(MSA is not a "moderate" organization, as my posts (1,2)on this blog show.)
Last year several Hellfire missiles finally put an end to Anwar Al-Awlaki, a leading Al-Qaeda figure who had been involved in several terrorist attacks carried out against the United States, including the Times Square Bomber and the Underwear Bomber. It has even been alleged that Al-Awlaki may have had pre-existing knowledge of the attacks of September 11.
Before all that though, Anwar Al-Awlaki had been the president of the Muslim Students Association at Colorado State University, home of the Rams and the future leader of external operations for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Awlaki’s path from MSA president to terrorist kingpin was a traditional one for MSA presidents.
While some campus groups are known for having members that go on to excel in business or science, Muslim Students Association members become leaders in a very particular and bloody field. The record shows that the terrorist leaders of tomorrow are the MSA members of today. And if you were going to recruit future leaders of Al-Qaeda, a good place to start would be at your local MSA chapter.
Wael Hamza Jalaidan, a co-founder of Al-Qaeda, had been the president of the MSA at the University of Arizona. The former MSA president at Columbia College went on to serve as Al-Qaeda’s procurement agent in the United States. The MSA president at the University of South Alabama became the spokesman for the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia.
This is only a sliver of the complete record of the MSA’s terrorist involvement, some of which can be found in the recent Freedom Center pamphlet, “Muslim Hate Groups on Campus.” A recent Freedom Center ad listing some of the MSA’s terrorist kingpins elicited outrage from the MSA, but not a single fact based rebuttal. How could it when some of the most high profile terrorist raids and prosecutions involved MSA presidents and even MSA co-founders?
All that makes the current media furor over NYPD monitoring of MSA students so much more dishonest. A white supremacist or radical environmentalist organization with a similar track record would be routinely monitored in the same way and any complaints would be shelved. But the media insists on treating the MSA as if it were somehow special. As if it were above the law.
The Associated Press’ run of hostile stories on NYPD surveillance is in sharp contrast to its post-September 11 coverage. Ten years ago the AP was singing a different tune in a story reporting on FBI monitoring of the MSA and its involvement in fundraising for terrorist front group charities, including Benevolence International, an Al-Qaeda front. This time around there is no mention of Benevolence International or terrorist involvements and readers are left to assume that the NYPD is irrationally profiling Muslims.
George Vinson, an FBI veteran who served as California’s Homeland Security Advisor under two governors, said at the time, “Shame on law enforcement if we didn’t do this.” Now law enforcement is being shamed for doing it.
The NYPD, which is on the front line of the war on terror, stands watch over a city that has been hammered by Muslim terrorism like no other place in America, is being victimized in a smear campaign by Muslim groups, the media and politicians pandering to the jihad vote. It is being assailed by politicians from New Jersey to Chicago who have one hand out at mosque fundraisers while the other points a stern finger at the NYPD for doing its job.
To understand why the NYPD does what it does, we have to look at the results achieved. Last year the NYPD arrested an Al-Qaeda sympathizer who was planning to murder members of the armed forces returning from abroad, and it took down Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who wanted to blow up an entire synagogue and kill as many Jews as possible. It did this before they struck, not afterwards, thanks to its undercover operatives.
NYPD undercover operatives infiltrate Muslim watering holes, listening to the chatter and monitoring anyone who seems eager to spill some infidel blood. And then they get their man.
(Want more read page two here)
Australian subjugation of Muslim Women and Western Imperalism! *cough*
Australian state toughens law for Muslim veils
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Muslim women in Australia's most populous state will have to remove veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under the latest laws giving New South Wales officials authority to look under religious face coverings.
New South Wales state Attorney General Greg Smith said in a statement on Monday that beginning April 30, officials such as justices of the peace and lawyers who witness statutory declarations or affidavits without making identity checks will be fined 220 Australian dollars ($236).
"If a person is wearing a face covering, an authorized witness should politely and respectfully ask them to show their face," Smith said.
The government on Monday began an information campaign to ensure the public and officials were aware of the new penalties before they came into force.
The laws are a response to a court case last year in which a Sydney woman was convicted of falsely claiming that a traffic policeman had attempted to remove her niqab — a veil that reveals only the eyes.
A judge overturned the conviction because the official who witnessed the false claim did not look under the veil of the person who made it, so the judge was not certain that the defendant was responsible.
The latest laws were passed Dec. 23 by the state parliament. They follow New South Wales laws passed last year that introduced a AU$5,500 ($5,900) fine and a 12-month prison sentence for anyone who refuses to remove face coverings when requested to do so by police.
Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils an advocate for Australian Muslims, said while some Muslims regarded the laws as a knee-jerk reaction to the court case, the majority did not object.
"I don't object as long as the laws are enforced with respect and sensitivity," Patel said.
Patel said he was also a justice of the peace and would never witness a document without seeking proof of the author's identity.
He said Muslim women can find female justices of the peace working at most post offices. Women who object to showing policemen their faces have an option of being taken to a police station where their identities can be confirmed by a female official.
New South Wales laws demanding the removal of religious face coverings are an Australian first, although other states including Victoria and Western Australia are considering similar legislation.
Muslims are a rapidly growing minority of 400,000 within Australia's Christian-majority population of 23 million. (source)
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Muslim women in Australia's most populous state will have to remove veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under the latest laws giving New South Wales officials authority to look under religious face coverings.
New South Wales state Attorney General Greg Smith said in a statement on Monday that beginning April 30, officials such as justices of the peace and lawyers who witness statutory declarations or affidavits without making identity checks will be fined 220 Australian dollars ($236).
"If a person is wearing a face covering, an authorized witness should politely and respectfully ask them to show their face," Smith said.
The government on Monday began an information campaign to ensure the public and officials were aware of the new penalties before they came into force.
The laws are a response to a court case last year in which a Sydney woman was convicted of falsely claiming that a traffic policeman had attempted to remove her niqab — a veil that reveals only the eyes.
A judge overturned the conviction because the official who witnessed the false claim did not look under the veil of the person who made it, so the judge was not certain that the defendant was responsible.
The latest laws were passed Dec. 23 by the state parliament. They follow New South Wales laws passed last year that introduced a AU$5,500 ($5,900) fine and a 12-month prison sentence for anyone who refuses to remove face coverings when requested to do so by police.
Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils an advocate for Australian Muslims, said while some Muslims regarded the laws as a knee-jerk reaction to the court case, the majority did not object.
"I don't object as long as the laws are enforced with respect and sensitivity," Patel said.
Patel said he was also a justice of the peace and would never witness a document without seeking proof of the author's identity.
He said Muslim women can find female justices of the peace working at most post offices. Women who object to showing policemen their faces have an option of being taken to a police station where their identities can be confirmed by a female official.
New South Wales laws demanding the removal of religious face coverings are an Australian first, although other states including Victoria and Western Australia are considering similar legislation.
Muslims are a rapidly growing minority of 400,000 within Australia's Christian-majority population of 23 million. (source)
Syrian violations of human rights and dignity. Solution? "Islamic Caliphate"
"A brother reads a letter from an imprisoned sister in Syria in a mosque in Jordan about the rape and torture she's experiencing. Then the brother urges the sergeants, officers and colonels to unite under a single man, and establish the Islamic Khilafah so that we may once again dust off our dishonor."The Christians have a slightly different view.
By Michael Stott and Samia Nakhoul
REUTERS BKIRKI
Violence and bloodshed is turning the “Arab Spring” into winter, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church said, threatening Christians and Muslims alike across the Middle East.
Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, whose Maronite Church also has a strong presence in Syria, said change could not be brought to the Arab world by force and that Christians feared the turmoil was helping extremist Muslim groups.
“We are with the Arab Spring but we are not with this spring of violence, war, destruction and killing. This is turning to winter,” Rai told Reuters in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church in hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea north of Beirut.
Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, whose Maronite Church also has a strong presence in Syria, said change could not be brought to the Arab world by force and that Christians feared the turmoil was helping extremist Muslim groups.
“We are with the Arab Spring but we are not with this spring of violence, war, destruction and killing. This is turning to winter,” Rai told Reuters in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church in hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea north of Beirut.
The upheaval sweeping through the Arab world, toppling four veteran leaders, gave voice to millions of people who suffered decades of repression. But it also brought conflict in Libya and has tipped Syria towards civil war.
“We say that we cannot implement reforms by force and arms. No one can guess the scale of the great losses and damage which could result,” said Rai, speaking this week in an ornately decorated reception room in the patriarchate in Bkirki.
Unlike the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 which overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Arab uprisings started as largely grassroot protests against entrenched leaderships.
But Rai, who attended a memorial service in Iraq last year for Christians killed in an attack on a Baghdad church, drew a parallel between Iraq and the rest of the Arab world, saying Christians could bear a disproportionate share of the suffering.
“How can it be an Arab Spring when people are being killed every day?” he said. “They speak of Iraq and democracy, and one million Christians out of an original 1.5 million have fled Iraq.”
