Canary In The Coal Mine

A Rational Fear of Islamism

by Robert Spencer and David Horowitz  |  NationalReview.com  |  September 30, 2011

 

In recent months, several reports have appeared to a generally uncritical reception in the press, which purport to expose alleged conspiracies organized by “Islamophobes” against American citizens who mean us no harm. These reports single out for condemnation a dozen prominent conservative figures (and mostly the same dozen) who have publicly criticized the misogyny, bigotry, and terrorism promoted by many (but not all) Islamic institutions and religious texts.

The term “Islamophobia” itself was invented by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the political fountainhead of Islamic terror, having spawned al-Qaeda and created Hamas. Not coincidently, the reports themselves have been produced by Brotherhood fronts like CAIR, and jihadist apologists like the Southern Poverty Law Center. But the latest and most elaborate Islamophobia report, transparently derivative of its predecessors, has been issued by the Center for American Progress, which is a brain trust of the Democratic party. It thus marks a disturbing development in this ugly campaign. 

On examination, the term “Islamophobia” is designed to create a modern-day thought crime, while the campaign to suppress it is an effort to abolish the First Amendment where Islam is concerned. The purpose of the suffix — phobia — is to identify any concern about troubling Islamic institutions and actions as irrational, or worse as a dangerous bigotry that should itself be feared.

Is fear of terrorists inspired by Islam irrational? There have been 17,800 terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims in the name of Allah since 9/11. Is it unreasonable to be concerned that 30,000 shoulder-ready surface-to-air missiles have recently gone missing in the Muslim nation of Libya, where both government and rebels support the Islamic jihad against America and the West?

Would not a reasonable person be concerned about the attacks plotted and carried out by Muslims in the United States who claim to be inspired by the Koran and who regard themselves as holy warriors in the jihad declared by Osama bin Laden and other Muslim fanatics? These Muslim attacks include the successful massacre of unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood by Nidal Hassan, a self-declared Muslim warrior whose anti-infidel rantings were ignored by the military brass.

These Muslim terrorists include Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; and Naveed Haq, the jihad mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; and many others.

If the FBI and law-enforcement agencies had not had serious fears of Muslim fanatics, had not been possessed by a species of “Islamophobia,” all those would-be terrorist attacks would be successful attacks and carry long lists of dead innocents — infidels — along with their names.

Should those of us who are infidels — and therefore targets — not be concerned by a religion whose followers regard this Koranic incitement as the word of God: “Slay the pagans wherever you find them.” (9:5)?

Should Jews not be concerned by the Jew-hatred that permeates the sacred texts of this religion, whose prophet has said: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them, until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him” (Sahih Muslim 6985)?

Should Jews not be concerned that this genocidal incitement is enshrined in the Hamas charter and defines the agenda of an armed force that is supported by dozens of Muslim states and many factions of the international left?

Should women not fear the expansion of a creed whose God likens a woman to a field men can till: “Your women are a field for you (to cultivate) so go to your field as ye will.” (Koran 2:223)? This God has decreed that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man (2:282), that men can marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls (4:3), that a son’s inheritance shall be twice the size of daughter’s (4:11), and that husbands can and should beat their disobedient wives: “Good women are obedient…. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” (4:34).This God sanctions marriage to pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures “shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated” (65:4). Islamic law codifies all this and adds from Islamic tradition justification for honor killing, female genital mutilation, and even the prohibition of women leaving their homes without permission from a male guardian.

Gays fare no better. As Sheikh Khalid Yasin, an Islamic preacher sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, said in 2005: “God is very straightforward about this — not we Muslims, not subjective, the Sharia is very clear about it, the punishment for homosexuality, bestiality or anything like that is death. We don’t make any excuses about that, it’s not our law — it’s the Koran.” Hossein Alizadeh of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has said that in Iran gays live with “constant fear of execution and persecution and also social stigma associated with homosexuality.” This is true not only in Iran, but in all too many areas of the Islamic world. Is gays’ fear of Islamic institutions and governments irrational? Phobic? 

Finally, there is the failure of any Muslim state or authority to condemn the calls of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the extermination of America and Israel. The mainstream media constantly assumes that Muslims don’t take their words seriously, and that there exists a large population of moderate Muslims who reject the excesses of these violent leaders. Yet these moderates have maintained their silence in the face of the genocidal calls in the name of their God. They have failed to mount a campaign to condemn and counter the Jew-hatred expressed by their spiritual leaders, and broadcast by their government-sponsored media organizations, and taught in their schools.

