In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror

Thursday , March 27, 2008

Law enforcement officials and security experts are warning against the threat of homegrown terrorism as several cases involving alleged American jihadists enter the courts.

"The public is getting complacent," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells FOX News. Kelly, who was the police commissioner during the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, has developed a task force of counterterrorism officers trained to spot jihadists.

Although there has not been a major terrorist strike in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, Kelley says the country cannot let down its guard.

"We can't afford to be complacent in law enforcement, and I don't think we are," Kelly says in the new FOX News documentary, "Jihad, USA," which will air at 9 p.m. ET on March 29.

Several terror-related cases now in the courts highlight this need for continued vigilance, experts say.

— In Florida, the retrial of six of the "Liberty City Seven" is coming to a close. The group members, who allegedly plotted to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and swore allegiance to Al Qaeda on a secret FBI surveillance tape, were arrested in June 2006. Their first trial ended in a not-guilty verdict for one defendant and a mistrial for the other six.

— In Washington state, the murder trial has begun for Pakistani-American Naveed Haq, who is accused of opening fire in Seattle's Jewish Federation Building in July 2006, killing one woman and wounding five others. Haq allegedly said he was mad at the Jews and how they are running the country.

Two other cases are to enter court next month.

— In Michigan, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Houssein Zorkot, a Lebanese-born medical student at Wayne State University in Detroit who posted on his Web site in September 2007 that he was launching a personal jihad. He was arrested that same day in a nearby park, wearing camouflage paint and holding a loaded AK-47.

— In South Carolina a trial is set for Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, two University of South Florida students who officials say had pipe bombs in their car when they were caught speeding near the Goose Creek weapons base.

Terror experts say these and other cases since Sept. 11 illustrate an emerging threat from homegrown terrorists, people who have been radicalized by extreme Muslim doctrine within the U.S.

"Al Qaeda is depending today upon the spontaneous emergence of these jihadist cells that are not tethered to the leadership of Al Qaeda by either telephone or e-mail," terror investigator and author Steve Emerson told FOX News.

But others say the threat of homegrown Islamic terrorism is overstated.

In "none of these cases brought in the United States did the government ever produce any evidence suggesting that someone had prepared a bomb," says Jim Wedick, a former FBI agent. "Someone's actual ability to do harm needs to be taken into the equation."

Wedick consulted with the defense on the Liberty City Seven case.

"The solution is not to treat the whole Muslim community as a suspect community," says Hussam Ayloush, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "This is not about ignoring a threat, but this ... should not be about exaggerating any threat in a way that promotes certain political agendas."

Kelly says the threat is real and the only way to combat it is through prevention.

"Just imagine if the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were arrested on Sept. 10," he says. "How would that have been characterized?"

Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror

[Soldier4Christ]

'Now serving halal
original & crispy'
KFC restaurant in Michigan
responds to Muslim growth

Growing up in Dearborn, Zeinab Chami often was tempted by ads for Col. Sanders' original recipe, the finger-lickin' meal sold by fast-food giant KFC.
Advertisement

However, Chami was an observant Muslim, and the restaurant's chicken was not halal, meaning it wasn't prepared according to Islamic law. Her choices usually were limited to what her immigrant parents cooked or the occasional takeout from Middle Eastern restaurants.

But now she's able to get a taste of KFC. Last month, the restaurant's east Dearborn restaurant began selling halal chicken, a change that reflects the growing demand for halal products among metro Detroit's sizable Muslim population.

Underneath the colonel's bearded face, the store's sign reads "Now serving halal original & crispy." The juxtaposition of an American icon with Islamic tradition is a striking display of the changing landscape of southeast Michigan. Halal meat is not new to Dearborn's butcher shops and Arab restaurants, but a growing number of national chains have been accommodating the local demand for Muslim food in recent years.

"A lot has changed just in the past decade," said Bilal Dabaja, 22, a Dearborn resident who eats halal. "More people want these products."

The change is similar to how the growing Jewish population decades ago led to kosher becoming part of the American food industry and vocabulary. The kosher symbols "K" and "U" can be seen today on everything from Heinz ketchup bottles to Fruity Pebbles cereal boxes.

Muslims hope to create a similar market for halal products.

