Islam In The United States

[Soldier4Christ]

Developer who vowed to follow Muslim law may face bankruptcy

Investors who put money into a local real estate development company that promised to deliver returns compliant with Muslim religious rules have asked a court to force the company into bankruptcy.

The company, Sunrise Equities, recruited hundreds of Muslims, mostly from India, seeking Sharia-compliant investments, according to Salman Azam, an attorney who filed a petition in federal court Friday.

Sunrise used the money to build condos, including three buildings at 2140-52 W. Devon, and unfinished buildings at 24 S. Morgan and 2223 W. Madison. Sunrise also acquired land for a proposed 179-unit Lucien LaGrange-designed complex in the 4700 block of North Clarendon. The company does not answer its phones, and CEO Salman Ibrahim has not been seen since July, Azam said.

Sunrise marketed its investments as compliant with Sharia law, which bars the collection of interest. "They targeted very religious people who probably had a lot of cash on hand, and they got local religious clerics to go along," Azam said. "Now many of them stand to lose their homes and life savings."

[Soldier4Christ]

Religion of Food Stamp/Bridge Card Fraud

By Debbie Schlussel

Yesterday, Michigan State Police and federal Department of Agriculture agents raided several gas stations, party stores, and homes--20 locations in all--and arrested 20 people for Bridge Card (food stamp) fraud. Ann of the great site, Refugee Resettlement Watch, asked me about their identities, since the media won't report it.

All of those arrested were Shi'ite Arab Muslims, but of course neither that and nor the arrestees' names were mentioned in any media coverage. Gee, I wonder why.

They were illegally paying Bridge Card holders cents on the dollar for Bridge Cards, then cashing them in for the full value, without any legitimate food sales.

As I noted back in February, a very similar series of raids over Bridge Card fraud happened then. And no media would name the arrestees, all of whom were Shi'ite Muslim Arabs. Michigan State Police Lt. Marty Bugbee--who headed up this investigation and the one in February--cited Hezbollah and said he believed the money from the fraud was going there, back during the February raids.

But, as I noted, politically correct Detroit Free Press editors Theresa Mask and Ritu Sehgal edited out a Freep reporter Dan Cortez's paragraph mentioning the Hezbollah connection.

The same is happening here in Channel 7/WXYZ-TV reporter Kimberly Craig's report. A complete PC-whitewashing of who is behind the Bridge Card/food stamp fraud: Muslims who support and fund Hezbollah.

[Soldier4Christ]

Washington Post Reporter Puts Target on Prosecutor's Back

Many have chronicled the odd relationship between the Western media and the forces of radical Islam, perhaps the starkest incident being the refusal of almost the entire mainstream media to publish the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, even as a wake of destruction and series of violent threats were unleashed by religiously motivated mobs as a result.

While fear of threats and reprisals were clearly a motivating factor in that case, there are other instances where the motivation is slightly harder to divine. A recent case in point is Washington Post reporter Jerry Markon. In an article titled "Relentless Terrorism Prosecutor Faces Accusations of His Own," Markon has carelessly bought in to an Islamist propaganda campaign against one of America's finest and bravest prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Markon trots out the complaints of a convicted terrorist operative and a coterie of his defense lawyers that Kromberg's actions are somehow driven by religious bias rather than a desire - and a duty - to hold criminals accountable for their actions. The result of Markon's "reporting" is to put a target on Kromberg's back and to scare off government lawyers from taking similar cases targeting criminal radical Islamists - lest reporters from major newspapers accuse them of religious bigotry and stymie future career prospects or higher government appointments.

Success breeds contempt, and Kromberg's track record, which includes not just locking up Islamic terrorists, but other major criminals like FBI spy Robert Hanssen and United Way CEO William Aramony, speaks for itself. But let's look at Markon's vacuous treatment of one of the terrorism prosecutions:

    "Kromberg's highest-profile case since joining the office's new terrorism unit after Sept. 11 was what prosecutors called the 'Virginia jihad network,' 11 Muslim men convicted on such charges as preparing for holy war by, among other things, playing paintball. Justice officials hailed it as a classic post-Sept. 11 case of prevention, but civil libertarians and some Muslims said it targeted Muslim men."

Markon's fixation on the paintball aspect is nothing more than an attempt to belittle the significance of what happened. Of the 11 defendants, six pled guilty and three were found guilty of terrorist related charges. Most had, in addition to, yes, training in Northern Virginia with paintball guns, also trained at Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) camps in Pakistan for the purpose of joining the Taliban to fight against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. LeT was designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist group in 2001 after its violent takeover of the Indian parliament.

The spiritual leader of these men, Ali al-Timimi, was convicted of "soliciting others to wage war against the United States; counseling others to engage in a conspiracy to levy war against the United States; attempting to aid the Taliban, counseling others to attempt to aid the Taliban; counseling others to violate the Neutrality Act, and counseling others to use firearms and explosives in furtherance of crimes of violence" and was sentenced to life in prison.

In grand jury testimony for a related case given by former Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) employee Randall "Ismail" Royer, himself serving a 20+ year sentence for his part in the conspiracy, Royer described the goal of his cell: to fight the United States directly in Afghanistan on behalf of the Taliban.

Five days after the 9/11 attacks, Royer and members of the cell attended a meeting with al-Timimi, to discuss al-Timimi's "view of the September 11th attacks and what the response of Muslims in the United States should be now."

Royer testified that al-Timimi instructed the group "it was a positive thing for Muslims to go and help the Taliban defend against U.S. invasion" and stated, "in pretty clear terms that, that it would be beneficial for us to go and help them – help the Taliban." Royer then testified to his own actions, "Well, what I said was that if anyone wanted to, to join mujahedin (sic) then they should get training first, and if they wanted to so they, they could obtain it from Lashkar-e-Taiba, an organization based in Kashmir with whom I had contact."

Just nothing more than a couple of guys shooting paintball guns in the Northern Virginia countryside, targeted by the U.S. government because they happened to be Muslim, right?

But Markon, not to be deterred by obvious facts, trots out yet another trope from the Al-Arian camp that they claim demonstrates bigotry:

    "Kromberg sought Arian's testimony in the Islamic charities probe and refused to delay his appearance until after the Muslim holiday of Ramadan because, he said, that would aid the "Islamization" of the courts, according to an affidavit filed by one of Arian's attorneys, Jack Fernandez.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

    "They can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury. All they can't do is eat before sunset," Kromberg said in the 2006 conversation, according to the affidavit."

Regardless of whether this is what Kromberg said, the substance of the comment happens to be true, as many headlines attest. Here are just a few examples found in less than a matter of minutes in a single Google search: AP: U.S. general: More violence during Ramadan, Military expects increased attacks in Iraq during Muslim holy month; BBC: Algeria violence escalates during Ramadan; AP: Somali insurgents vow more attacks during Ramadan; CNN: Baghdad bomb kills scores as they shop for Ramadan, etc…

And virtually every year brings a State Department warning for Americans abroad to be careful that there could be a spike in violence during Ramadan.