What is truly irrational is not the fear of these very real threats, but the fear of those who point out these threats and whom the Muslim Brotherhood and its enablers have demonized as “Islamophobes.” What is irrational is the failure to recognize danger when it stares you in the face, and the attempt to silence those who have the temerity to attempt to warn you before it is too late. 

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth about Muhammad. David Horowitz is the founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and author, most recently, of A Point in Time: The Search for Redemption in This Life and the Next.

 

Source:  http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/278722/rational-fear-islamism-robert-spencer

Herman Cain Promises to Take On Muslim Brotherhood Fronts

by Ryan Mauro  |  FrontPageMag.com  |  September 30, 2011

 

 

The United West, an anti-Islamist activist group, is forcing the 2012 presidential candidates to take a stand on whether to prosecute the Muslim Brotherhood fronts in the U.S. tied to Hamas. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the first to say that he would, and now businessman Herman Cain is on board, also saying that he’d list the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Former Senator Rick Santorum offered a less compelling answer, but said the government must prosecute anyone tied to terrorist activity.

Herman Cain is riding a huge wave of momentum following his surprise victory in the Florida straw poll. This comes after an impressive performance at the Orlando debate, which I judged him to be the winner of. The latest national poll has him behind Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, tied with Ron Paul at 7 percent. His numbers will still climb as the positive media coverage continues, and his understanding of the Islamist threat must be evaluated as his influence grows.

Cain was asked by the United West about prosecuting the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust. These three organizations are Muslim Brotherhood fronts that were labeled by the federal government as “unindicted co-conspirators” in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation. The HLF was shut down for funding Hamas. The three Muslim Brotherhood fronts have tried to have their designations removed to no avail. On July 1, 2009, it was ruled that there was “ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF…and with Hamas.”

The HLF trial is the biggest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history and the information submitted by the government in the case is critical to grasping the Islamist threat. Unfortunately, Cain seemed unaware of the trial. When the interviewer said that CAIR, ISNA and NAIT have been designated, Cain said, “as what?”

After the interviewer explained they were tied to Hamas, Cain responded, “The answer is yes, absolutely I’d go after them.” The interviewer then asked if his State Department would label the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Cain’s answer was, “Absolutely, yes. I don’t see what the hesitation is. We can’t do business with terrorists,”  and then tied his answer to the Palestinian push for U.N. membership and statehood.

Cain’s campaign previously hit a bump when he visited a major mosque tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. He had come under fire for saying that communities should be able to ban mosques from being built. In an attempt to make amends, he apologized for the comment and took a tour of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society of Sterling, VA. The mosque is led by the president of ISNA, Imam Mohamed Magid. Evidence of the mosque’s possible ties to terrorism resulted in raids by the authorities in 2002.

Former Senator Rick Santorum offered a softer answer when he was interviewed by the United West, but nonetheless showed to have an understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood’s past. He described the organization as “the root of a lot of the modern radical Islamist thinking,” mentioning the names of Sayyid Qutb and Hasan al-Banna. However, when asked specifically about CAIR, ISNA and NAIT, he was less clear. He gave a general answer that law enforcement must prosecute whoever is involved in terrorist activity. Santorum is in 8^th place in the latest national poll with 3 percent, one point behind Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the first to pledge to investigate CAIR, ISNA and NAIT and appeared to know about the HLF trial. He nodded his head as the United West’s interviewer mentioned their designations as “unindicted co-conspirators.”  He first offered a general answer, saying “I would support an Attorney General who would look very aggressively at prosecuting any group which supports terrorism or which sends money to terrorism or which encourages terrorism.” The interviewer then asked if he’d investigate these specific groups, and Gingrich said, “Sure, absolutely.” Gingrich has spoken and written about “stealth jihad” at length, describing the Muslim Brotherhood as a “mortal enemy of our civilization.” He is in third place in the latest national poll at 10 percent.

It is disappointing that none of the Republican candidates for president spoke about CAIR, ISNA and NAIT until they were asked by the United West. Still, their answers stand in sharp contrast to the Obama Administration’s position. Patrick Poole broke the blockbuster story that the Justice Department blocked the prosecutions of Omar Ahmed, a co-founder of CAIR, and Jamal Barzinji, a top official with the International Institute of Islamic Thought, another Brotherhood front. According to his sources, the “unindicted co-conspirators” were to be prosecuted after the Holy Land trial finished.

