterated that Hamas is fighting the Israelis, not the Egyptians.

"This is a lie," Abu Zuhri told The Associated Press in Gaza. "It's not true at all. People are spreading these rumors to incite against Hamas."

The border breach was an attempt to end a seven-month blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel, in response to Hamas' rocket barrages from Gaza on Israeli border towns.

But Egypt, which re-closed the border last weekend, is at odds on how to resolve the border control issue and does not want Hamas to have a role in that control.

On Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said no further violations of the border would be tolerated and that anyone daring to cross would have their legs broken.

The unprecedented harsh rhetoric reflected increasing tensions between Egypt and Hamas, which rejects Egypt's proposal to bring the Rafah crossing under the mandate of the Palestinian Authority led by Hamas' rival Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader.

Egypt demands a reactivation of the 2005 crossings agreement on the Rafah passage, which requires return of European monitors. Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005, but still controls access to Gaza, including Gaza's airspace and coastline. Israel also provides the fuel needed to run Gaza's only power plant. It has recently withheld that fuel, causing severe power outages.

Egypt boosts troops on border

[Shammu]

Violations of 'Islamic teachings' take deadly toll on Iraqi women
February 8, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

 The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

Her fear is justified. Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, is a stronghold of conservative Shia groups. As many as 133 women were killed in Basra last year -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for so-called honor killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

One glance through the police file is enough to understand the consequences. Basra's police chief, Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, flips through the file, pointing to one unsolved case after another. Video Watch Khalaf show evidence of the brutality »

"I think so far, we have been unable to tackle this problem properly," he says. "There are many motives for these crimes and parties involved in killing women, by strangling, beheading, chopping off their hands, legs, heads."

"When I came to Basra a year ago," he says, "two women were killed in front of their kids. Their blood was flowing in front of their kids, they were crying. Another woman was killed in front of her 6-year-old son, another in front of her 11-year-old child, and yet another who was pregnant."

 The killers enforcing their own version of Islamic justice are rarely caught, while women live in fear.

Boldly splattered in red paint just outside the main downtown market, a chilling sign reads: "We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you."

The attacks on the women of Basra have intensified since British forces withdrew to their base at the airport back in September, police say. Iraqi security forces took over after British troops pulled back, but are heavily infiltrated by militias.

And tracking the perpetrators of these crimes is nearly impossible, Khalaf says, adding that he doesn't have control of the thousands of policemen and officers.

"We're trying to trace crimes carried out by an anonymous enemy," he says.

Amnesty International has raised concern about the increasing violence toward women in Iraq, saying abductions, rapes and "honor killings" are on the rise.

"Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists," Amnesty said in a 2007 report.

Sometimes, it's just the color of a woman's headscarf that can draw unwanted attention.

"One time, one of my female colleagues commented on the color of my headscarf," Safana says. "She said it would draw attention ... [and I should] avoid it and stick to colors like gray, brown and black."

This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.

Sawsan, another woman who works at a university, says the message from the radicals to women is simple: "They seem to be sending us a message to stay at home and keep your mouth shut."
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After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Sawsan says, the situation was "the best." But now, she says, it's "the worst."

"We thought there would be freedom and democracy and women would have their rights. But all the things we were promised have not come true. There is only fear and horror."

Violations of 'Islamic teachings' take deadly toll on Iraqi women

[Shammu]

Persian Gulf states look to Israel to confront Iran
February 13, 2008
by Staff Writer

A senior Kuwaiti official told Reuters on Tuesday that his nation and other Gulf states are operating under the assumption that Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

And if Iran does succeed in building an atomic bomb, Kuwait and neighboring countries will look to Israel to provide a nuclear umbrella to protect them from Iranian aggression, said Sami Alfaraj, a senior advisor to Kuwait's prime minister.

Still, Alfaraj said Kuwait and much of the rest of the Arab world would prefer for Israel to exercise the military option and prevent the Iranian regime from realizing its nuclear ambitions.

Persian Gulf states look to Israel to confront Iran

[Shammu]

Islamic preacher rocks mideast

February 26, 2008
By Carolynne Wheeler

CAIRO (LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH) — He is handsome and charismatic, and his voice makes young women swoon.