However, the perception that radical Islamists are somehow extra peaceful during the holy month of Ramadan strangely persists in certain quarters, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Wednesday's New York Times article on the deadly terrorist attack against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen which killed 16 people (including 6 terrorists) included the line:

    "The attack was especially shocking to many Yemenis because it came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan."

While the Times, the "many" unquoted Yemenis and Jack Fernandez might be astonished to hear of a terrorist attack happening during Ramadan, most people even casually aware with the news are not.

The point is completely irrelevant because whether during Ramadan or not, Al-Arian has refused to testify despite a series of orders compelling his testimony. And it's not the first time someone with clear ties to terrorists has tried to stymie federal investigators by claiming he somehow shouldn't have to answer grand jury questions.

Sabri Benkahla, acquitted in the Virginia Jihad case, was subpoenaed to tell the grand jury what he knew about the training camps he attended. He claimed Kromberg was trying to exact new punishment after Benkahla was found not guilty. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals laughed that argument out of court:

    "t is worth observing that the investigations in which Benkahla was interviewed and the questions he was asked show no sign of having been manufactured for the sake of a second prosecution. Given the character of the first court's acquittal, the government had every right to think Benkahla had attended a jihadist training camp somewhere.

    It was legitimate to ask Benkahla, even post-acquittal, about his jihadist training in Pakistan or Afghanistan, and it was legitimate to prosecute him when he spoke falsely about it."

That's exactly where Al-Arian finds himself today. One of the many important points not mentioned in Markon's article - and this is similarly absent in all attempts at defending Al-Arian - is his violent and jihadist nature, something that has nothing to do with the vast majority of Muslims.

In 1990, Al-Arian met behind closed doors with a group of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) officials and supporters:

    "Truly, until now the Islamic movement's position toward America has been a weak one, the least to say is that it has been weak; it is not straightforward and does not express the magnitude of the American administration's continuing enmity toward Islam, and the Islamic activity. This cannot be accomplished without setting the example, without true armed Jihad against the enemy in Israel; also with the creation of a true Jihad, possibly non-violent, to change the circumstances in the Arabic and Islamic countries through the fronts." (emphasis added)

So a "true armed Jihad" against Israel and a possibly a non-violent Jihad against Arabic and Muslim countries? At least he's open to the possibility of non-violence in some part of the world.

And that's not the only example of Al-Arian supporting religious violence. In February of 1995, after President Clinton signed an order designating the PIJ as a terrorist group as a result of a horrific terrorist attack the organization had just pulled off, Al-Arian penned a fundraising letter to a wealthy Kuwaiti:

    "The latest operation, carried out by the two mujahideen who were martyred for the sake of God, is the best guide and witness to what the believing few can do in the face of Arab and Islamic collapse at the heels of the Zionist enemy and in keeping the flame of faith, steadfastness, and defiance glowing.

    […]

    I call upon you to try to extend true support of the jihad effort in Palestine so that operations such as these can continue."

Of course Markon mentions none of this. Clearly Al-Arian is nothing more than a "vocal supporter of Palestinian rights" who has been "persecuted for his beliefs" – and now hounded by a "relentless" prosecutor - or so his defenders routinely and repeatedly state, often to an uncritical media, of which Jerry Markon and the Washington Post are only the latest example.

Strangely enough, Al-Arian's ultimate downfall came, in part, from lying to a member of the media, Jim Harper of the St. Petersburg Times. But reporters continue to give him cover.

And remember, this latest battle is about getting a convicted (and avowed!) terrorist supporter to testify in a grand jury investigating the terror ties of a Muslim Brotherhood-linked think tank in Northern Virginia.

If the Department of Justice is not going to compel truthful testimony in a terrorism case, where should it draw the line? Should accomplices and witnesses simply bide their time and wait for the government's patience to wear out and political pressure to build? That has been Al-Arian's end game, and he is keenly aware that he's got plenty of help in certain quarters.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

After a series of charges leveled at Kromberg's alleged bias, Markon reports that "[t]hrough a spokesman, Kromberg declined to comment." Of course, in his official capacity, Kromberg cannot respond. However, his reasoning in these cases is in the public record, if only reporters took the time to look. In a government filing from August of this year challenging Al-Arian's specious charges of religious bias, prosecutors wrote:

    "As a result of their shared espousal of violence to further their vision of Islam, Al-Timimi and Al-Arian are representative of one type of Muslim, but there are many types of Muslims in America and around the world. Many Muslims - - indeed, many types of Muslims - - reject the pernicious ideology espoused by Al-Timimi and Al-Arian, and reject their claims to be representative of Muslims generally. Muslims and people of all religions (as well as people of no religion) who reject the use of violence to further their vision of their faith (or lack thereof) deserve to be supported rather than overlooked or ignored simply because individuals whose ideology they reject claim to represent them. Neither Al-Timimi nor Al-Arian represents Muslims generally, and their claims to the contrary should not be accepted merely because they are loudly made.

    At the end of the day, we prosecute individuals on the basis of their actions, and not on the basis of their religion."

The violent positions of both Al-Arian and Al-Timimi were documented above. And the claim made by Al-Arian and his supporters that prosecuting him is somehow "anti-Muslim" actually tars all Muslims with Al-Arian's vile views, which is the only bigotry at play here.

Markon then dramatically tells his readers:

    "The tensions surrounding Kromberg burst into public view during the Aug. 8 hearing for Arian, who is charged with refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating whether Islamic charities in Northern Virginia were financing terrorists. The prosecutor arose in the crowded courtroom, accused his critics of 'venomous, hateful, anti-Semitic attacks' and cited a rally in the District last month at which a former U.S. senator from Alaska told Arian supporters to 'find out where [Kromberg] lives.'

    'Find out where his kids go to school. Find out where his office is. Picket him . . . call him a racist,' said Mike Gravel, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president this year, according to an audiotape.

But Markon, naturally, fails to chronicle the nature and the circumstances surrounding those anti-Semitic attacks. They appeared on the blog of Al-Arian defense attorney, Jonathan Turley. Here is one example:

    "The government should know that when they appoint Zionist Jews that this kind of thing will happen. Or maybe that's why the appoint Zionist Jews. Bush had more of them around then even Clinton. Why not appoint KKK members to oversee programs for black youths or rapist ex-cons to staff shelters for battered women?"