A candidate’s credibility on national security rests upon an understanding of the Islamist threat and in particular, the Muslim Brotherhood. It is imperative that they be forced to take a stand on this issue, and voters must measure their support for each candidate based on their answer.

Source:  http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/30/cain-promises-to-take-on-muslim-brotherhood-fronts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FrontpageMag+%28FrontPage+Magazine+%C2%BB+FrontPage%29

Secret Iran Invite to Taliban Signals New Power Play

by Ernesto Londono  |  SMH.com.au  |  October 1, 2011

 

KABUL -- Iran quietly hosted a delegation of Taliban members in Tehran this month, in a powerful and unusual signal of its ambition to shape the trajectory of the Afghan conflict as US troops begin to withdraw.

According to associates of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president who led the country's reconciliation efforts, Iranian officials had hoped to facilitate a meeting between Dr Rabbani and the Taliban delegation at a conference in Tehran.

Murdered Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Photo: New York Times

That did not happen, and days after attending the conference, Dr Rabbani was slain by a man posing as a Taliban negotiator. The two events do not appear to have been linked.

The presence of the Taliban members suggests Iran has cultivated deeper ties with the insurgent group than was previously known, and is stepping up efforts to influence its eastern neighbour as the US pulls out.

A predominantly Shiite nation, Iran supported the Northern Alliance as it fought the extreme Sunni Taliban during the 1990s, and came close to open war with the group in 1998 when eight Iranian diplomats were killed in Afghanistan.

US officials have for years accused Iran of fuelling the Afghan war by providing training and sophisticated weapons to individual insurgent commanders, although they have described Iran's role as minimal compared with other regional players. There have been few signs of senior-level contact between the Taliban and Iran.

US officials have launched their own initiatives to talk to the Taliban ahead of the withdrawal of American troops in 2014, to little avail.

''Iran considers itself a regional player with a legitimate stake in Afghanistan and it doesn't want to see progress that runs contrary to its political interests,'' said Michael Semple, who has decades of experience in Afghanistan as a diplomat and a scholar. ''If the price of Iran having a role in the next step is dealing with the Taliban, then they are prepared to do it.''

The Islamic Awakening conference was organised by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Held in mid-September, it drew more than 700 scholars and Islamist political figures from around the world. Arsala Rahmani, a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council who travelled to Tehran with Dr Rabbani, said he was startled when he saw Nik Mohammad, a former colleague from their years together as Taliban government officials.

''They seldom come to public events and when they do, they use aliases,'' said Mr Rahmani, who served as deputy education minister when the Taliban controlled Kabul in the late 1990s.

Mr Rahmani said the two men shook hands but exchanged nothing beyond pleasantries.

''It was not in the typical way Afghans use to greet each other,'' he said. ''It was done in a very cool manner.''

Mr Rahmani said that Mohammad, who was heading the small Taliban delegation, is an influential leader who is in contact with the top members of the Taliban's ruling Quetta Shura.

Mr Semple said that although Mohammad is on a UN sanctions list for terrorists, there has been little public evidence that suggests he is actively involved in running the Afghan insurgency.

Waheed Mozhdah, a political analyst who was with Dr Rabbani's delegation, said he first learnt about the Taliban delegation as he leafed through the conference program and found two names he recognised. They were listed as representing what was described as ''the American Opposition Front in Afghanistan'': Nik Mohammad and Tayeb Agha.

Mr Agha is an aide to Taliban leader Mohammad Omar, who reportedly held talks with US officials this year in Qatar and Germany but stopped talking to Western officials after his role in the talks was disclosed. None of the members of Dr Rabbani's delegation said they saw Mr Agha.

At one point, Mr Mozhdah said, the Iranian hosts asked Dr Rabbani's delegation whether they would object to giving the Taliban representatives an opportunity to make public remarks.

Mr Mozhdah, who worked in the Afghan Foreign Ministry during the Taliban's reign, said he objected, arguing to Dr Rabbani that such a move would ''damage the relation between Kabul and Tehran''.