In Dearborn, two McDonald's restaurants are the only ones selling halal Chicken McNuggets and sandwiches among about 13,700 McDonald's in the country. Ram's Horn, a local chain of diners, and Big Boy restaurants also serve halal meat in the city. And a manager at a Subway restaurant in Dearborn hopes it soon will become halal, but it is facing difficulties because of the chain's insistence on using uniform meat suppliers.

Many in the Muslim community welcome the restaurants' changes, but some are still reluctant to eat there because they haven't been vetted by Islamic scholars.

Halal is an Arabic word that generally refers to "what is permitted." Its opposite, haram, refers to what is forbidden.

Like Jews, Muslims don't eat pork. Halal also requires that during the slaughters, the animal must face Mecca, its blood be totally drained, and the butcher has to say a prayer invoking God.

Drinking alcohol is also considered not halal, and so some Muslims would refuse to eat at the now-defunct La Shish chain because they sold beer and wine.

There are varying interpretations among Islamic leaders as to what exactly is halal. And individuals make personal decisions on how to eat halal depending on strictly they observe Islam.

One challenge is determining if the meat is truly halal.

"A sign saying it's halal is not always enough," said Imam Mohammad Elahi, a religious scholar who heads the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights. "There needs to be other evidence."

A general rule is that if the preparer is Muslim and says the meat is halal, it's OK, But if the preparer is non-Muslim, you have to dig further to back up the claims.

In some cases, halal slaughterhouses are now using recordings of a man saying an Islamic prayer that repeats itself each time an animal is killed so that it's halal.

Chami, 23, wants to try KFC's chicken, but is reluctant because she hasn't seen how it's prepared. One concern that she and Dabaja have is whether KFC uses separate fryers for its halal and non-halal meat, because using the same fryer contaminates the halal. When Chami eats tuna or vegetarian sandwiches at Subway restaurants, she always asks the sandwich preparer to don another set of plastic gloves because they might have the taint of non-halal meats on them.

Store employees at the KFC and McDonald's in east Dearborn said they use separate fryers. At the Subway on Schaefer in Dearborn, manager Ramsey Hourani said he wants to make his store halal, but "it's a lot more difficult than it sounds" because of the company's insistence on restaurants using similar food suppliers.

In England, Subway is rolling out all-halal restaurants in up to 200 locations, according to Zabihah.com, a Web site that tracks halal restaurants around the world. Hourani hopes that one day, American stores can take a similar path.

For now, many Muslims often stick with halal products they find in Middle Eastern grocery stores such as halal marshmallow crispy treats.

But others are excited about the KFC restaurant in Dearborn. Tarek Baydoun, 23, of Dearborn, heard about the halal chicken through a friend's text message. This month, he went there with his family.

"It's a good value and it's very tasty," Baydoun said. "It was bound to happen because it just makes sense from a business perspective."

[Shammu]

Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook

By Damien McElroy Foreign Affairs Correspondent
12:01am BST 31/03/2008

A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged.

The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation.

"Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food," he said.

The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki's comments.

Social customs and religious rules oblige women in Saudi Arabia to cover their head and figure with a veil so that men are not distracted by the female form.

Critics also allege that Facebook is an avenue for the promotion of homosexual relations in Saudi Arabia. More than 6,500 people have signed the online petition in a bid to stop the conservative Muslim kingdom following Syria in banning access to the network from local internet servers.

There are estimated to be more than 30,000 Facebook users in the oil-rich kingdom. Many Saudi women use nicknames and post comic images or drawings on their pages instead of photographs. Some Saudi bloggers have dubbed the network "Faceless".

Women users' contact details and email addresses are often pseudonymous. The popularity of sites for singles has broken taboos on people making contact outside family and class connections.

One of the most popular Facebook groups among Saudi Arabian youth is Single and Looking in Saudi Arabia, which has 1,823 members and hosts many sexually explicit images.

Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook

[Shammu]

The religion of peace strikes again..............

[Shammu]

Gadaffi current Bible version a forgery becauses it doesn't recognize Mohammed

30 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008

Ernest Mpinganjira
Nairobi

LIBYAN leader Col Muammar Gadaffi angered Christians during his visit to Uganda last week. He said the current version of the Bible is a forgery, as it does not recognise or mention Prophet Mohammed.