As a result of this and other similar comments, the presiding judge chided Turley, who pledged to refrain from posting entries about the Al-Arian trial, something not mentioned in Markon's article. Markon's hit piece then takes a detour and he goes after Kromberg for something having nothing to do with radical Islam. Markon writes:

    "[Kromberg] highlighted his approach during a 1999 speech at the Cato Institute in Washington, saying the government should seek the assets of drug dealers even if they are not charged. 'Does that mean you should just walk away and let the activity continue? . . . Not if you want to punish the defendant in some way short of prosecuting him,' he said, according to a videotape.

    During the 1990s, Kromberg helped the government seize fees defense attorneys had received from drug dealers, an uncommon tactic that led to denunciations from defense lawyers nationwide."

Asset forfeitures are an accepted part of federal law enforcement, and punishing criminals short of prosecuting them is done every day, not just by the government, either. If Markon doesn't think so, he should talk to O.J. Simpson, who owes the Goldman family $33 million after being held civilly responsible for the murder of Ron Goldman, despite being acquitted, under a standard of reasonable doubt, in the criminal case.

Apparently, Markon is trying to make a false parallel between asset forfeitures and Al-Arian's continued legal woes, when there are none. One thing that may be at play here is that former Al-Arian attorney, William Moffitt, was himself a victim of Kromberg's prosecutorial skills. Markon writes, "During the 1990s, Kromberg helped the government seize fees defense attorneys had received from drug dealers, an uncommon tactic that led to denunciations from defense lawyers nationwide. William Moffitt, who lost one of those cases, called Kromberg ‘a very good prosecutor and a very smart man.'" Markon then quotes Moffitt as saying Kromberg "clearly has a bias. Some of his statements indicate that he's stepped over the line with regard to Muslims."

That's not at all clear, actually, but what is clear is that Moffitt has an axe to grind. After losing the initial case, Moffitt's firm appealed the decision, losing again. According to the 4th Circuit ruling, the law firm claimed prosecutors acted inappropriately, an assertion dismissed out of hand. Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote that the case did expose troubling conduct of a different kind:

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

    "Moffitt, Zwerling has sought throughout this litigation to focus attention on the government's conduct …. Neither prosecutorial misconduct nor an infringement of the constitutional right to counsel, however, is at issue in this litigation. What this lawsuit has brought to light is troubling conduct of a different kind. The law firm in this case was dealing with a client who already had most of his assets seized as the result of a major drug trafficking investigation. The firm accepted an immense cash payment from the client composed largely of $100 bills and stuffed into a shoe box or a Ritz cracker box. And the firm complied with its client's request not to provide a receipt for fear, the client said, it would fall into the hands of law enforcement authorities."

Again, nothing in the Post story on that. While Markon is long on conjecture, he is short on facts. His article makes no mention that, despite the efforts of Al-Arian's lawyers, he has been compelled to testify by both the 4th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal. Markon also ignores that it is a basic duty of American citizenship to testify before a grand jury. While Al-Arian is not a citizen, he is a long time resident and his supporters often describe him, and his "cause," as quintessentially American.

At his sentencing, the trial judge said of Al-Arian:

    "You are a master manipulator. You looked your neighbors in the eyes and said you had nothing to do with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This trial exposed that as a lie. Your back-up claim is that your efforts were only to provide charities for widows and orphans. That, too, is a lie. The evidence was clear in this case that you were a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. You were on the board of directors and an officer, the secretary. Directors control the actions of an organization, even the PIJ; and you were an active leader.

    […]

    And yet, still in the face of your own words, you continue to lie to your friends and supporters, claiming to abhor violence and to seek only aid for widows and orphans. Your only connection to widows and orphans is that you create them, even among the Palestinians; and you create them, not by sending your children to blow themselves out of existence. No. You exhort others to send their children."

The judge was privy to all the evidence in the trial, in which he excluded much from the jury, including a video in which Al-Arian is damning America, because the judge considered it too prejudicial. Despite those rulings, Al-Arian's supporters continue to the claim that the judge, too, is biased, and that Al-Arian is a paragon of American virtues, not too different from our founding fathers.

Al-Arian's own attorney during the closing arguments admitted his client was "affiliated with the cultural, charitable arm of the PIJ, and he lied to the media about it," and that he had high level contacts with PIJ leadership. Here is Al-Arian's attorney explaining why Al-Arian was forced to lie [see page 34] about his ties to a terrorist group:

    "Ask yourself now, what would you do if you were asked, you see? Because once Sami was asked and once he admitted that he had a relationship with the PIJ, the story was never going to be about the abuse of people in Palestine; the story was going to change."

Al-Arian's involvement in PIJ is not in dispute, yet the disinformation campaign surrounding him completely ignores these facts and, instead, pushes the ridiculous line that he is merely being targeted because of his religion, which Markon mindlessly parrots.

While Markon does quote one defender of Kromberg, he cites many more of his detractors, including legal ethics "expert" Stephen Gillers, who calls Kromberg a "loose cannon" and states, "(i)f I were the Justice Department, I wouldn't want him on the front lines of these highly visible, highly contentious prosecutions."

What is that opinion based on? Certainly not courtroom exposure. Gillers' biography indicates he practiced law for nine years before joining the NYU faculty in 1978. And as a legal ethicist, he is arguing that a federal prosecutor, who consistently assembles evidence that convinces judges and juries of a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and whose behavior and actions are consistently upheld upon appellate review, somehow is not someone the country wants on the front lines of difficult cases.

How does Gillers, or any Kromberg critic, reconcile the description of a "loose cannon" with such an impressive court record? If there was any semblance of truth to the smear campaign, they'd have sanctions or court orders to point to. They don't.

While Markon digs up multiple people to support Turley and his client, he fails to mention that not all Muslims are supportive of the likes of Al-Arian and Al-Timimi, when a quote from someone who happens to be Muslim but doesn't feel that Al-Arian is somehow a victim of religious persecution would be fairly easy to come by – but it just doesn't sell or bolster Al-Arian's victim status.

In a post titled, "Do the Right Thing, Right Here, Right Now," from April 2008, African-American Muslim blogger Abdur Rahman Muhammad writes:

    "Our religion teaches us to be upright, honest, and most importantly, just. It also teaches us that Muslims are not angels, and can at times even be susceptible to criminality. So yes, Muslims will be found committing murder, slander, theft, fornication and adultery, drug and alcohol abuse, and - in today's world - terrorism, and did so even in the time of the Prophet."

And:

    "I was sent the public records of the Al-Arian trial and I feel it my duty to tell the Muslims that they are blindly defending someone who admitted to helping terrorists. This is why I implore all of those who are going around defending this man to read the public records."

That's pretty good advice for Markon and his editors at the Washington Post, as well. Instead, Markon has only succeeded in making this country less safe by discouraging both terrorism prosecutions and frightening off talented prosecutors from taking on high profile cases, knowing they might one day be a target of an Islamist disinformation campaign spurred on by an unwitting media.