 

Source:  http://www.smh.com.au/world/secret-iran-invite-to-taliban-signals-new-power-play-20110930-1l1kh.html

Bachmann Says Obama Policies Led to Arab Spring

by Naureen Khan  |  CBSNews.com  |  September 30, 2011

 

CONCORD, N.C. -- Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says President Obama's Middle East policy is to blame for the popular uprisings against autocratic regimes across the Arab world.

At a fundraiser here, Bachmann said she thinks the president "laid the table for the Arab Spring by demonstrating weakness," and particularly noted his call for Israel to return to its borders prior to the 1967 war with Egypt.

Bachmann, who has a track record of jumbled facts and sometimes false assertions, also drew an analogy between

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. waves after speaking to the media in Charlotte, N.C. Sept. 29, 2011. Photo: Chuck Burton

Obama's treatment of Israel and the fall of the shah of Iran during the Democratic administration of President Jimmy Carter, an event she maintained led to the rise of radicalism in the Islamic world.

"Just like Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s didn't have the back of the shah of Iran, we saw the shah fall, and the rise of the ayatollah, and we saw the rise and the beginnings of radical jihad, which have changed this world and changed this nation," Bachmann said. "So, too, under Barack Obama, we saw him put a lot of daylight between our relationship with our ally, Israel. And when he called upon Israel to retreat to its indefensible 1967 borders, don't think that message wasn't lost on Israel's 26 hostile neighbors.

"You want to know why we have an Arab Spring. Barack Obama has laid the table for an Arab Spring by demonstrating weakness from the United States of America."

Bachmann's campaign hit a high point when she won the Iowa straw poll in mid-August, but it's been mostly downhill for Bachmann since. She has trailed in national polls and struggled to keep pace with her rivals in fundraising.

Source:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20113937-503544.html

Analysis of Anwar al-Awlaki's Death: What Does it Mean for Al Qaeda?

by Erick Stakelbeck, CBN News Terrorism Analyst  |  Blogs.CBN.com  |  September 30, 2011

 

 

Woke up this morning to news that notorious American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Yemen. I believe this is a significant blow to Al Qaeda. A few key points:

--Awlaki, often called "the Bin Laden of the Internet," was the driving force behind Al Qaeda's message in the Western, English-speaking world. As an American citizen who lived half of his 40 years in the United States and attended Colorado State University, he was able to break down the language barrier and speak directly to aspiring young jihadists here and in Great Britain.

That is something Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Arabic speakers, could not do. In his online sermons, Awlaki could say to young Muslims in Chicago and New York City: "I've lived in America. I know what you are going through in that infidel land. I feel your pain."

--That familiarity with the ways of the West made Awlaki, not Osama bin Laden, the most influential Islamic jihadist in the Western world as far back as 2008. Young Muslims here could relate to the young, hip and charismatic Awlaki in a way they could not connect to bin Laden. One major way Awlaki was able to do that was through Al Qaeda's glossy, English-language online magazine, Inspire, which is published out of Yemen and targets American Muslims.

--Awlaki's huge ideological influence on the global jihad was seen on YouTube, where he was a sensation, and in the massive movement of DVDs and CDs featuring his sermons. In short, he was a jihadi rock star.

Look no further than northern Virginia, where I broke the story in June 2010 for CBN News that the largest Islamic supermarket in the Washington, D.C., area was selling dozens of Awlaki's DVDs and CDs. As the owner of the store told me on camera: "They are very good sellers." And just minutes from the nation's capital. What a comforting thought. I talk about Awlaki's influence at length in my book, The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You About the Islamist Threat.

--Unlike another American-born Al Qaeda propagandist, Adam Gadahn (a.k.a. "Azzam the American"), Awlaki, who was an imam at mosques in San Diego and northern Virginia before leaving the U.S. in 2002, had major religious street cred in the radical Islamic world.

In my conversation last year in London with Al Qaeda-linked, global terrorist Saad al-Faqih, he went out of his way to praise Awlaki as a religious scholar. Al Faqih, a former associate of Osama bin Laden, would not offer such praise lightly. I believe that Awlaki's unique blend of Westernized media savvy and religious gravitas make him, in many respects, even more difficult for Al Qaeda to replace at this stage than Osama bin Laden.

--Over the past two years, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Awlaki's outfit, had become AQ's most active branch in terms of plots against the U.S. homeland--particularly with Al Qaeda's hiearchy in the tribal regions of Pakistan under constant pressure from U.S. airstrikes.