The patriarch said all communities in the Middle East were threatened by “war and violence, economic and security crises”, but Christians were particularly vulnerable because of their relatively small and dwindling numbers. [meaning: they can't defend themselves against Muslim oppressors, as they have historically been able to in Lebanon, given their larger numbers and, consequently, strength]
Maronites, who have a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, follow an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church and number about 900,000 in Lebanon, around a quarter of the population.
“We say that we cannot implement reforms by force and arms. No one can guess the scale of the great losses and damage which could result,” said Rai, speaking this week in an ornately decorated reception room in the patriarchate in Bkirki.
Unlike the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 which overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Arab uprisings started as largely grassroot protests against entrenched leaderships.
But Rai, who attended a memorial service in Iraq last year for Christians killed in an attack on a Baghdad church, drew a parallel between Iraq and the rest of the Arab world, saying Christians could bear a disproportionate share of the suffering.
“How can it be an Arab Spring when people are being killed every day?” he said. “They speak of Iraq and democracy, and one million Christians out of an original 1.5 million have fled Iraq.”
The patriarch said all communities in the Middle East were threatened by “war and violence, economic and security crises”, but Christians were particularly vulnerable because of their relatively small and dwindling numbers. [meaning: they can't defend themselves against Muslim oppressors, as they have historically been able to in Lebanon, given their larger numbers and, consequently, strength]
Maronites, who have a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, follow an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church and number about 900,000 in Lebanon, around a quarter of the population.
Christians not at ease
But since protests erupted against President Bashar al-Assad many Christians have been uneasy about supporting the increasingly militarized and mainly Sunni Muslim uprising against his secular Baath Party, which ensured freedom of belief for minority faiths.
The 72-year-old Rai, elected patriarch on the same day in March last year that serious protest first broke out in Damascus against Assad, said Maronites were neither supporting nor opposing the Syrian authorities.
“Syria, like other countries, needs reforms which the people are demanding,” he said. “It’s true that the Syrian Baath regime is an extreme and dictatorial regime but there are many others like it in the Arab world.”
“All regimes in the Arab world have Islam as a state religion, except for Syria. It stands out for not saying it is an Islamic state ... The closest thing to democracy (in the Arab world) is Syria.”
“We are not defending it. But we regret that Syria, which wants to take a step forward ... is undergoing this violence and destruction and (use of) power and weapons.”
The United Nations says more than 7,500 people have been killed in the uprising and puts the blame for the bloodshed mainly on Assad’s government, saying it has reports of summary executions, imprisonment and torture by authorities.
Syrian government forces have bombarded opposition districts of the city of Homs for weeks, killing and wounding civilians cowering in its ruined buildings.
Assad’s government said in December more than 2,000 police and soldiers had been killed by what it describes as “terrorist armed groups,” backed by foreign powers, which it says are trying to stir up violence in Syria.
Rai has expressed fears the Arab uprisings could replace autocratic leaders with radical Islamic groups, and said extremist groups were getting foreign support.
“It’s not the people who want them. There are countries behind them, supporting them financially and militarily and politically,” he said. “Moderate people do not want them.”
“We do not speak out against any sect and we do not fear moderate Islam. We fear the extremists groups that use the language of violence”.
Many Lebanese of all religions, still recovering from their ruinous 1975-1990 civil war, fear the violence in Syria will upset their own fragile sectarian balance and could push the country towards its own renewed conflict.
Rai said Lebanese were divided by events across the border, and he feared the shockwaves could have an impact in Lebanon, home to Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims, Maronite and Orthodox Christians, Druzes and Alawites - the same sect as Assad.
Two people were killed in street battles in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli three weeks ago between Alawite supporters of Assad and Sunni Muslims who back the uprising against him.
“God forbid that the conflict turns into a sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Alawites,” said Rai.
“In Tripoli we have Alawites and the situation there is like a fire (smoldering) under the ashes.” (source)
French Muslim Community Incites Opposition
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — The issue of France's Muslims moved front and center into the presidential campaign with the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, excluding on Saturday any special indulgences for halal meat or separate swimming hours for Muslim women in public pools.
Echoing his 2007 campaign, Sarkozy insisted that French civilization must prevail in France. He created France's first Ministry of Immigration and National Identity after being elected, but has since done away with it.
Muslims, and immigration, are constant themes in recent French presidential races, but the topic is rising to the fore with vehemence as the April 22 first-round vote nears — 50 days from now. The final round is May 6.
Critics say Sarkozy is ogling supporters of extreme-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who is third in polls after front-runner Francois Hollande, a Socialist, and the conservative president. Le Pen, who succeeds party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father, has worked to erase the image of the party as anti-Semitic — but now castigates what she says is the profile of Islam in France.