The remark elicited a flurry of condemnation from Christians during Easter, with most falling short of describing the outburst as blasphemy.

The torrents of rejoinders were unanimous that similar utterances on the Quran during the holy month of Ramadhan would have elicited violent demonstrations, or even fatwa, because of its timing and context. Ugandan Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga said the Libyan leader was hell-bent on fuelling inter-religious conflict.

Lwanga described Gaddafi's utterances as inflammatory. "Had Christians said something similar about the Quran, there would be war.

But we need to forgive him and pray for his conversion," he said.

Gaddafi, who during his visit to Uganda to inaugurate the largest mosque in sub-Saharan Africa, told his hosts that "Islam is the only true religion in the world" as the current Bible has been corrupted through the removal of Prophet Mohammed's name in the Old and New Testaments.

"The Bible we have now is not the one that was revealed to Jesus (Christ) and the Old Testament is not the one that was revealed to Moses. Mohammed is mentioned in (original versions), but the Tora and Bible we have now, there is no mention of him," he said.

He added: "It means that the Bible has been forged. The Prophet Muhammad was sent to humankind. Allah (God) wanted humankind to have one religion. The Q'uran that we have is the only book that was sent by Allah. We believe in the Bible as well as the Tora."

Having stoked controversy, Gaddafi, who was to close an Afro-Arab conference in Kampala besides commissioning the mosque, cut short his tour and made a quick exit.

While Gaddafi was disparaging the Bible, in Rome, an Egyptian-born Magdi Allam scholar was tearing the Q'uran apart. Allam, who completed his conversion to Christianity on Sunday after undergoing baptism by Pope Benedict XVI, described Islam as a faith of troublemakers.

Allam's conversion to Christianity elicited furore in the Muslim world, with a fatwa (death sentence) being passed against him for betraying his former faith. The high-profile convert, who is the director of the

Corrierre Della Sera, a Vatican newspaper, wrote last Sunday, "The root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual."

The problem with such careless remarks is potential threat to inter-religion co-existence in East Africa. It is a proven fact that religious extremism - whether Christian or Islamic - is major ingredient of terrorism.

The mantra that Islam is a promoter of terrorism was sold to the electorate at every election in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. During Kenya's 2005 referendum on the draft constitution and the December 2007 General Election, religious hate material was traded, with Christians and Muslim expressing fears of potential domination by the other.

Anti-terrorism Bill in Kenya and Tanzania have failed to see the light of day because of this negative perception. Uganda, of course enacted the law, but this was done to appease the US and the European Union, which were threatening to withhold budgetary support to Kampala.

It is on the same platform politicians allied to Kenyan President Kibaki attempted to neutralise the opposition during the countdown to the December 27 General Election. The opposition countered this by reaching out to Muslims.

The disputed election campaigns had a heavy dose of religionism, although it did not take the character of religious overtones in Tanzanian politics. Tanzania's Island of Zanzibar and the Mainland are zoned Muslim and Christian strongholds and the voting pattern respects this "demarcation".

Attempts to "Islamise" government

This is a fact Tanzanian leader acknowledged after convincing President Kibaki and ODM leader Mr Raila Odinga to work together last month. Speaking in Kiswahili when he returned to Dar es Salaam, President Kikwete observed that religious utterances were a potential threat to Africa's fragile democracies.

Kikwete, a Muslim, who has repulsed attempts to "Islamise" his Government, said while political chaos (in Kenya) were inspired by ethnic hatred, political divisions in Tanzania were determined by religious affiliations.

"This is not to suggest that a similar thing (political chaos) cannot occur here. Tribalism is almost alien in Tanzania, although we are multi-ethnic. However, Tanzania has udini (religionism), which is not as pronounced in Kenyan politics," he said in his February monthly state-of-the-nation address.

Realising the damage Gaddafi's anti-Christian utterances had done, Uganda president, Yoweri Museveni told an Easter prayer meeting at Nshwere Church in Kiruhura District: "I do not believe in competition between religions. After all, God has no religion. God is for us all."

However, it did not escape analysts that Gaddafi's aversion to Christianity ring of his loathing for constitutionalism and political pluralism just as Museveni.