Let's not forget the infamous cargo plane plot of October 2010, which originated in Yemen (see some of my exclusive details about that plot here). Also, Awlaki was in direct contact with both Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan and underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and was cited as an inspiration by the would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.

In fact, in practically every homegrown jihad case I've investigated over the past three years--and there have been a lot of them--Awlaki has been named as a major influence by those involved.

Any way you slice it, this is a big victory for the United States. Yes, Awlaki's memory will live on in his recordings and on YouTube and he will be hailed by jihadists worldwide as a martyr. But taking him out of the picture considerably weakens Al Qaeda's messaging and operations out of what had become its most active hotspot, Yemen.

One concern: as we continue to strike blows against Al Qaeda, let's remember that AQ is just one cog in a much broader global jihad. To hear the Obama administration tell it, if we defeat Al Qaeda, we can basically just pack up our bags and go home because the War on Terror is over. Not by a longshot. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Hizb ut-Tahrir, homegrown jihadis and of course, the Muslim Brotherhood, just to name a few, are not only alive and kicking but in many cases (Iran, Hezbollah,the Brotherhood, etc.) growing in strength thanks to this administration's disastrous foreign policy decisions.

Big kudos for taking out bin Laden and Awlaki, absolutely. But let's not lose sight of the big picture. This is a long war with many players.

 

Source:  http://blogs.cbn.com/stakelbeckonterror/archive/2011/09/30/analysis-of-anwar-al-awlakis-death-what-does-it-mean-for-again.aspx

Seminar on The Muslim Brotherhood and Terrorism in Arizona with Counter-Terrorism Consultant Patrick Poole

 

by Arizona Mainstream Project

 

INVITES YOU TO ATTEND

2011:  Infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood in Arizona, Terrorism, and our Unsecure Borders

 PRESENTED BY PATRICK POOLE   

Counter-Terrorism Consultant and Intelligence Analyst

Here is a link to Patrick Poole’s most recently published article

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/dhs-released-terror-operative-who-illegally-crossed-border-pjm-exclusive/

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Location: The Franciscan Renewal Center – Fr. Owen Room
Address: 5802 E. Lincoln Dr., Scottsdale, AZ

Refreshments served

Cost: $10 per person

Go to http://arizonamainstreamproject.org/#q=Seminars for more information aboutPatrick Poole and to make payment by credit card.  Payment can also be made at the door.

 

CAIR Official Denied Florida GOP Spot

by Alana Goodman  |  CommentaryMagazine.com  |  September 27, 2011

 

Members of Broward’s Republican Party said Hamze was making a mockery of their rules and was trying to become a member as a publicity stunt. 

 

The Broward County Republican Party blocked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida spokesperson Nezar Hamze from joining its executive board last night, a decision that some see as a sign of anti-Muslim discrimination, reports McClatchy:

Islam and Tea Party activism clashed at a raucous meeting Monday night when a group of Broward County Republicans blocked a Muslim activist as a member of the party’s executive committee.

Republicans, who changed their rules to publicly vet Nezar Hamze and then vote on his application by secret ballot, said they didn’t oppose him because he was a Muslim – but because he is associated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose Washington-area affiliate was an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal terrorism indictment. …

“I’m aligned with Republican values. And I want to serve the party,” said Hamze, who earlier told a reporter that any effort to block him was the result of anti-Islamic “bigotry.”

The McClatchy headline emphasizes the fact Hamze is Muslim, but the Broward GOP denies religion played a role. And based on the reports so far, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to doubt their argument.

As the face of CAIR Florida, Hamze has made a name for himself in the Broward conservative community – and not always a good one. You may remember him from this public spat he had with Rep. Alan West, which went viral a few months back (incidentally, that’s not the only clash he’s gotten into with West).

According to McClatchy, there are also questions over how long Hamze has been registered as a Republican. Party Vice Chair Collen Stolberg claims he’s only been registered since August, and had no affiliation before that, while Hamze maintains he’s been a registered Republican for the past 10 years. Whichever is accurate, it looks like Hamze’s interest in Republican Party activism started fairly recently. Earlier this month, Salon’s Justin Elliott reported Hamze had just submitted his petition to join the Broward GOP executive board in August. So there seems to be a slew of reasons the Broward GOP might be uneasy having him on the executive board, in addition to his CAIR ties.