But most of his female fans wear head scarves, and although his gatherings look more fitting for a rock star, they center on the Koran.

Moez Masoud, a 29-year-old Egyptian partygoer turned preacher, is sweeping the Middle East with his moderate Islamic message to love not just Allah but others — and to play a full part in the modern world.

Mr. Masoud's views are controversial among more hard-line imams; but his television shows attract millions, his Web site gets thousands of hits, and he fills lecture theaters and community halls.

"I'm just about everyday things, you know? It's about keeping it real," he said as he prepared for an event recently.

His message — largely delivered in English — carries weight among his mostly educated and middle-class young fans, because, perhaps like many of them, he has succumbed to temptation. Mr. Masoud, who studied in American schools in Kuwait and Egypt and graduated from Cairo's American University, spent his adolescence and early 20s in a haze of alcohol and women.

"For a while, I just went with the flow," he said in an interview.

Then came the life-changing experiences that he said showed him the path to God: the deaths of several friends — from drug overdoses, car accidents and cancer — and his own surgery for a tumor on his spleen.

Despite the alarm of his mother, who raised him as a secular Muslim, Mr. Masoud began to study the Koran.

Invited to address his first audience in 2000 in New York state, word spread quickly across the Muslim world, and within two years, he was invited to record his first TV program, "Parables of the Koran."

His mission has taken on new urgency with the growth of Islamic-inspired terrorism, spurred by what he sees as a complete misinterpretation of a peaceful faith.

"It scares me. It scares me because you can build so much, and they just tear it down so quickly," he said. "But we can get over it. I really believe that."

He is clear in his rejection of acts of terrorism such as the 2005 bombings in London. An episode of his latest television show, "Take a Right," was recorded at London's King's Cross station to focus on the casualties of the attacks.

Traditional Islamist clerics criticize moderate preachers like Mr. Masoud for advocating what they call "Islam lite." But he also attracts fire from secular voices in Egypt.

"This is part of the global phenomenon of Islamicization in the Arab world," said Hala Mustafa, editor of Egypt's Journal of Democracy. "There is no difference; Islamicization is Islamicization."

Islamic preacher rocks mideast

[Shammu]

Qaeda's Zawahri vows revenge over Libi killing: Web
Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:42pm EST

By Firouz Sedarat

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri vowed revenge for the killing of a top group commander in a suspected U.S. attack in Pakistan, speaking in a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

"No chief of ours had died of a natural death, nor has our blood been spilled without a response," Zawahri said in the video posted on an Islamist Web site, referring to the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi.

Libi, considered as one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Afghanistan, was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike that killed up to 13 foreign militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan border area in late January.

"If one of our chiefs passes, another arises in his place," Zawahri said, without making a specific threat.

Zawahri, wearing a black turban, spoke as he sat next to an assault rifle in front of shelves full of Islamic books.

"So seek help O Americans and agents of Americans ... from those seeking a way out ... They will be of no help to you," he said, referring to Muslim clerics who have criticized jihadist militants.

Al Qaeda condemns as sell-outs Muslim clerics, including renowned scholars, who have said its jihadist ideology is un-Islamic.

The video was produced by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab and carried English subtitles.

Libi's prominence in al Qaeda was highlighted last year by his appearance in a video with Zawahri. He was the first spokesman to announce bin Laden had survived the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

U.S. media have said the Libyan-born militant was believed to be behind a suicide bombing in February 2007 that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. Bagram base in Afghanistan during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

In October the U.S. military in Afghanistan named Libi among several "mid-level" al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and offered a $200,000 bounty for him, U.S. media reported.

Some Western anti-terrorism analysts said past killings of leading al Qaeda figures had shown there were usually others ready to fill the gap in the organization's ranks. But other said Libi's killing was a significant U.S. success.