Gaddafi cut short his tour of Uganda following the remarks, but after he proposed a Pan-African rebirth that eschews Western democracy. He appealed to Africa's "revolutionary" leaders - he singled out Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe - to abandon constitutionalism to extend their terms of rule.

"If we depend on constitutions, we are losing track," he said as he urged President Museveni not to give up power. He heaped praise on him and the embattled Zimbabwean dictator as "visionary" African leaders, who should not conform to multiparty democracy and constitutional presidential term limits.

"Why should a leader relinquish power when he is doing good things for his people? There are people who talk about term limits. What are they? A constitution is simply a document drafted by people. A leader should only leave power by the will of the people. For example, President Museveni came into power through revolutionary means, not the vote. How can he simply go?" he said.

He contradicted himself when he said, "If President Museveni has the will of the people, he should be re-elected."

He did not provide a mode of safe exit if President Museveni, who controversially won a third term in 2006, is deprived of the "will of the people."

Gaddafi reminded that Africa is never short of warmongers disguised as revolutionaries and men of God.

Gadaffi current Bible version a forgery becauses it doesn't recognize Mohammed

[Shammu]

Al-Qa'ida recruits 'Western-looking'
 March 31, 2008

CIA director Michael Hayden has warned al-Qa'ida was training operatives who "look Western" and could enter the US undetected.

General Hayden also said the terror network, which over the past 18 months has established a "safe haven" in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghanistan border, has shed its operational reliance on mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"They are bringing operatives into that region for training - operatives that, a phrase I would use, wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles (airport near Washington DC) with you," Hayden told NBC television.

The new recruits "look Western" and "would be able to come into this country ... without attracting the kind of attention that others might," he said.

Hayden pointed to improved intelligence techniques in the federally administered tribal areas, due to "good co-operation from a variety of allies" in Pakistan's tribal regions, for the information on the al-Qa'ida recruits.

But much of the improvement was merely regaining ground that was lost through what Hayden described as an "absolutely disastrous" hands-off policy in the region by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2006 that led to al-Qa'ida's increased organisational ability there.

"He was, in fact, pulling forces and the writ of the Pakistani government back from the tribal region, and al-Qa'ida and the Taliban were having more and more free reign there."

In an annual threat assessment released in February, US intelligence reported it had detected an influx of new Western recruits to al-Qa'ida safe havens in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas since 2006.

"Al-Qa'ida 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.

In presenting the report to Congress, US intelligence chief Mike McConnell also said that plots uncovered in New Jersey and Illinois this year "highlights the diverse threat posed by Homeland-based radical Muslims inspired by extremist ideology".

Hayden also stressed that while he was confident al-Qa'ida mastermind Osama bin Laden was still hiding out near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the Saudi-born fighter no longer has operational control over the terror network.

This now lies with Egyptian militants, he argued, although he said bin Laden remains an "iconic figure," and the CIA is making "every effort to kill or capture" him along with his al-Qa'ida lieutenants.

"Let me use (the term) iconic figure. His presence ... gives a certain punch, a certain image, to the global movement," Hayden said.

"But he's not operationally involved. An awful lot of the operational force of al-Qa'ida - the Arabic name is ... often finished by the country they are from -- an awful lot of them are al-Masris, which means `the Egyptians'."

Al-Qa'ida's No.2 is Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian militant who the US director of national intelligence Michael McConnell last September called "the real intellectual leader of al-Qa'ida."

Bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, which killed nearly 3000 people and prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Al-Qa'ida recruits 'Western-looking'

Al-Qaeda grooming militants who 'look western'

[Soldier4Christ]

Gadaffi current Bible version a forgery becauses it doesn't recognize Mohammed

But it does mention Mohammed:


Mat 24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

[Shammu]

US urged to adopt sharia compliant banking
March 31, 2008

By CNN's Mairi Mackay

LONDON, England (CNN) -- When it comes to Sharia-compliant banking, few Western countries can compete with Britain. One of the world's prime financial centers, the City of London is also the key Western hub for Islamic banking.

With 23 banks, nine fund managers and a number of international law firms offering Islamic finance in the City, by 2006 British Sharia-compliant assets were thought to be in the region of $22 billion.

The global industry has trebled in the past decade and is now worth around $531 billion.