 

Source:  http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/27/cair-official-florida-gop/

Leader of Islamic Charity Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Money Smuggling Case

by Associated Press  |  WashingtonPost.com  |  September 27, 2011

 

Pete Seda, right, the leader of the U.S. branch of a defunct Islamic charity, stands outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Eugene, Ore., on Tuesday while defense lawyer Steve Wax, center, talks to a reporter. Seda was sentenced to prison for 33 months for helping to smuggle $150,000 to Saudi Arabia in 2000. The judge said that while he believed the money had gone Islamic fighters in Chechnya, the government .  Photo: AP

 

EUGENE, Ore. — The leader of the U.S. branch of a defunct Islamic charity was sentenced Tuesday to nearly three years in prison after being convicted of helping smuggle $150,000 to Saudi Arabia.

U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan said that while he has no doubt the money went to Islamic fighters battling the Russian army in Chechnya, as the prosecution maintained, there’s no proof directly linking Pete Seda to terrorism.

For that reason, Hogan said he wouldn’t apply the so-called “terrorism enhancement” that could have sent Seda to prison for eight years. Instead, Hogan sentenced Seda to 33 months in prison, ordered him to pay the Internal Revenue Service $80,980 in restitution, and allowed him to remain free for 60 days before reporting.

Seda, also known as Pirouz Sedaghaty, is an Iranian-born U.S. citizen who ran the U.S. chapter of the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation based in Ashland. He worked in Ashland as a tree surgeon and was an outspoken proponent of the peaceful aspects of Islam. He was known for marching in the local July 4 parade with his camel.

Seda was convicted last year of tax fraud and conspiracy to defraud the government for helping Saudi Arabian national Soliman Al-Buthe convert a contribution from a doctor in England into traveler’s checks, which Al-Buthe took with him on a flight to Saudi Arabia without declaring it to authorities. Prosecutors have been unable to force Al-Buthe to return to the U.S. to face the same charges as Seda.

Acting U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton said federal prosecutors felt they had proven Seda’s connection to terrorism, but respected the court’s ruling and were satisfied with the sentence.

“Money is the lifeblood of terrorist organizations,” Holton said. “We are working very hard to cut off that lifeline. Shutting down al-Haramain internationally and here was an essential part of that.”

Last week the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the U.S. Treasury Department rightly designated the Oregon branch of the Saudi Arabia-based charity a terrorist organization in 2004 for financing terrorist activities in Chechnya and Albania. But the appeals court found the department improperly seized the group’s assets.

The unanimous three-judge panel found the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control violated the charity’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure by improperly using a “blocking order” to freeze the charity’s assets without a warrant.

The foundation disbanded after the department froze its assets.

Seda declined to comment, citing the advice of his lawyers. Defense attorney Steve Wax said they planned to appeal both the convictions and the sentence.

Wax said the fact that the judge did not impose the terrorism enhancement gave them a better chance of getting approval for Seda to remain free pending appeal.

“The most important issue with respect to the money going to Chechnya was the judge finding the government did not establish a link to Mr. Seda,” Wax said.

Seda had been scheduled to be sentenced last fall, but Hogan delayed the proceeding after it was revealed an FBI agent had failed to disclose an offer to pay a witness in the case. The judge eventually ruled the matter had no bearing on Seda’s conviction.

 

Source:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/leader-of-islamic-charity-sentenced-to-nearly-3-years-in-money-smuggling-case/2011/09/27/gIQApdSh2K_story.html

Survey: Argentinians Hold Anti-Semitic Beliefs

From: JTA  |  JTA.com  |  September 28, 2011

 

A majority of Argentinians hold anti-Semitic beliefs, according to a new study.

The study, "Attitudes Towards Jews in Argentina," was commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League and the Delegation of Argentinian Jewish Associations.

The opinion survey of 1,510 adults in eight Argentina cities found that more than half of Argentinians believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than Argentina, and more than 80 percent believe that Jews are largely interested in making money.

Nearly 70 percent also believe that Jews have "too much power" both in the business world and international financial markets, with 41 percent blaming Jews for various degrees of responsibility for the financial crisis.

“The survey shows that anti-Semitic attitudes are deeply ingrained in Argentina,” Abraham Foxman, ADL's national director, said in a statement.