Qaeda's Zawahri vows revenge over Libi killing: Web

[Shammu]

'Al Qaeda Fatwa against MP Wilders'
 

AMSTERDAM, 28/02/08 - The terrorist network Al-Qaeda has given orders for the assassination of MP Geert Wilders, newspaper De Telegraaf reports. The Party for Freedom (PVV) leader must be 'slaughtered', the orders say, because he has insulted Islam and the prophet Mohammed.

The newspaper based its report on a recent message on a protected web forum of internet site al-ekhlaas.net, which De Telegraaf claims is affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The internet threat, which was posted on 28 January, was intercepted by the American research institute SITE Intelligence Group, the newspaper reports.

"In the name of Allah, we ask you to bring us the neck of this unbeliever who insults Islam and the Muslims and ridicules the prophet Mohammed," the site says about Wilders, according to the newspaper.

The message honours Mohammed Bouyeri as a hero. This Amsterdam-born Moroccan Muslim cut Islam-critic Theo van Gogh's throat on 2 November 2004. The message also appeals for readers to "terrorise" the Netherlands to prevent Wilders' controversial film on the Koran from being broadcast.

Wilders says his film is finished, and only still needs to be edited. He will try to show the film via an official broadcaster. He expects the negotiations to last between several days and several weeks.

Wilders has set up a separate website where his Koran film will be shown in any event. The host of this site, www.fitnathemovie.com, is located in the United States. Wilders also plans to put the film on the YouTube website.

The film takes place within the Koran, Wilders earlier explained, with the book opening and showing the viewer images of atrocities allegedly inspired by the verses. It lasts about 15 minutes and ends with a picture of the prophet Mohammed, to which "something happens", he added.

'Al Qaeda Fatwa against MP Wilders'

[Shammu]

3 Cities Fighting Hygiene Battle With Muslim Hospital Workers

Thursday , February 28, 2008

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Muslim medical workers in three major English cities are balking at hospital hygiene rules such as rolling up their sleeves when they scrub for surgery, according to The Daily Mail.

Health officials have been ready to wash their hands of the dispute, but at least one hospital is bending to the requests.

Female med students and staff at hospitals in at least a trio of large British cities — Liverpool, Leicester and Sheffield — have continued to flat-out refuse to comply with regulations aimed at fending off germs and infections, the Mail reported, with some saying they'd rather quit than expose their arms.

The workers object on the grounds that showing their forearms is immodest for women who practice Islam and against their religion. Hygiene gurus insist that no exceptions should be made for religious or other reasons.

But Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool said that though there are certain non-negotiable rules, it is attempting to work with Muslim students to find a solution.

"We specify bare below elbows, no wrist watches, nail varnish or false nails in clinical areas," Steve Ryan, Alder Hey's medical director, told the Mail. "Good hand hygiene is one of the most important and simplest actions we can take to prevent health care-associated infections."

At the Liverpool children's hospital, medical students gave a thumbs-down to pushing up or removing long sleeves while assisting in treating patients and washing their hands.

They asked for some concessions, and the hospital is complying.

"A number of female Muslim students had approached the University of Liverpool to ask if we would provide facilities for them to change their outerwear and hijab for ... scrubs," Ryan said. "We were pleased to accommodate this request, and these facilities have now been incorporated."

The dispute has been ongoing, with the U.K. Daily Telegraph reporting earlier this month that Britain's Department of Health regulations — devised to prevent the spread of various superbugs — were being violated with more frequency.

The Islamic Medical Association has gotten involved, telling Muslim women in the field that they must stay covered.

3 Cities Fighting Hygiene Battle With Muslim Hospital Workers

[nChrist]

Hello DreamWeaver,

Brother, I can't believe there's a discussion left on the issue of hospital workers to meet medical standards of hygiene. Facilities were provided, so there is nothing left to do but FIRE THEM! FIRE THEM!, regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, etc. The problem is solved, and the problem must be solved.