There are an estimated 5 million Muslims in France, the largest such population in Western Europe, and the latest generation is making increasing demands that the country accommodate needs set out by their religion or their customs.
"There is no place in the republic for xenophobia, there is no place for racism ... There is no place for pools with hours for men and hours for women," Sarkozy told a rally Saturday in Bordeaux.
The team of Hollande, the Socialist candidate, castigated as "sickening" a remark Friday by Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who said that giving foreigners the right to vote in local elections would open the way to halal meat in school canteens and burqa-style bathing suits in public pools.
Sarkozy makes "scapegoats, stigmatizes" Muslims, said Manuel Valls, communications chief for Hollande's campaign.
Hollande has proposed allowing all foreigners residing in France legally for five years to have the right to vote in local elections. The Socialist candidate has made it a policy to avoid implicating himself directly in divisive issues, leaving responses to his lieutenants.
At a rally Saturday in Dijon, Hollande simply reiterated that foreigners should be allowed to vote "without fearing for our citizenship or our national cohesion or our freedom."
The French president, who declared his candidacy just weeks ago, on Feb. 15, is narrowing the gap with Hollande but, polls show, would lose by a wide margin in second-round balloting.
"There is no taboo subject," Sarkozy said, suggesting that it is not in the nation's interest to be politically correct about immigration or about what some Muslims seek to conform to their religious beliefs or cultural mores.
He said issues like halal food in schools or special hours so that Muslim women can swim out of view of men are in contradiction with the French principle of secularism.
Such issues "should be considered not as religious facts, but as facts of civilization," he said.
Jerome Sainte-Marie of the CSA polling firm, monitoring the rally with BFM television, said that with Sarkozy's showing in polls he must work the terrain where he does best.
"Nicolas Sarkozy has no other choice but to turn the tables and transform this election into a referendum on national identity," Sainte-Marie said.
But the spokesman for Le Pen's campaign, Florian Philippot, counters that "the French are not for one second dupes of the electoral strings (being pulled) by the Sarkozy camp."
Echoing his 2007 campaign, Sarkozy insisted that French civilization must prevail in France. He created France's first Ministry of Immigration and National Identity after being elected, but has since done away with it.
Muslims, and immigration, are constant themes in recent French presidential races, but the topic is rising to the fore with vehemence as the April 22 first-round vote nears — 50 days from now. The final round is May 6.
Critics say Sarkozy is ogling supporters of extreme-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who is third in polls after front-runner Francois Hollande, a Socialist, and the conservative president. Le Pen, who succeeds party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father, has worked to erase the image of the party as anti-Semitic — but now castigates what she says is the profile of Islam in France.
There are an estimated 5 million Muslims in France, the largest such population in Western Europe, and the latest generation is making increasing demands that the country accommodate needs set out by their religion or their customs.
"There is no place in the republic for xenophobia, there is no place for racism ... There is no place for pools with hours for men and hours for women," Sarkozy told a rally Saturday in Bordeaux.
The team of Hollande, the Socialist candidate, castigated as "sickening" a remark Friday by Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who said that giving foreigners the right to vote in local elections would open the way to halal meat in school canteens and burqa-style bathing suits in public pools.
Sarkozy makes "scapegoats, stigmatizes" Muslims, said Manuel Valls, communications chief for Hollande's campaign.
Hollande has proposed allowing all foreigners residing in France legally for five years to have the right to vote in local elections. The Socialist candidate has made it a policy to avoid implicating himself directly in divisive issues, leaving responses to his lieutenants.
At a rally Saturday in Dijon, Hollande simply reiterated that foreigners should be allowed to vote "without fearing for our citizenship or our national cohesion or our freedom."
The French president, who declared his candidacy just weeks ago, on Feb. 15, is narrowing the gap with Hollande but, polls show, would lose by a wide margin in second-round balloting.
"There is no taboo subject," Sarkozy said, suggesting that it is not in the nation's interest to be politically correct about immigration or about what some Muslims seek to conform to their religious beliefs or cultural mores.
He said issues like halal food in schools or special hours so that Muslim women can swim out of view of men are in contradiction with the French principle of secularism.
Such issues "should be considered not as religious facts, but as facts of civilization," he said.
Jerome Sainte-Marie of the CSA polling firm, monitoring the rally with BFM television, said that with Sarkozy's showing in polls he must work the terrain where he does best.
"Nicolas Sarkozy has no other choice but to turn the tables and transform this election into a referendum on national identity," Sainte-Marie said.
But the spokesman for Le Pen's campaign, Florian Philippot, counters that "the French are not for one second dupes of the electoral strings (being pulled) by the Sarkozy camp."
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