“It is disturbing that such a large portion of the Argentinian population buys into classical anti-Semitic stereotypes. The notions that Jews have too much power in business, are too concerned with making money or are not loyal to their country are traditional anti-Semitic motifs that have contributed to centuries of persecution against the Jewish people.”

Source:  http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/09/28/3089636/survey-argentines-hold-anti-semitic-beliefs

The Battle For Free Speech and Against the Savages

by Pamela Geller, WND.com  |  September 27, 2011

 

Pamela Geller

 

The battle for free speech begins yet again in New York City.

Last week, CBS Outdoor and the New York City Transit Authority approved an anti-Semitic ad campaign to run in over 1,000 subway cars. The ad calls for cutting off support for the Jewish state. Freedom lovers and the human-rights organization the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), of which I am executive director, submitted a pro-Israel campaign to counter this Jew-hatred and historical revisionism. But CBS Outdoor and the NYC Transit Authority banned our pro-Israel subway ads – while continuing to run the repulsive anti-Semitic, anti-Israel ads.

The anti-Semitic ad campaign has been bouncing from city to city. We successfully fought back against racism and Judeophobia in Seattle, when Clear Channel also caved in to Jew haters, running their hateful ad while refusing our pro-Israel ads. After AFDI protested, Clear Channel canceled the Jew-hating campaign and took their billboards down. While I would have preferred to see our magnificent ads up, that was an excellent second best. But the anti-Israel ads have run in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., while our pro-Israel ads have been rejected in those cities also. The minimum buy for such ads runs between $20,000 and $36,000; who is funding the racist haters?

Howard Marcus of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) told me that our ad "contains language that, in our view, does not conform with the MTA's advertising standards regarding ads that demean an individual or group of individuals." The AFDI ad says, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel, Defeat Jihad."

The MTA's problem is with the word "savage," and mainstream media news reports have stated falsely that the ads are "anti-Muslim," calling every Muslim a savage. Of course New York Daily News reporter Pete Donahue resorted to Muslim Brotherhood smears like "anti-Muslim" and "anti-Islam" when referring to me. It seems that the leftist media are unable to accurately report anything. I am, in fact, counter-jihad. The New York Post started out a bit more even handed, calling me merely "controversial," although it described my ad as inflammatory. Truth is inflammatory.

Then in a follow-up piece the next day, I went from controversial to radical. Who is spiking Post reporter Jennifer Fermino's Kool-Aid? Lay off the Muslim Brotherhood sources, Jen. I am a "radical"? Truth is radical. Morality is radical. But a genocidal ideology is not radical or savage. The media are utterly corrupt, and the culture is subsumed by evil and the inability or unwillingness to distinguish between right and wrong. In my new book,"Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance,"I show just how bad things have gotten, and what we must do to stop this now.

The ad is actually referring to the Islamic jihadists who are determined to destroy Israel. And they are savage.

Tell me again why the word "savage" is inaccurate. Everyone is shocked (shocked, I tell ya) by the use of the word savage for savages. As long as the Palestinian Authority continues its savage policy to foment violence and promote hatred, and teaches its children to hate, the number of young Muslims willing to blow themselves up or to slit Israeli throats will continue to increase. That is savage. The Palestinian Authority propaganda of "Holocaust denial, racial slurs, anti-Jewish epithets and glorification of terrorists" is savage.

The targeting of civilians is savage. The relentless 60-year campaign of terror against the Jewish people is savage. The torture of hostage Gilad Shalit is savage. The bloody hacking to death of the Fogel family was savage. Munich was savage. The unspeakable torture of Ehud Goldwasser was savage. The tens of thousands of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel (into schools, homes, etc.) are savage. The vicious Jew-hatred behind this genocide is savage. The endless demonization of the Jewish people in the Palestinian and Arab media is savage. The refusal to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state is savage.

The list is endless.

But we are supposed to tiptoe around the savages, so as not to enflame the savages.

The very idea that the MTA would censor free speech in defense of the blasphemy laws under the Shariah speaks volumes as to the success of the stealth jihad in America. How many New Yorkers find the anti-Semitic ads the MTA approved offensive and bigoted, and constituting incitement against the Jews? But they ran them anyway. Our ads are not nearly as controversial, but they are pro-Israel, pro-freedom.

I hope the MTA is prepared to go to the Supreme Court, because we are.

Note: Here is a local TV story about Pamela Geller's fight for free speech in New York:

 

 

Source:  http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=349385