Their alternative is to build hospitals where medical standards of hygiene won't be adhered to. I seriously doubt that anyone would want to receive medical treatment in a hospital like that, but this would certainly solve the problem for anyone refusing to obey medical hygiene standards. They've made a bad mistake by publishing a dark secret like this. What patient in his or her right mind would want to be treated by someone refusing to obey medical hygiene standards? This will rightfully cause everyone to take a second look when they go to the hospital for treatment. I, for one, expect and demand that a hospital I use STRICTLY ENFORCE MEDICAL HYGIENE STANDARDS! I will pick and choose who gives me medical treatment, and this is one of the standards I will use in the selection. I won't be in any facility where I have to worry about this. Further, there won't be any staff near me that I have to ask if they've washed properly. Bluntly, staff like this won't have anything to do with my treatment, and that's the end of the story. This should be the end of the story for everyone.

[Soldier4Christ]

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “Grand Jihad” in Toledo

It might only be the shores of Lake Erie, but the Muslim Brotherhood has established an invasion beachhead in Toledo. The most recent landing by the international Islamic extremist organization was last weekend when the Muslim American Society (MAS) – the ideological arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, identified as such by the Department of Justice in a court filing back in December – held a conference at the University of Toledo. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Department of Homeland Security recently added Toledo to the list of high-risk terrorism areas.

Among the speakers were national MAS leaders Esam Omeish and Mahdi Bray, respectively the MAS president and head of their Virginia Commission on Immigration just weeks after his appointment. According to a September 28, 2007 article in the Washington Post, Omeish was forced out when a video surfaced of Omeish preaching holy war against Israel at a December 22, 2000, Jerusalem Day rally in Washington D.C., where he said:

...you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land...and we shall do everything we can to help your cause.

Here’s the video with Omeish’s remarks. (The full speech video is here; all videos courtesy of the Investigative Project.) And yet another video of Omeish shows him congratulating Palestinian terrorists for “giving up their lives for the sake of Allah.”
Upon learning of Omeish's recorded call for jihad and his endorsement of suicide bombings, Virginia legislators quickly lined up calling for his resignation from the state commission.

Mahdi Bray, on the other hand, had to jet to Toledo from Egypt, where he had appeared earlier in the week at a rally defending jailed members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood. An article on the Muslim Brotherhood website hails Mahdi Bray as “A Strong Voice for Human Rights.”

On May 15, 2004, Bray also bestowed terrorist leader Abdurahman Alamoudi with a MAS Freedom Foundation award in abstentia as he was awaiting trial on terrorism charges (which he would later be convicted of and sentenced to 20 years in prison). Bray called him an “outstanding American Muslim who has courageously stood in defense of freedom and justice,” and vowed, “I don't care what they say, we're gonna continue to work with him, and the other detainees, Abdelrahim, and we are gonna continue to fight back. Let our people go! Let our people go!”

Bray’s enthusiasm for Abdurahman Alamoudi goes back many years, in fact. At an October 2000 rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House, Bray can be seen standing beside Alamoudi enthusiastically cheering his friend and compatriot (who again is currently serving 20 years in prison on terrorism charges), as he cheers the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.

As can be expected, the local dead-tree media showed up at the MAS conference and wrote a glowing report, “Muslims’ roots in America branch out,” describing MAS as “a charitable, religious, social, cultural, and educational nonprofit organization.” No mention was made by the Toledo Blade of the recent controversies surrounding Omeish or Bray, or the terrorist connections and Muslim Brotherhood origins of the MAS, which were covered in an extensive investigation of the organization by the Chicago Tribune in 2004. They also could have consulted the meticulously documented MAS dossier prepared by the Investigative Project on Terrorism to provide at least a thin measure of background on the group to their readers.

Had the Toledo Blade bothered to conduct actual research, they also would have discovered that the organization of yet another speaker at the MAS Toledo conference, Dawud Walid, state director for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan affiliate, had been named as unindicted co-conspirator this past summer in a federal terror financing trial. During that same trial, the DOJ entered into evidence and FBI agent Lara Burns testified concerning documentation proving that MAS had been founded and controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

But in the event that the dead-tree media had asked too many questions, or stumbled accidentally upon any one of these scandalous background and activities of Esam Omeish, Mahdi Bray, or the MAS itself, no doubt Mahdi Bray would have been sent forth to attack the paper and the reporter as “Islamophobic,” and steadfastly deny even the most readily provable claims.