Britain is also in the vanguard when it comes to Sharia-compliant retail banking, catering for its population of approximately three million Muslims.

In 2004, the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) opened its doors for the first time, becoming the UK's first and only standalone Islamic high street bank.

A number of Britain's "big five" high street banks are getting in on the act. Lloyds TSB and HSBC offer Islamic banking, including mortgages, current accounts and trust funds for children.

In the retail market, Britain is the only European country that offers government-authorized Islamic banking products.

In the United States, only regional banks like University Bank, Michigan offer Sharia-compliant products.

Authorities and regulators in France -- despite having a Muslim population twice the size of Britain's at six million -- have been slow to realize the potential of this sector.

"In France, Islamic finance is at an embryonic stage. They are where we were three or four years ago," Sultan Choudhury, the IBB's director of sales told the Financial Times.

British mosques dating back 150 years attest to the long connection between the United Kingdom and Muslims, but it is the British government's staunch support of the sector -- backing words with legislative changes -- that has responded to the needs of Muslims in the financial world.

Junaid Bhatti, who was involved with the setup of the IBB, told CNN: "Government is a firm supporter of the industry down to amending legislation to create a level playing field for Islamic banking."

The British sector is currently experiencing phenomenal growth of around 20 percent per year compared with global growth of around 15 percent. Industry insiders feel there is still scope for continued growth.

Aktar Ahmed of Lloyds TSB Islamic finance told CNN: "Islamic finance is still in its infancy at the moment. We're seeing a fantastic rate of growth both globally and here in the UK."

Lloyds TSB now offers Sharia-compliant banking at all of its 2,000 UK branches. Services include an Islamic current account, mortgage and child trust fund.

Islamic mortgages have proved particularly successful in Britain, with the market growing from barely a trickle in 2003 to a value of $1.7 billion in 2007.

But Islamic banking in the United States is suffering from an image problem. Many Americans are felt to be hostile to the concept after the 9/11 attacks, equating it with "terrorist finance."

"There seems to be this misperception out there that the U.S. is perhaps Islamophobic," said Abdi Shayesteh, an attorney at law firm King and Spalding, which has had a practice dedicated to Islamic banking and finance since the 1980s.

"The U.S. regulators have been supportive and they've accommodated Islamic banking and finance since the mid 80s," Shayesteh told CNN.

With a best-guess figure of six million Muslims in the United States of whom around 60 percent are devout (and therefore likely to use Islamic banking services), Shayesteh considers domestic Sharia-compliant banking an untapped market.

"We have at least 3.6 million [potential customers] at the very base level market opportunity for banks from abroad and here to tap into," he explained.

Even so, with constitutional limits on promoting any one religion over another, which keeps legislators quiet about the opportunities, and no sign that any major American banks will be rolling out Islamic products, the market remains unexploited for now.

U.S. banks "missing a trick" with Muslim customers

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

I guess that I'm pretty naive about many things on the Internet. I've heard of Facebook, but I really don't know what it is. I haven't had a reason to find out about it, but one of the recent articles here indicates I don't need to know anything else about it. For me, the same is true of YouTube and other like places where anything goes. They have it fixed on some of those places where shocking images and text will go across your screen for just about any subject. That means that anything good there isn't really worth putting up with all of the filth.

Brother Bob, you mentioned GodTube recently, and I'm glad that you did. There might be some inappropriate things there, but I didn't see anything bad during my first visits. In fact, it was quite beautiful what I saw, read, and listened to. It's encouraging to know there are still some decent sites on the Internet that are safe for Christian family use. This is one of the things I enjoy so much about Christians Unite. Things are clean, safe, and decent here for Christian families to use.

As Christians, we should all know that the devil is using the Internet with great success. However, many Christians are also using the Internet to distribute the Gospel of the Grace of GOD and good Christian materials. There are also many sites suitable for Christians to use in the area of education. It wouldn't surprise me if the day comes when Christian materials won't be welcome in many parts of the world on the Internet. BUT NOW, we can still reach hosts of people with the GOOD NEWS! I'm happy that many Christians are doing just that while we still can.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[Shammu]

Brother Bob, you mentioned GodTube recently, and I'm glad that you did. There might be some inappropriate things there, but I didn't see anything bad during my first visits. In fact, it was quite beautiful what I saw, read, and listened to. It's encouraging to know there are still some decent sites on the Internet that are safe for Christian family use. This is one of the things I enjoy so much about Christians Unite. Things are clean, safe, and decent here for Christian families to use.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

Brother, so far I've never seen anything bad on GodTube. Course I've never looked in detail, but GodTube is set up for Christians by Christians.