[Soldier4Christ]

Diversity In The Girl Scouts

One in every 10 American girls is a girl scout , about 2.6 million girls. The number has remained pretty steady for decades, but in the last few years it has been Hispanic, Asian and ''immigrant'' girls who have accounted for the organization growth.

''On my honor, I will try to serve allah and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.'  A promise American girls have made for almost a century - with a new twist.

This is Girl Scout troop 12119 in Minneapolis. Recently, the Girl Scout council here looked at dwindling numbers and reached out to minorities for new members. Now almost 300 Muslim girls are in 10 mostly muslim troops in the city.

Sara Mustabshira's family moved here from India 12 years ago. She goes to a private muslim school where she joined the girl scouts. Her mother says scouting has helped the fifth-grader bridge two worlds - islam and America.

Sara says, ''Before I was shy to talk with other people and now I talk with other people.''  And, about feeling comfortable in her American skin under traditional Muslim dress.  Sara says, ''Sometimes when I go to public places and I'm wearing my hijab and people are staring at me.''

Historian Susan Miller says scouting has always been a way for immigrants in America to assimilate.  Miller says, ''We think about the Girl Scouts sometimes as a traditional organization, as very much a part of the American culture, and they were, and they were a part of that culture because they did from the beginning include just about everyone.''

Sometimes that means tweaking old traditions, in Minneapolis, the s'mores are the genuine article, but the hot dogs are made according to islamic dietary law.

Susan Miller says, '' These girls can wear the Girl Scout sash and they can wear the hijab at the same time. This is not a contradiction.''

All of which makes these girls feel right at home.

[Soldier4Christ]

Sheikh Mubarak Gilani Forms
Terrorist Compounds Inside United States

 In one of the most callous displays of indecency toward the victims of 9/11, Charlotte County, Virginia has a road sign named after an international terrorist, called “Sheikh Gilani Lane.”

Charlotte County is a rural farming community in Central Virginia near the North Carolina border.  It is peppered with hills, trees and farmland and populated by some of the most patriotic citizens in the country.

Furthermore, Charlotte County can proudly say that it is the home of one of America’s most beloved founding fathers, Patrick Henry, who is best remembered for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.

Now, regrettably, Charlotte County is also known for being the first community in the United States that has a road sign named after an international terrorist.

Sheikh Mubarak Gilani is not a household name.  But he is well known by the media, law enforcement officials and counterterrorism experts.  His terrorist organization, called Jamaat al-Fuqra (Community of the Poor) has been linked to 17 fire bombings and 10 assassinations in the United States alone.

Most famously, Sheikh Gilani rose to national attention in January 2002, when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and then beheaded while attempting to arrange an interview with the Pakistani cleric.

Daniel Pearl was following up on a lead that Richard Reid, the so-called “shoe bomber” who attempted to blow up American Airlines Flight 63, was an al-Fuqra operative who was trained by Sheikh Gilani.

Sheikh Gilani dismissed Daniel Pearl’s claims and countered Pearl was really a US intelligence operative who wanted to find him and then have him assassinated.  “Obviously, Daniel Pearl was to target me and then an assassination team would be sent to kill me,” Sheikh Gilani stated his “Pillar of Lies” autobiography.

Sheikh Gilani formed his al-Fuqra terror network in the early 80s after a visit to Brooklyn, New York.  The goal of his organization, according to the US State Department, was to “purify Islam through violence.”

Almost immediately upon his arrival, the Sheikh began recruiting African-American Muslims into his terrorist network.  Some were recruited off the streets, some out of mosques, while others were recruited from American prisons.  Most disturbingly, however, Sheikh Gilani recruited some of his followers out the United States military.

In a recruitment video, Sheikh Gilani made clear his goals:

“We have reached out and prepared [recruits] to defend themselves in a highly specialized training of guerrilla warfare...We are at present establishing training camps.”

The enemy included America.

“We are not fighting so that the enemy recognizes us and offers something.  We are fighting to destroy the enemy.  We are dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”

Sheikh Gilani even wrote poems to help inspire his troops to violent Jihad.  One poem was called, “We dhikr [pray] to the beat of a submachine gun.”  Another poem exhorted: “Come join my troops and army / says our Sheikh Gilani / Prepare to sacrifice your head / A true believer is never dead / Say ‘Victory is in the air’ / The kafir’s [infidel’s] blood will not be spared.”

With recruits in hand, Sheikh Gilani established two terror organizations in the United States.  One was called, “Muslims of America.”  The other, “International Open Quranic University.”

Through these two groups, Sheikh Gilani began purchasing property in mostly rural, wooded and mountainous communities in America.  According to a study funded by the Department of Justice, al-Fuqra has nearly two-dozen terrorist compounds inside the United States.

Sheikh Gilani, himself, claims to have between 10,000 and 15,000 followers in America with a presence in 22 states.

One of those compounds was called Trout Creek Pass and was located near Buena Vista, Colorado.  In 1989, Colorado police raided a storage locker rented by the disciples of Sheikh Gilani’s.  What they found was shocking.

Here is a partial list of the items:

Ten handguns and silencers

40 pounds of explosives

Target-practice silhouettes pierced with bullet holes

3 large pipe bombs, fused and ready to explode

A manual on “Guerilla Warfare”

AK 47s

6,000 rounds of ammo

Bomb-making instructions

Blank birth certificates and Social Security cards

Perhaps most alarming, Colorado law enforcement officials also found “Targeting Packets,” which were described as assassination papers on selected individuals.  One of those targeted individuals was a rival Muslim cleric in Tucson, Arizona, named Rashad Khalifa.

Days after discovering the four-page plan to murder the cleric, Khalifa was lying in a pool of blood, dead after being stabbed 17 times.  The assassination was a “carbon copy” of the handwritten plan found in the Colorado storage locker.

Two individuals would later be convicted in his murder, James D. Williams and Nicholas Edward Flinton.

Both were arrested years after the crime, in 1996.  Williams was arrested in Lynchburg, Va.  Flinton was arrested in South Carolina after hiding out for five years in a al-Fuqra camp in Meherrin, VA.  The Meherrin terrorist compound sits just 35 miles from the al-Fuqra camp in Red House, VA.

Al-Fuqra members recruited by Sheikh Gilani are trained in the nearly two-dozen terrorist compounds in America.  Those who are selected to live on the compounds agree to “abide by the law and discipline of Jamaat al-Fuqra.”

Recruits also agree to sign an oath stating: “I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah’s sake.”

The most loyal and faithful followers are then sent to Pakistan to more extensive training in guerilla warfare.

At a 2001 bond hearing for a Red House convict named Vicente Rafael Pierre, ATF Special Agent Thomas Gallagher told the court: “Individuals from the organization are trained in Hancock, N.Y., and if they pass the training in Hancock they are then sent to Pakistan for training in paramilitary and survivalist training by Mr. Gilani...We have information from an informant that one individual from Red House did further his training by going to Afghanistan.”