Such was the case following a Dallas Morning News article by terrorism expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross following the 7/7 London suicide bombings, who noted that MAS had published in their March 2002 edition of their American Muslim magazine a fatwa authorizing suicide bombings, and that their membership study curriculum features a number of Muslim Brotherhood works and well-known jihadist tracts advocating for terrorism and violence.

Mahdi Bray responded by denying both charges, essentially accusing Gartenstein-Ross of lying, as expressed in a follow-up editorial in the same paper. He categorically denied the claims about the suicide bombing fatwa:

Additionally, Mr. Ross asserts that a fatwa (religious opinion) in our March 2002 American Muslim magazine supports suicide bombing. There is absolutely no such fatwa in the March 2002 edition of the American Muslim magazine.

As I pointed out in an article last May here at FrontPage Magazine, “Cover-up and Deny,” while MAS had removed the fatwa in question from the magazine’s website (which read exactly how Gartenstein-Ross represented), the fatwa could still be found in various Internet archive sites not controlled by MAS. Bray's public denial was intentionally fabricated to conceal his organization's institutional extremism.

In response to the terrorist-inciting jihadist tracts in the MAS membership curriculum, MAS responded by having all of their chapters remove the curriculum from their respective websites in a deliberate effort to conceal from the public their radical agenda. Once again, unfortunately, MAS could not remove the evidence from the Internet archive, which contains a copy of the curriculum as printed in the April 2001 edition of MAS’s American Muslim magazine. The entire MAS membership reading list can be found in the second-part of my response to Bray’s false denials, “Cover-Up and Deny, Part 2.”

The story of the MAS conference in Toledo earlier this month is a tale of an organization that readily demonstrates its extremist roots when it believes no one is looking, and its officials, who are prepared to flagrantly lie to conceal the true nature of their covert agenda. The plans for the Muslim Brotherhood’s efforts in North America were also revealed this past summer when a document was made public outlining their goals to wage a “grand jihad” to undermine our systems and values to replace them with a strict fundamentalist version of Islam. The document outlines the true agenda of the MAS and its allied organizations:

The Ikhwan [the Muslim Brotherhood's name for itself] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions.

Undeterred, Mahdi Bray yet again tried to spin this revelation about his group’s role in the “grand jihad” in America and dismiss its importance for understanding their aims and objectives.

The people of Toledo, however, cannot afford to ignore what’s at work in their community, especially in light of Mahdi Bray’s appearance in town just a few months ago. With three Toledo area residents already facing terrorism charges, can the citizens of the Glass City afford to remain ignorant about the Muslim American Society, Esam Omeish, Mahdi Bray, and their intent to wage their “grand jihad” in northwestern Ohio? As evidenced by the recent MAS conference, the grand jihad may already be well underway.

[Soldier4Christ]

MAS Jihadi Olympics ’08

This weekend, the University of South Florida (USF) and the town of Temple Terrace, a suburb of Tampa Bay, Florida, will once again be hosting the Muslim American Society’s Olympics. Once again, the school known as Jihad U and the local area will be associating themselves with terrorism and radical Islam.

On March 8th through the 9th, the Tampa chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS-Tampa) will be holding its 6th Annual Olympics, now referred to as MYathlon (“MY” meaning MAS Youth). The venues for the event are remaining the same as last year, when the boys used the sports facilities at USF, and the girls used those at the Temple Terrace Recreation Complex, which is owned by the city. Given the history of the Muslim American Society, and given the local chapter’s past, one can’t help but think how reckless and irresponsible it is for the venues to allow this event to take place.

MAS was established in 1992, incorporated in ’93. It was created by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a global Islamist political/religious movement that is the forebearer of such terror groups as Al-Qaeda and Hamas. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, as stated in a December 2007 federal court brief, “MAS was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.”

MAS-National’s Freedom Foundation, along with its Executive Director Mahdi Bray, has defended convicted terrorists Sami Al-Arian, Abdurahman Alamoudi and Ali Al-Timimi. MAS National President Esam Omeish was forced to resign his government appointed position on the Virginia Commission of Immigration, after video footage surfaced showing him advocating violent jihad. And MAS-National’s magazine, The American Muslim, in March of 2002, published a fatwa supportive of suicide bombings.