[nChrist]

Jihad Against West is Well-Entrenched, Author Says
Josiah Ryan

(CNSNews.com) - Radical Muslims engaged in holy war -- jihadis -- are waging a worldwide campaign to advance their goals, particularly in moderate Arab states, in Russia, and in the liberal democracies of the West, according to Walid Phares, author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad."

Phares, in a recent lecture at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the jihadis' international campaign should not be seen as a hodgepodge reaction to Western foreign policy but as a structured and well-organized movement.

For instance, Phares said that extremist Muslims have successfully engaged in the war of ideas and penetrated the educational and policy centers of Western democracies.

"Jihadis have inserted into the Western education system tens of millions of dollars in campuses, think tanks, and beyond," said Phares. "That has created a systemic change that created one or two generations of analysts and experts who impact decision-makers who did not see the threat coming because they were under the influence of the money."

Islamic scholar Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, founder and president of the libertarian think tank Minaret of Freedom, said Phares's notion of a highly organized, structured campaign to penetrate the policy processes of free countries is not accurate. The radical Islamist movement, in Ahmad's view, is scattered and is motivated by Western foreign policies that are perceived as meddling in Islamic affairs.

"I am not aware of any evidence to support" the Phares's claims, said Ahmad. "If he means there are people with extreme views in American think tanks and colleges, then, of course, that's true. But a suggestion that there is some sort of conspiracy to affect American policy is silly."

The problem is foreign policy and dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, said Ahmad. "Violent extremism in Islam is absolutely a reaction to American foreign policy and intervention from other powers like France," he said. "Radical Islam has become a problem for the world because it has been nurtured by the existence of occupations and foreign meddling."

Phares told Cybercast News Service it would be a mistake to view the jihad movement as a random or disorganized response to the West's foreign policies.
"We are not dealing with a mere reaction to foreign policy," he said. "It cannot be defined as such. The global jihad movement has a doctrine and world vision."

"It is sui generis, born of a vision," said Phares. "This is absolutely clear if you can see it. You have to see it. Though we don't see clearly the nervous system of the Muslim brotherhood or Al Qaeda, for example, we do see the organization in their network. We see the organization even though we don't see the actual center."

Ahmed agreed that jihadis communicate with each other and do so effectively. "But my knowledge is that it is a network rather than an organization," he said. "I think people who have done detailed studies support this idea."

In addition to being an author, Phares is a senior fellow and a director of the Future Terrorism Department at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, teaches at the National Defense University.
_______________________________________

[nChrist]

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Leading Christian calls for ban on building mosques in Britain
Synod member Alison Ruoff tells Premier Radio No More Mosques in the UK

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- According to research by London's Premier Christian Radio, there are currently around 1,600 mosques registered in the UK, and approximately 47,000 Christian churches.

Now a member of the Bishop of London' s diocesan council and General Synod, Alison Ruoff has called for a ban on building mosques in the UK, live on Premier Christian Radio.

The former Magistrate wants Muslim nations to stop persecuting Christians and insists that the UK should not build any more mosques until this happens.

"We are constantly building new mosques, which are paid for by the money that comes from the oil states," Ruoff told Premier Christian Radio.

"We have only in this country as far as we know, 3.5-4 million Muslims. There are enough mosques for Muslims in this country, they don't need anymore."

In the same week, up to 350 Christian churches in London say that they are expanding rapidly and are having their growth restricted by planning regulations.

Ruoff is concerned about the impact of more mosques. She said,"We don't need to have sharia law which would come with more mosques imposed upon our nation, if we don't watch out, that would happen. If we want to become an Islamic state this is the way to go."

"You build a mosque and then what happens? You have Muslim people moving into that area, all the shops will then become Islamic, all the housing will then become Islamic and as the Bishop of Rochester has so wisely pointed out, that will be a no go area for anyone else. They will bring in Islamic law. We cannot allow that to happen.