In a 2006 “Threat Assessment” report conducted by Canadian officials, the scope of recruitment by Sheikh Gilani is chilling:

“The Fuqra believe criminally oriented converts are ideal recruits as they are susceptible to rejecting Western values and adopting militant interpretations of Islam.  With this philosophy in mind, the Fuqra targets Afro-American converts with criminal backgrounds for recruitment.”

The current danger of Sheikh Gilani and his al-Fuqra camps have not gone unnoticed by American law enforcement officials either.

In a 2005 Department of Homeland Security report called the “Integrated Planning Guidance Report,” Homeland Security warned, “Other predicted possible sponsors of attacks include Jamaat al-Fuqra, a Pakistani-based group that has been linked to Muslims of America.”

In Charlotte County a Red House terrorist camp boldly boasts in a large, green entrance sign that it is a part of “Muslims of America.”  The very same organization the Department of Homeland Security has “predicted” will sponsor a terrorist attack upon America.

Near that audacious sign sits another sign...a road sign named “Sheikh Gilani Lane”...a known international terrorist...a road sign that can be found on the maps of Charlotte County and even on a vehicle’s GPS system.

This is not only an embarrassment to the citizens of Charlotte County it is a disgrace to the entire country and an insult to the victims of 9/11 and those fighting overseas in the war against terrorism.

Patrick Henry said, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death.”  The motto of Sheikh Gilani and his terror compounds is only, “Give me Death.”

This road sign must be removed.  Get involved.  Here are the addresses and phone numbers to the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors, the only political authorities who currently have the power to take this disgraceful sign down.

[Soldier4Christ]

Trial for Fort Dix Five begins tomorrow

It was paintball and jihad, Dunkin' Donuts and Osama bin Laden -- terrorism come to suburbia.

And if the plot had been carried out, prosecutors say, the bodies of U.S. Army personnel would have been strewn across the fields of the Fort Dix military base.

Jury selection begins tomorrow for the trial of five foreign-born Muslims from the Philadelphia area charged with planning a jihad-inspired attack on the South Jersey military complex.

The government's case is built primarily around secretly recorded conversations made by two cooperating witnesses who befriended the defendants. Those conversations, prosecutors say, detail "plans to attack Fort Dix and kill American soldiers" and include "discussions of the supposed justifications for such attacks rooted in radical jihadist ideology."

But defense attorneys contend their clients talked a bigger game than they intended to play, portraying them as easily manipulated individuals led into a plot by paid FBI informants who created a conspiracy out of hollow words and empty threats.

"Any conspiracy that plots death and destruction has to be taken seriously," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert who teaches at Georgetown University and who is following the trial of the so-called Fort Dix Five.

But Hoffman said that there are no stereotypical "homegrown" terrorists and that each case has to be evaluated on its own.

Challenging the credibility of informants and arguing entrapment have been common defense strategies used in other terrorist trials, he said.

Sometimes effectively, he added.

Those are the issues jurors will have to wrestle with during the trial, which is expected to last several weeks.

The first of an estimated 1,500 potential jurors will report to U.S. District Court in Camden tomorrow morning and begin filling out questionnaires designed to determine how much they know about the case and whether that knowledge or any other inherent beliefs or biases should preclude them from the jury.

Twelve jurors and six alternates will be chosen to determine the fate of the defendants, all in their mid- to late 20s, who face potential life sentences.

Opening arguments, before Judge Robert Kugler, are expected next month.

The Fort Dix trial is one of three major prosecutions of suspected terrorists under way, or soon to begin, across the country.

In Houston, the retrial of the leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based Muslim charitable organization charged with funneling $12 million to Palestinian terrorists, began this month. The first trial ended with a hung jury last year.

And in Miami, prosecutors are gearing up for a third try at convicting members of the so-called Liberty City 7, who were charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Building in Chicago and several federal offices in Florida. Two earlier trials ended with hung juries. In the first, one of the defendants was found not guilty.

Six suspects were originally charged in the Fort Dix case.

One, Agron Abdullahu, 25, a baker in a ShopRite store near Williamstown, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, admitting he had given weapons to three of the other defendants who were illegal immigrants. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

The five other defendants, charged with the more serious offense of plotting to kill soldiers, are brothers Dritan Duka, 29, Shain Duka, 27, and Eljvir Duka, 24; Mohamad Shnewer, 23; and Serdar Tatar, 24.

The Dukas and Shnewer are from Cherry Hill. Tatar is a former Cherry Hill resident who was living in Philadelphia when he and the others were arrested.

Shnewer, who was born in Jordan, is a U.S. citizen. Tatar, born in Turkey, is a legal resident immigrant. The Duka brothers, ethnic Albanians from what is now Macedonia, have been living in the country illegally since arriving as young children by way of Mexico in the late 1980s.

The Dukas were in the roofing business. Shnewer drove a taxi and worked in his family's food market in Pennsauken. Tatar was a clerk/manager of a 7-Eleven store. His father owned a pizzeria just outside the gates to Fort Dix.

Among other things, Tatar is accused of supplying a map of the base he got from his father's pizza shop. The conspirators planned to launch their attack from a pizza-delivery truck, authorities allege.

The arrests of the plotters in May 2007 capped a 16-month investigation that started after a worker at a Circuit City store in Mount Laurel contacted authorities about a "troubling" tape he was asked to copy onto a DVD for some customers.

The tape, which will be played at trial, shows the defendants at a shooting range in the Poconos firing guns, calling for jihad (a holy war or struggle), and shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

It will be one of several videos shown to the jurors. Others were made by FBI surveillance teams.

There will also be dozens of tapes recorded by two cooperating witnesses who befriended the defendants at the behest of the FBI.

Those informants, authorities allege, took part in "training sessions" that included paintball games in wooded areas and farms around South Jersey.

They also recorded conversations and were shown Islamic militant videotapes that promoted the ideals of al-Qaeda and bin Laden, investigators contend.

Several of those conversations took place at a Dunkin' Donuts near a Palmyra mosque where some of the defendants attended Friday prayer services.

After prayers, they would meet at the shop where they discussed politics, religion and, among other things, how to repair cars.

The defense is expected to argue their clients were young men blowing off steam and occasionally making ill-advised comments to government informants who were wearing body wires.

The prosecution and defense arguments in the case are similar to those made in other terrorism trials where wiretaps, electronic audio and video surveillance, and informants have been employed.

According to a study by the Center on Law and Security at New York University Law School, 62 terrorist suspects were convicted between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 11, 2007.

In most of those cases, as in the Fort Dix probe, there was no link between the defendants and any foreign terrorist organization.