MAS, as well, has local chapters around the United States. One of these chapters, MAS-Minnesota, uses its website to call for the murder of Jews (“If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them.”) and to laud terrorist organizations (“The [Islamic] revolution... has been crystallized in the steadfast, brave, aware Islamic resistance movement ‘Hamas.’”)

Another MAS chapter is MAS-Tampa. Up until a year and a half ago, the group’s website was saturated with violent and hateful material, much of which came from the MAS-Minnesota site. However, much of it came from MAS-Tampa, itself.

Prior to August of 2006, viewers of MAS-Tampa’s website were treated to texts written by such individuals as the founder of the International Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun), Hassan Al-Banna, and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan (Jamaat-e-Islami), Syed Abul Ala Maududi. Additionally, one of the texts states that it was edited by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). In March of 2002, IIIT’s Virginia offices were raided by the FBI in a terror financing probe.

The following anti-Semitic, anti-woman, anti-homosexual and pro-violence statements were published on MAS Tampa’s website:

    * “A Jew came to the Prophet asking for his debt and said: ‘You are from the tribe of Abd Manaf whose tribe likes to delay paying debts.’ When Umar heard this, he swore that he would cut off the Jew’s head.”
    * “‘Whoever is submissive to the likes and dislikes of a woman will be thrown by Allah into Hell,’ and ‘A man’s sin is as great as his wife’s ignorance.’”
    * “A Muslim must always worship Allah and wage jihad until death...”
    * “The greatest sacrifice for G-d is made in Jihad, for in it a man sacrifices not only his own life and property in His cause but destroys those of others also.”
    * “Khalid ibn al Walid wrote to Abu Bakr, telling him that in some areas of the Arabian Peninsula he had found men engaging in homosexual practices. Abu Bakr decided to consult the Sahabah of the Prophet (PBUH) as to what he should do about it... Abu Bakr wrote back to Khalid to tell him that they should be burnt to death; and this was done.”

MAS Olympics has taken place at USF for a number of years, now. And while the MAS-Tampa website has been purged of its hate and violence, USF didn’t have a problem hosting the radical group when the material was up on the site in 2005 and 2006. But then again, radical Islam has become a normal occurrence at USF.

Sami Al-Arian arrived at USF in 1986. While there, he would create an entire infrastructure for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an organization that targets Israeli civilians with terrorist attacks. This PIJ network consisted of a charity, the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) a.k.a. Islamic Concern Project; a think tank, World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE); and a children’s school, the Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF). In the case of WISE, USF was a partner.

Ramadan Shallah, at the behest of Al-Arian, came to teach a political science course at USF, in 1991. He abruptly left town in 1995 and soon emerged in Damascus, Syria as the international head of PIJ, replacing the assassinated Fathi Shikaki.

One of Al-Arian’s disciples, a former USF student government leader named Danya Shakfeh, like MAS-Tampa, has used the internet to spread hatred against non-Muslims. In January of 2002 she wrote in her blog, “There is much Zionist propaganda in the media. If you’ve ever read the German point of view of the ‘Holocaust,’ you would know that the Germans of the time believed that the Jews were over represented in the government, much like today in the US.” In January of 2006, she referred to Judaism as “their alleged faith.”

In August of 2007, two other USF students, Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed, were arrested in South Carolina and indicted for transporting explosive materials, which included pipe bombs. Mohamed was also charged with teaching and demonstrating how to turn a remote-control child’s toy into a bomb detonator. In addition, a third USF student, Karim Moussaoui, was arrested, in connection to Mohamed and Megahed, for unlawful possession of firearms.

All of these things are symptoms of a greater problem that has taken hold of much of the Tampa area, specifically USF and Temple Terrace. But just because radical Islam has become normalcy for the school and the city doesn’t mean that that can be used as an excuse for exacerbating the problem, by allowing MAS -- a group that has and continues to propagate violent hatred against those that don’t worship the same as its members do -- access to their facilities. And just because the events involve sporting activities doesn’t make it okay.