"We are still a Christian country, we need to hold on to that. If we don't watch out, we will become an Islamic state, it's that serious."

When asked by Premier Christian Radio if her opinions were too radical, she replied, "I hope it is radical, we need radical thinking."
_______________________________

[Soldier4Christ]

Main street parade to honor Muhammad
Binghamton, N.Y., grants permit for Milad-un-Nabi event

Muslim leaders at an encampment at the Catskill Mountains called "Islamberg" have been granted a permit by the city of Binghamton, N.Y., to hold a parade on Saturday in honor of Muhammad's birthday.

The holiday is called Milad-un-Nabi and is being celebrated by a group of families who live at the nearby property owned by Muslims of the Americas, Inc.

The city has the parade scheduled on its calendar from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown area, including its main street, and a report in the local Press & Sun-Bulletin said the celebration previously held on the group's own property this year is being expanded.

"We're trying to do an interfaith thing, we're reach out to the community to do a program based on unity," Maryam Rahim, a spokeswoman, told the newspaper. "We haven't been very well known …. We want everyone to come out and celebrate, may ask questions."

City spokesman Andrew Block said the group secured the appropriate permits to hold the celebration and the city will close down one lane of the downtown's main street for the parade.

Other events will be held in front of the old Broome County courthouse, officials said.

Rahim told the paper some Muslims claim the celebration is not important, but others classify it alongside Eid-ul-Fitr, the celebration that concludes the month of Ramadan for Muslims.

The newspaper said Muslims of the Americas was formed in the 1980s when several families migrated from New York City to make a new start. There now is a mosque and a private school on the land.

However, there are others who describe the location as a training facility for the Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra.

As WND reported earlier, a covert visit to the encampment found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities. The visit was conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an report.

The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said in the report compiled only two years ago they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

"Try to walk down the street where their community (Islamberg) is and you will be greeted by a man armed with a rifle. I have witnessed this on more than one occasion (even prior to 9/11) on Roods Creek Rd. when passing by slowly as I headed out to the Cannonsville reservoir," said a nearby resident who also asked for anonymity.

Fox News earlier reported that the compound has remained shrouded in mystery and fear, partly because it sits near the huge reservoir system that provides New York City with most of its drinking water.

The report said New York State police authorities confirmed they've had the group on file for years.

The compound is on 70 acres of remote land and residents have expressed concern for the gunshots they hear.

"They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops," said one neighbor.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra itself openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.

An investigation of the group by the Colorado Attorney General's office in the early 1980s found several of the communities operate covert paramilitary training compounds, including one in a mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colo.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.

U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. Throughout the 1980s, JF was responsible for a number of terrorist acts across the United States, including numerous fire-bombings.

Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources have determined Pearl was attempting to meet with Gilani in the days before he disappeared in Karachi. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous "shoe bomber" who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.

[nChrist]

'Plotters made martyrdom videos'

Several men accused of plotting to blow up passenger planes mid-air as they crossed the Atlantic made Islamic martyrdom videos, a court has heard.

Six of the eight men recorded videos justifying "revenge" attacks on non-Muslims, jurors were told.

They also researched other UK targets, including London's Canary Wharf, and contemplated taking wives and children on suicide missions, prosecutors said.

All eight men deny conspiring to murder and endangering aircraft in 2006.

Their arrests in August that year led to a ban on passengers carrying most liquids on board aircraft.

The jury at Woolwich Crown Court was played or read extracts from a number of alleged suicide videos, in which men were seen speaking in front of a black flag featuring Arabic writing.

One man, said to be defendant Umar Islam, described his plans as "revenge" for the actions of the United States and its "accomplices such as the British and the Jews".

He warned: "Martyrdom operations upon martyrdom operations will keep on raining on these kuffars [non-believers] until they release us and leave our lands."

He went on to argue British citizens were legitimate targets because they had paid taxes that funded the Army.

   
EIGHT ACCUSED MEN
TOP ROW OF PICTURE (L-R):
Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27
Assad Sarwar, 24
Tanvir Hussain, 27
Mohammed Gulzar, 26
BOTTOM ROW (L-R):
Ibrahim Savant, 27
Arafat Waheed Khan, 26
Waheed Zaman, 23
Umar Islam, 29

"Most of you are too busy watching Home and Away and EastEnders, complaining about the World Cup and drinking alcohol, too busy to care. I know because I come from that," he said.