In the Fort Dix case, however, prosecutors are expected to use taped conversations to support their argument that the defendants were aware of and often celebrated the radical Muslim philosophy that is at the heart of the terrorist movement.

They include potentially damaging quotes already cited in court papers in which:

Tatar tells one of the cooperating witnesses, "It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or taken away, it doesn't matter. Or I die, doesn't matter. I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

Shnewer says, "My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers."

Eljvir Duka explains, "When someone attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go to jihad."

Whether attacking the credibility and motivation of the cooperating witnesses will be enough to offset incriminating conversations by the defendants is one of the biggest challenges for the defense in the case, legal observers say.

One of the cooperators has a criminal record for bank fraud and was facing deportation to his native Egypt when he began working for the FBI.

Both cooperators were paid.

The exact amounts are expected to be made public during the trial, but defense attorneys have already estimated cash in excess of $50,000 changed hands.

The defense will argue that was another incentive for the witnesses to steer the alleged conspirators into a plot they never intended to carry out.

A similar argument appeared to resonate with some jurors in the Liberty City 7 case, which has ended twice with hung juries. Some defendants, in fact, testified they were trying to scam a cooperating witness out of $50,000 by claiming they needed it to finance planned attacks when, in fact, all they were doing was trying to get his money.

Hoffman, the terrorism expert from Georgetown, said that could be an effective defense strategy.

He noted, however, that the alleged Liberty City 7 plot "sounded more amateurish than the Fort Dix plot," in which defendants are accused of, among other things, scouting out the perimeters of Fort Dix and other area military complexes and arranging to purchase weapons from an undercover agent introduced into the investigation by one of the cooperating witnesses. Two of the Duka brothers were arrested after allegedly purchasing AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles from what they thought was an illegal gun supplier.

[Soldier4Christ]

Investment scam shocks muslims in Chicago

Both Indian and Pakistani community of Chicago and its suburbs are in a state of unrest and shock due to an unbelievable investment scam worth millions-of- dollars targeting the community and sudden disappearance of Sunrise Equities's CEO Salman Ibrahim.

State regulators are considering criminal charges against a developer named Ibrahim, who fraudulently persuaded hundreds of muslims to invest in real estate deals. Some gave Ibrahim their life savings or mortgaged their homes before he disappeared in August. Investors say they may loose more than USD 50 million.

Salman Ibrahim, CEO and President of the Chicago-based Shariah compliant financial services firm, which provided the market with competent and innovative Shariah Compliant investment products and services, duped the community.

Ibrahim founded the company in 2001 as a religious financial service in accordance with muslim law of Shariah, meaning interest free investment. He would take money from people and pay them an amount in profits every month.

People started investing larger amount of money in his business. Ibrahim along with his partners continued taking money from the community, which they invested in community business for nearly eight years and distributed profits as well.

Being well known in the muslim community in Chicago, Ibrahim was appointed as one of three Vice Presidents of the Shariah Board of America. He also became well-known among the Muslim clergy in Chicago.

Lawyers for the investors are trying to force Ibrahim's company Sunrise Equities into bankruptcy. The state has suspended Sunrise's rights to do business.

[Soldier4Christ]

Muslim Chaplain Beats Jail Time After Choking Wife with Electrical Cord...

A chaplain at San Quentin State Prison was sentenced to 45 days in jail Thursday for assaulting his wife with an electrical cord, but he won't have to serve the time if he completes three years of probation.

Rafeeq Hassan, a full-time Muslim chaplain with a $59,000 state salary, was arrested April 24 after an incident at his home on the prison grounds. Sheriff's deputies said that Hassan choked his wife with his hands and an electrical cord during a domestic argument.

Hassan was booked into the Marin County Jail and promptly bailed out by family. His wife was treated at the home by San Rafael firefighters.

County prosecutors charged Hassan with assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse. He could have faced up to four years on those charges, but last month he accepted a plea deal and admitted misdemeanor assault, said Deputy District Attorney Charles Cacciatore.

On Thursday, Judge John Sutro gave Hassan probation, stayed the jail time, ordered him to complete 60 hours of community service and pay $620 in fines. Hassan could have received up to a year in jail.

"The sentence was very well thought out," said Hassan's defense attorney, Doren Weinberg. "This is a 66-year-old man who has absolutely no history of criminal conduct. This was just an unfortunate moment."

Hassan remains on duty at the prison while corrections officials decide whether to take any personnel action, said Lt. Samuel Robinson.

"He's not a peace officer, and if he's not a peace officer, it's not an issue of whether he'll be able to perform his job," Robinson said.

The prison employs five chaplains - Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Native American. Hassan pays about $800 a month to rent his home at the prison.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mainstream US Islamic Websites -- and Terror     


In counterterrorism circles there is significant buzz about “Al-Qaeda 2.0”, warning of highly decentralized jihadist networks operating independently and driven by a highly toxic internet-inspired Islamic ideology. The sad reality is, however, that an increasing number of jihadist websites, especially those in the English language, are finding safe haven in the US – and the US government seems powerless, or unwilling, to stop them.

Other commentators have explored at length the “Al-Qaeda 2.0” phenomenon, but what has thus far gone unreported is how mainstream Islamic websites associated with some of the most visible Islamic organizations in the US are openly promoting extremist ideology and terrorism.

This is nothing new, of course. Before and shortly after 9/11, the Ohio State chapter of the Muslim Student Association ran an email service called MSANews, where virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world directly posted their public statements, including Al-Qaeda, HAMAS, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Armed Islamic Group and the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front. MSANews also published all of Osama bin Laden’s pre-9/11 statements, calling him “sheikh” and identifying him as a “Saudi dissident”, not a terrorist. According to an Associated Press article published just weeks after 9/11, MSANews was the subject of a federal investigation for promoting the sales of jihadist videos praising the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The MSANews list, which operated on the taxpayer-supported servers of The Ohio State University, shut down soon afterwards.

More recently, the media has focused on the case of Charlotte, North Carolina resident, Samir Khan. Fox News recently reported that Khan’s website, inshallahubgone19, features videos of terrorists bombing US military vehicles, provides links to the writings of Al-Qaeda chiefs Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and praises “martyrdom bombers” who sacrifice their lives “for the sake of Islam”. Last October, the New York Times reported on Khan’s online efforts, observing that he is just one of many new faces of what Al-Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media”. While Samir Khan lost his job last month after a 3-part investigative report was aired by Charlotte CBS affiliate WBTV, Khan continues to operate his website with impunity.

The same is true for the popular Islamic website, Islamicity.com, which operates an entire video channel dedicated to Yemeni Al-Qaeda cleric and bin Laden mentor, Abd al-Majid Al-Zindani, who was listed by the US government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist back in February 2004. In several of Zindani’s videos – videos which bear the embedded Islamicity logo – he is seen guarded by a man wielding an AK-47 (for more background on Zindani, see John Devon’s article, “Yemeni Shiekh of Hate”). The website states that Islamicity is run by Human Assistance and Development International (HUDI), a tax-exempt not-for-profit organization based in Culver City, California.