Those concerned, please contact USF and the city of Temple Terrace. They need to know that someone besides the enemy cares about what’s going on in Southwest Florida.

[Soldier4Christ]

WALMART OPENS HALAL-MART IN DEARBORNISTAN

Arabic-speaking staff can guide customers to the Middle Eastern goods

As Arwa Hamad strolls a new Wal-Mart, an eight-foot display of olive oil stops her in her tracks. "Oh, wow," she says, marveling at the sight of so many gallons of Lebanese extra virgin. "We could go through one of these in a week in my house." Around the corner, row upon row of gallon jars of olives—from Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Lebanon—soak in deep hues of purple, red and green. "Look at the size of these olives," says the stay-at-home mother of three and native of Yemen. Hamad, 34, has shopped at Wal-Mart before, but never one like this. She is overcome with nostalgia as she spots Nido powdered milk and Al Haloub Cow, canned meat she calls the "Arabic Spam." "My father loves this," she says. "People from war-torn countries, this is what you lived on when you couldn't go out of the house to shop." This Wal-Mart, though, isn't in a war zone. It's in Dearborn, Mich., home to nearly a half-million Arab-Americans, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East.

As America changes, so does the store where America shops. In Dearborn this week, the world's largest retailer opens a store like no other among its 3,500 U.S. outlets. Walk through the front door of the 200,000-square-foot supercenter and instead of rows of checkout counters, you find a scene akin to a farmers market in Beirut. Twenty-two tables are stacked high with fresh produce like kusa and batenjan, squash and eggplant used in Middle Eastern dishes. Rimming the produce department are shelves filled with Arab favorites like mango juice from Egypt and vine leaves from Turkey used to make mehshi, or stuffed grape leaves. A walled-off section of the butcher case is devoted to Halal meats, slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law (when a Wal-Mart manager noticed the pork section was too prominent he ordered it moved, since Muslims don't eat pork). In the freezer case, you'll find frozen falafel. You can also pick up a CD from Lebanese pop singer Ragheb Alama or buy Muslim greeting cards.

Wal-Mart's Arab-American emporium provides a preview of the retail giant's latest strategy to boost business as it reaches the saturation point in its American expansion. Over the past two years, Wal-Mart has tested its "store of the community": it has stocked stores in Chicago and Atlanta with products aimed at African-Americans and set up a hitching post at an Ohio store near a large Amish community. The Dearborn store, though, is the most extreme example of the concept. Wal-Mart offers its standard fare, plus 550 items targeted at Middle Eastern shoppers. "In the past, Wal-Mart has been pretty cookie-cutter when it comes to merchandise," says Dearborn store manager Bill Bartell. "But this time, we really got to know the community. We're blazing a trail here."

Typically when Wal-Mart comes to town, it drops its big-box store on the community with a thud. Then it rolls out rock-bottom prices that undercut local merchants, who often wither and die. That Bigfooting has led to passionate community opposition in many markets, including suburban Detroit, where it opened its first supercenter just a year ago to protests over plans to stay open 24 hours (Wal-Mart backed down to 18 hours a day).

To fit into this bastion of ethnic tradition, Wal-Mart started two years ago to meet with imams and moms, conducting focus groups at Middle Eastern restaurants. Wal-Mart learned the community wasn't as concerned about seeing Arabic-language signs as they were with dealing with Arabic-speaking staff. So Bartell hired about 35 Arabic speakers, including Suehaila Amen, a local middle-school teacher who is providing ethnic-sensitivity training to the 650 employees. He also learned not to bother stocking traditional Muslim clothing, like the headscarf, or hijab, Amen wears. "The community told us, 'I would not feel comfortable coming to Wal-Mart to buy my hijab'," says assistant store manager Jordan Berke. "We're not here to overstep our bounds."