Another man, described as defendant Abdulla Ahmed Ali, was heard saying: "Sheikh Osama [Bin Laden] has warned you many times to leave our lands or you will be destroyed, and now the time has come for you to be destroyed."

The man, who described himself as the leader of the group, also warned of "floods of martyr operations" against non-Muslims which would scatter "the people and your body parts and your people's body parts" which would be "decorating the streets".

A man in another recording, which the prosecution claims is Waheed Zaman, a former student who studied biomedical sciences, denied being "brainwashed" and warned: "Remember as you kill us, you will be killed. As you bomb us, you will be bombed."

And in what the jury was told was Tanvir Hussain's suicide video, a man said he wished he could "come back and do this again, and just do it again and again until people come to their senses and realise, you know, don't mess with the Muslims".

'Liquid bombs'

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the recordings "were significant" because they showed the men "contemplated losing their lives in some violent act", which would be a "perceived act of martyrdom in the name of Islam".

"We suggest the tenor of these remarks leaves little room for any degree of ambiguity," he added.

   
ALLEGED SUICIDE VIDEOS
Martyrdom operations upon martyrdom operations will keep on raining on these kuffars [non-believers] until they release us and leave our lands
Video recording of a man described as defendant Umar Islam

The eight men are accused of plotting to use home-made devices of liquid explosives, which would be smuggled on to aircraft and then used to blow up a number of transatlantic flights from London's Heathrow Airport.

At least seven aircraft flying to major cities across north America were the targets, the court has been told.

But the jury has also heard that computer memory sticks found at the High Wycombe home of Mr Sarwar revealed the alleged plotters also considered other UK targets.

Mr Wright said they included Canary Wharf, a gas pipeline running between Belgium and the UK, other UK airports, as well as companies that store and process hydrogen peroxide.

Another memory stick found in Mr Sarwar's garage contained information about power stations, internet service provider exchanges, oil refineries, the National Grid and UK airports, the jury was told.

'Women and children'

The court later heard how the alleged plotters stockpiled materials needed for their home-made liquid devices - including 18 litres of hydrogen peroxide, wires and syringes - which the prosecution claims they intended to smuggle on to aircraft disguised as 500ml soft drinks.

   Such a sacrifice is beyond contemplation for those who are the targets but not those who participate in activities such as this
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting

Prosecutors also claim police bugging devices at a "bomb factory" in Forest Road, Walthamstow, during July and August 2006 revealed how some of the men considered taking their wives and children on the alleged mission.

The court was told that Mr Ali was overheard speaking about a train bombing and that a "brother" had "wanted to take his kid on the train with him - shake them up".

Mr Wright told the jury Mr Ali was also overheard considering taking his child but said his wife "would not agree to it" and that Mr Islam was heard saying his wife may join the plot if it was a "significant operation".

"Such a sacrifice is beyond contemplation for those who are the targets but not those who participate in activities such as this," Mr Wright said.

The defendants are Abdulla Ahmed Ali, aka Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, Assad Sarwar, 24, of High Wycombe, Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Leyton, east London, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking. Also charged, are Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Stoke Newington, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Walthamstow, Waheed Zaman, 23, of Walthamstow, and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, of Plaistow, east London.

THE ALLEGED TARGETS
1. 1415 UA931 LHR-SAN FRANCISCO (United Airlines)
2. 1500 AC849 LHR-TORONTO (Air Canada)
3. 1515 AC865 LHR-MONTREAL (Air Canada)
4. 1540 UA959 LHR-CHICAGO (United)
5. 1620 UA925 LHR-WASHINGTON
6. 1635 AA131 LHR-NEW YORK (American Airlines)
7. 1650 AA91 LHR-CHICAGO (American)
___________________________________________

[Shammu]

Main street parade to honor Muhammad
Binghamton, N.Y., grants permit for Milad-un-Nabi event

Muslim leaders at an encampment at the Catskill Mountains called "Islamberg" have been granted a permit by the city of Binghamton, N.Y., to hold a parade on Saturday in honor of Muhammad's birthday.

Celebrate a bunch of killers?? Some how I don't think so!!