But Islamicity is not your small mom-and-pop jihadist website. According to Alexa, Islamicity has revenues of $10-50 million each year and is among the top 25,000 websites in the world. And it is backed by some heavy-hitters in the North American Islamic community, most notably Jamal Badawi and Abdullah Idris Ali, both on the board of directors of the Islamic Society of North America, which claims to be largest Islamic organization in North America. Badawi has a regular radio show hosted by Islamicity with hundreds of programs archived on their site, and Idris Ali has done promotional videos for the website encouraging viewers to subscribe. Another major supporter is Dr. Ahmed Sakr, one of the original founders and former president of the Muslim Student Association of the US and Canada.

Curiously, the CEO of Islamicity, Mohammed Aleem, was a prosecution witness for the federal government against another website operator, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, who the government charged with fostering terrorism on the gotcha51 website, owned by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA) and ranked by Alexa as one of the top 1,500 websites in the world. During the trial, Hussayen’s defense attorneys attempted to question Aleem about similar material appearing on his own Islamicity website supporting terrorism, but the judge wouldn’t allow that line of questioning. He also prevented the jury from seeing a defense of suicide bombings published on the IANA gotcha51 website. Predictably, Hussayen was acquitted on criminal charges, but was later deported for immigration violations.

Even more interesting for our present discussion, the gotcha51 website originally operated from Canada until a series of articles was published by National Post reporter Stewart Bell just days before 9/11 exposing that the website published an “invitation to jihad” and provided instructions on how to train at terrorist camps run by Al-Qaeda. gotcha51 was defended by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which published several action alerts and press releases decrying the newspaper’s “tabloid journalism” and promoting Islamophobia, directing its supporters to besiege the paper’s editors to complain of the supposedly “anti-Muslim” bias of the reporter. The National Post reportedly received death threats during CAIR’s protest (again, which occurred less than two weeks before 9/11). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police initiated an investigation at the request of B’nai B’rith Canada, but the website relocated to the US, prompting authorities there to drop their inquiry.

Perhaps emboldened by Hussayen’s acquittal, gotcha51 continues to publish incendiary material. For instance, the website features nearly two dozen audio lectures by convicted Northern Virginia jihad network leader Ali Al-Tamimi, who is currently serving life in prison after being convicted of soliciting others to wage war against the US. Al-Tamimi was a longtime leader of IANA, gotcha51’s parent organization. Two other prominent names appear on gotcha51’s list of speakers – ISNA’s Abdullah Idris Ali and Jamal Badawi.

Two other names featured at gotcha51 are also worthy of mention: Khalid Yasin and Bilal Phillips. Both men are American-born converts to Islam now living outside the US, and both were featured in the January 2007 UK Channel 4 “Undercover Mosque” exposé, which investigated the propagation of extremist hate teachings in mosques in the UK.

During the program, Phillips was secretly recorded by a Channel 4 operative defending pedophilia, saying that Mohammad’s marriage to nine-year old Aisha, while violating current laws, was entirely acceptable according to Islam:

    The prophet Muhammad practically outlined the rules regarding marriage prior to puberty. With his practice, he clarified what is permissible, and that is why we shouldn't have any issues about an older man marrying a younger woman," he said. "It is looked down upon the society today, but we know that the prophet Muhammad practiced it. It wasn't abuse or exploitation, it was marriage ," he added.

Khalid Yasin, who recently conducted a US tour, is one of the most recognized international hate sheikhs. In 2005, his extremist teachings were openly condemned by Australian NSW Premier Bob Carr, and in the Undercover Mosque program, Khalid was recorded condemning the beliefs of Christians and Jews as “filth”. In another clip aired on the program, he says that the Quran justified wife-beating and that equal rights for women are a “delusion” and “foolishness”. Yasin also openly traffics in bizarre conspiracy theories, claiming that AIDS was created at a US government lab and spread in Third World countries by the US through UN relief agencies and Christian missionaries.

But gotcha51 is not the only purveyor of Khalid Yasin and Bilal Phillips’ teachings. In fact, the audio sermons and DVDs of these two hate sheikhs are featured prominently by Ilmquest Productions, the media sales arm of the AlMaghrib Institute. AlMaghrib, a wildly popular Islamic studies program, operates chapters in more than a dozen cities in the US and Canada offering dual-weekend long seminars. An Arab News article describes the attraction of AlMaghrib – state-of-the-art advertising, slick graphic presentations, and young Saudi Wahhabi-trained instructors using Western vernacular.

Another speaker whose products are hawked by Ilmquest is Anwar Al-Aulaqi, who the Washington Post reported earlier this year is wanted by the FBI for questioning about his extensive contacts with Al-Qaeda. Prior to 9/11 he was the spiritual director for two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf Al Hazmi and Khalid Al Mihdhar. Al-Aulaqi helped the two 9/11 terrorists locate housing in San Diego, and the pair followed Al-Aulaqi when he moved to the Washington DC area in 2001. He also operated the US offices of a charity founded by Al-Zindani which federal prosecutors claim was used as a front “used to support Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden”. Al-Aulaqi fled to Yemen in 2002 and worked for designated terrorist Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani. (As an aside, US News and World Report states Aulaqi was arrested several times for soliciting prostitutes. At least they were able to arrest him on something.)

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

But it isn’t just sermons and videos promoted on US Islamic websites. For those seeking more practical and more personalized instructions, a number of websites allow users to address questions to Islamic scholars to obtain judicial rulings, or fatwas. One such website is IslamQA.com, where you can get detailed rulings on such pressing contemporary topics, such as when a Muslim can enslave an infidel and use female slaves sexually. The website’s ruling?

    The reason why a person may be taken as a slave is his being a kaafir (infidel) and waging war against Allaah and His Messenger. If Allaah enables the Muslims who are striving and sacrificing their lives and their wealth and all that Allaah has given them to make the word of Allaah supreme over the kaafirs, then He allows them to enslave the kuffaar when they capture them, unless the ruler chooses to free them or to ransom them, if that serves the interests of the Muslims.

Another fatwa at IslamQA responds to a question from an inquirer wanting to know what to do with his wife who has left Islam. In addition to directing him to leave his wife, he directs that if he lives in a country with an Islamic government that should be reported to authorities and if remaining unrepentant, she should be executed as an apostate:

    If he has a kaafir wife, it is not permissible for him to stay married to her. He has to advise her and establish proof against her, then leave her. If he is in a place where there is an Islamic government and sharee’ah law, then he has to refer her case to the Muslim qaadi, for him to ask her to repent. If she does not repent then the ruling of Allaah should be carried out on her, which is execution, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever changes his religion [leaves Islam], execute him.