Despite the sensitive sell, local shopkeepers still worry about Wal-Mart. "There is a fear factor in the business community," says Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn's Arab American News. To allay those fears, Wal-Mart is making an extraordinary promise: it will not undercut the prices of the small local merchants (though it will still go after Kroger). The insular company even agreed to be scrutinized by a "community advisory board" made up of local Arab-American leaders to ensure it isn't harming the mom-and-pop shops. One example: Wal-Mart agreed to charge one dime more than local grocers for a six-pack of pita bread.

Arwa Hamad says her devotion to Dearborn's Muslim merchants doesn't simply rest on one thin dime. After all, when her husband goes to their Arab butcher, he buys in bulk. "It's hard to get half a lamb at Wal-Mart," she says. And yet, the more she wanders the aisles, the more she likes. There are the Turkish sweets and dried dates her kids love, and the Nescafé coffee she adores. "This brings back memories from home," she says. "I'll never forget Mustafa's corner store, but as soon as this place opens, I'm coming here with my checkbook." Going native just might be the next way Wal-Mart wins.

[nChrist]

Syria invites Lebanon to Arab summit in Damascus
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Syria on Thursday formally invited Lebanon to this month's Arab summit in Damascus and even though it staunchly opposes Lebanon's pro-Western government, said it would welcome any representative chosen by Beirut to represent the Lebanese.

The development, amid increased tensions between the two neighbors, ended weeks of speculations over which of the rival Lebanese factions Syria would ask to the gathering - Damascus's opposition allies or pro-Western Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's group.

The invitation came during a meeting between visiting Syria's Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous and outgoing Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh.

It was not clear if the visit by Arnous - the first Syrian official in Lebanon in 18 months - was timed to avoid contacts with Saniora, who is attending an Islamic summit in Senegal.

Saloukh, allied with the Syrian-backed opposition, is one of six pro-Syrian Cabinet ministers who resigned in November 2006 as part of the ongoing power struggle in Lebanon between the Syrian-backed opposition and Saniora's US-backed government. Despite his resignation, Salloukh has been showing up for work.

Salloukh told reporters after his meeting with Arnous that the invitation was from Syria's Prime Minister Naji Otari to Saniora. "The ministry will hand over this invitation to his excellency (Saniora) after he returns to Lebanon," Salloukh said.

Arnous is the first Syrian official to visit here since Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem came to Beirut during the 34-day war in the summer of 2006 between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

Saniora and the anti-Syrian parliament majority accuse Damascus of meddling in Lebanese affairs by obstructing the election in parliament of army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a consensus president. Syria holds sway over some Lebanese opposition lawmakers who have boycotted assembly sessions since former President Emile Lahoud's term ended last November, thereby leaving the legislature short of a quorum needed for the election.

The opposition is conditioning Suleiman's election with its demands on a future power-sharing Cabinet and the oppositions right to veto power in the government.

For its part, the anti-Syrian majority accuses Damascus of being behind explosions and assassination of anti-Syrian figures, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a massive truck bomb in 2005. Syria denies the charges.

Arnous did not speak to reporters but a statement released by Syria's Foreign Ministry in Damascus on Thursday quoted him as saying that "because of the constitutional vacuum in the presidential post in Lebanon, Syria will welcome whoever Lebanon chooses to represent it in the summit."

However, it was not clear if Saniora would attend.

Later Thursday, two of Saniora's ministers criticized the way the invitation was made. Marwan Hamadeh, telecommunications minister, told local LBC television it shouldn't have been addressed to Saniora, but to the non-existent president. Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad said the invitation shouldn't have been handed to Salloukh, but to the president, and since "there is no president now," to the head of Cabinet.

The United States and some Arab states blame Syria and its Lebanese opposition allies for the presidential deadlock.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which back Saniora's government, have earlier threatened to boycott the March 29-30 summit in Syria but now they say they will take part, although it is not clear if their heads of state will attend.

Syria seeks to boost its Mideast role with a successful summit and fears a poor showing at the gathering, the first such in Damascus, could further isolate President Bashar Assad's regime.

Syria has rejected the accusations it was obstructing Lebanon's presidential election, while its Lebanese allies have accused Washington of torpedoing a solution to the country's 16-month political crisis.

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