These extremist rulings aren’t just limited to fatwas, but are also included in the notes in various versions of the Quran offered on a number of prominent websites. One popular Saudi-authorized English translation is “The Noble Quran”, which among other things contains verse-by-verse commentary exhortating jihad against non-Muslims and expressing hatred of Jews and Christians. This is the only English version of the Quran made available on the gotcha51 website.

Counterterrorism expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has previously analyzed the commentary in “The Noble Quran”, particularly the passages advocating armed jihad against non-Muslims:

    An early footnote in this translation lays out, at length, the importance of jihad: "Al-Jihad (holy fighting) in Allah's Cause (with full force of numbers and weaponry) is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars (on which it stands). By Jihad Islam is established, Allah's Word is made superior, . . . and His Religion (Islam) is propagated. By abandoning Jihad (may Allah protect us from that) Islam is destroyed and the Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honour is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim, and he who tries to escape from this duty, or does not in his innermost heart wish to fulfil this duty, dies with one of the qualities of a hypocrite." Thus, this translation both rules out non-military interpretations of jihad by specifying that it involves "full force of numbers and weaponry) and also states that it is "an obligatory duty on every Muslim."

What troubled Gartenstein-Ross, expressed here and in another article, is that this particular version of the Quran was actively distributed in American prisons by a number of Islamic organizations, some of which have since been closed by the US government and designated terrorist organizations. But the Qurans still circulate in many institutions without the slightest concern by prison authorities.

The promotion of terror and hatred on Islamic websites appears to be a problem that everyone readily acknowledges, but few have any substantive suggestions to confront. One section of the Patriot Act attempting to curb active online recruitment by terrorist organizations was gutted by a federal judge in the Hussayen/gotcha51 prosecution as infringing on First and Fifth Amendment protections.

Having just passed the seventh anniversary of 9/11, those who promote Islamic terrorism are moving their online recruiting and instruction operations to the US where they can operate free from any fear of legal repercussions. What compounds this travesty is that some of the most prominent Islamic organizations in the US are actively associated with websites actively promoting terrorism, violence and hatred.

And as I’ve discussed elsewhere, these are the same organizations being consulted at the highest levels of our government to help shape national policy and hailed by the government officials as “moderates”. If the violent deaths of thousands of our fellow citizens in a single day and witnessed by the entire world were insufficient for us to begin to address these pandemic problems, what unspeakable future tragedy will it take finally spur our leaders to action?

[Soldier4Christ]

Six Flags asks workers not to wear shorts on Muslim Day

It's Muslim Day at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Saturday and Santa Clarita resident A.J. Jones is curious to know if the park hosted other religious events in the past.

This is Magic Mountain's first year hosting Muslim Family day. It is far from its first time hosting a religious event, said park spokeswoman Sue Carpenter.

"I think it's great as long as they open it up to everyone," said Jones, whose friend works at the park.
Jones is concerned the park's supervisors asked the employees to wear pants Saturday to cover their legs despite the unusually high heat. "I think its kind of strange," Jones said. "It's been so hot for pants."

But Carpenter said not to worry.

"Out of respect, we request the employees wear their uniform pants, instead of their shorts," Carpenter said. "It is only a request, it is not mandatory."

The Islamic Circle of North America requested the day as a celebration for end of Ramadan. Muslim Family Day comes just five days after the end of Ramadan, a Muslim religious observance in which participating Muslims fast from dawn until sunset.

Park officials will try to meet the Muslim group's needs as it does with any other group, Carpenter said.

"There will be a plethora of things to do for the youth and the entire family including halal food stalls, ethnic bazaar and family entertainment" the event's Web site states.

The group is hosting Muslim Family and Youth Days in seven other United States cities this fall.

All those who attend will take part in what the group claims is "The largest American Muslim event."

The theme park expects a busy day Saturday and the park will remain open to the general public and host the first day of its annual Halloween Fright Fest, Carpenter said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Greeley/Grand Island, Somali/Swift mess may be start of something big

According to Religion News Service the recent conflict over prayer times at two Swift meatpacking plants may be the beginning of a Muslim labor movement in the US. 

Hundreds of Muslim workers at two meat processing plants in Colorado and Nebraska walked off the job earlier this month, protesting their employer’s refusal to grant time to pray and break a 12-hour fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

About 100 workers were fired in Greeley, Colo., followed by about 80 in Grand Island, Neb. JBS Swift & Co. insists the terminations had nothing to do with religion, but rather with employees refusing to return to work.

Whatever its outcome, the stand-off and others like it may mark the start of a grassroots Muslim labor movement in the United States, as immigrants push for the kinds of religious accommodations they believe their Christian counterparts take for granted.

“American Muslims in recent years have become more organized and aware of our rights as Americans,” said Ameena Mirza Qazi, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “As American Muslims become more a part of the American fabric — as educators, professionals, leaders, day laborers, and factory workers — we increasingly avail ourselves of rights that every American values.”

I maintain that the whole episode was orchestrated from on high, but there was a fly in the ointment.   The strategists didn’t count on the angry vocal backlash from other minorities working in the plants.  I am sure they figured the Somalis would demand special prayer time breaks and the management would cave.  That didn’t happen.

About one-fifth of the workers at the two JBS Swift plants are Muslim, many of them Somali immigrants. The United Food and Commercial Workers union represents employees at both sites, but has had trouble negotiating because of counter-protests by other workers, who say it’s not fair to grant time off to a religious minority.

According to this article, Muslims aren’t ready to strike out on their own and start their own unions.  They know they can’t succeed unless they work for all minorities rights.  They aren’t powerful enough yet so they must take cover in groups like this Leftist Interfaith Worker Justice and hope that people like Kim Bobo keep saying this sort of hogwash.

Interfaith Worker Justice, a national organization that engages the religious community in low-wage worker issues, is carefully watching the recent protests. When a union works on behalf of Muslim immigrants, as with a contract for Ohio janitors negotiated to include prayer breaks last year, the wider community benefits from increased dialogue and cross-cultural cooperation, said Kim Bobo, IWJ executive director.   (What does that mean?  I guess its similar to diversity enriching our lives.)

Several readers have noted that all seems quiet in the last week from Greeley and Ft. Morgan and that is because CAIR is on the scene.  They know the Stealth Jihad was NOT going along so stealthily when you have Hispanics, Vietnamese and Sudanese taking to the streets against the Somalis, so I am convinced they are trying to cool things down.

CAIR and local Muslim organizations are working on public education campaigns to reduce hostility against such requests. CAIR has also asked the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission to set up workshops to help the employees file discrimination charges against Swift, Abraham (CAIR honcho from Chicago) said.