Central Ohioans Against Terrorism: Ahmad Al-Akhras

Showing posts with label Ahmad Al-Akhras. Show all posts

Sunday, January 11, 2009

LMAO — Congresswoman Kilroy snubs CAIR, votes FOR House resolution supporting Israel

I’m never one to begrudge praise when someone does the right thing no matter how much I’ve disagreed with them in the past. So a tip of the hat to new Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy for bucking her CAIR supporters on Friday in her first week in Washington DC and voting FOR the House resolution supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ support for Israel, and supporting the peace process.

As I have reported here, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a HAMAS front group, invested significant money, time and energy to get Kilroy elected. It isn’t a stretch, considering her very slim margin of victory, that she owes her seat to CAIR. And in the past, she has been more than willing to do their bidding. But Ahmad Al-Akhras, Asma Mobin-Uddin and Abukar Arman must be steaming that Kilroy has turned on them so quickly. And to think that they couldn’t even get their own congressman, Keith Ellison, to vote against the resolution (he voted “present”)!

How are those political dividends paying off, CAIR?

LMAO

Monday, September 1, 2008

CAIR gets failing grades at running Ohio charter schools

Last week the Ohio Department of Education released the school report cards for the 2007–2008 school year. Included in these were the report cards for International Academy and Westside Academy, both here in the Columbus area, two charter schools operated by officials of the extremist Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). As I note in my article today, “CAIR gets failing grades at running Ohio charter schools”, both schools failed miserably.

Here’s the intro:

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released their annual school report cards this week, and the results show that two taxpayer-financed Islamic charter schools operated by officials of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have failed miserably yet again. But protected by powerful political connections, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, and apparently indifferent to their exploitation of the Somali children that comprise the vast majority of their students, the Islamic extremists running the operation appear to have no fear of losing their cash cows. In fact, Ohio educrats have renewed one school’s contract after five years of complete academic failure.

The two schools, International Academy and Westside Academy, are run by a group of local Islamic leaders, including CAIR national board vice chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras, CAIR-Columbus president and CAIR-Ohio board member Abukar Arman, and Islamic Society of Greater Columbus president and imam Mouhamed Tarazi (who serves as principal of one of the schools). At one time or another, all have served on the board of the local private Islamic school in Central Ohio, Sunrise Academy.

Beginning operations in 2002, International Academy has a long track record of failure. According to the school’s most recent state report card, the school only meets two of the 19 indicators measured (one of the two indicators it met was attendance). The performance index score of 73.9 fell well short of the 100 points required (of 120 total; the state median is 96.6), but since that was slightly more than the 72.2 scored the previous school year (2006–2007) the school received a “continuous improvement” designation. Only in the Orwellian world of union-controlled, taxpayer-financed public education does this performance rate a grade of C-, thanks to some grade inflation in this year’s report cards courtesy of the ODE.

That “continuous improvement” designation notwithstanding, since International Academy opened, it has never met the state’s required “adequate yearly progress” standard and has never met more than two of the state indicators. Looking at the past three years of academic performance data, we find in four of the seven tested areas, test scores declined last year from the previous year.

The second school, Westside Academy, appears to be following in its older brother’s failing footsteps. Their state report card shows that they met state standards in one area — attendance. Across all grade levels and subjects, less than 20 percent of their students rated proficient or better. In one subject area, 3rd grade math, the school achieved zero percent proficiency. Their performance index also dropped to 56.9 last school year (again, 100 of 120 points being the state requirement), putting them in the “academic watch” category.

Read the whole thing.

Monday, June 30, 2008

HAMAS ♥ Mary Jo Kilroy

Mary Jo Kilroy and friends
UPDATE: Check out our new post on the topic, "Mary Jo Kilroy locks up the Ohio 15th female HAMAS vote".

It hardly seems like a year since Mary Jo Kilroy and her employees were helping Kilroy comrade and Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) national vice chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras stonewall and cover-up the illegal appointment of Al-Akhras business partner Abukar Arman by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners (of which Kilroy is president) to the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board, which oversees area homeland security. Kilroy claimed to have no involvement in Arman’s appointment (more on that later), which was illegal by virtue of the fact that he is not a US citizen and thereby barred from serving according to Ohio law. (Yes, they had a foreign national who had openly praised HAMAS helping overseeing our homeland security, but don’t worry — the Columbus Dispatch said it was all OK, because he wasn’t a terrorist!)

But in the weeks that followed the Arman county commission kerfuffle, Ahmad Al-Akhras saw fit to reward Mary Jo Kilroy’s never-ending congressional campaign for the Ohio 15th Congressional District with two donations totaling $750. By the end of 2007, Al-Akhras had fully doled out $1000 to Kilroy’s campaign — with the last contribution coming less than a month before Al-Akhras fled the country to take a job with the government of Dubai. FEC reports showing Al-Akhras’ 2007 contributions to Kilroy are below.

Mary Jo Kilroy accepted these donations AFTER CAIR — the very same organization that Al-Akhras heads — had been named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism finance trial. And as the Investigative Project has noted, CAIR has been identified as one of the key components of the HAMAS terrorist support infrastructure in the US. Not by me. By federal prosecutors.

In fact, around the time of Al-Akhras’ last contribution to Mary Jo Kilroy’s campaign, the Department of Justice identified CAIR as a longtime terrorist support operation in a legal brief filed in another terrorism-related case (for more see, “For the Record: Government Reminds Court of CAIR/MAS Ties to Terrorists”).

Here is what the DOJ said about Mary Jo Kilroy’s friends at CAIR:

Moreover, since its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists. (DOJ Brief No. 07-4778, USA v. Benkahla, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, p. 58)

Oh, I just happen to have an image of that statement taken from the DOJ brief:

And it was more than a decade ago that Steve Pomerantz, former FBI chief of counterterrorism, made the very same assessment about CAIR’s ties to international terrorism:

Any objective assessment of the material presented above leads to the conclusion that CAIR, its leaders, and its activities, effectively give aid to international terrorist groups. Unfortunately, CAIR is but one of a new generation of new groups in the United States that hide under a veneer of “civil rights” or “academic” status but in fact are tethered to a platform that support terrorism. The degree to which these groups are able to deceive the American public and intimidate writers and counter-terrorist officials will be a significant ingredient in whether this country will be rendered more vulnerable to terrorism in future years. (“Counterterrorism in a Free Society,” The Journal of Counterterrorism & Security International 5:1, Spring 1998, p. 26)

And what, you may ask, is Abukar Arman up to these days now that he’s not helping oversee Franklin County homeland security? That’s right. He’s now the new president of CAIR-Columbus.

Exit question: Are HAMAS, CAIR, and Ahmad Al-Akhras the kinds of friends that Democratic congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy wants to be associated with?

Two separate contributions by Ahmad Al-Akhras to Kilroy for Congress (8/29/07, 9/29/07) for $750 [click to enlarge; original]

Additional $250 contribution (12/03/07) by Ahmad Al-Akhras to Kilroy for Congress [click to enlarge; original]

Friday, June 27, 2008

Where’s CAIR on Christopher Paul?

That’s the question I ask today in my FrontPage article, “CAIR Mum on Ohio Al-Qaeda Guilty Plea”:

Earlier this month Christopher Paul stood before a federal judge in Columbus, Ohio and pled guilty to receiving training in Al-Qaeda terror camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, fighting with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Bosnia, and passing that training on to other Muslims in the US and Europe with the intent to kill Americans at home and abroad as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors to avoid conviction on even more charges.

Since then, however, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been curiously silent on Paul’s guilty plea, with no press releases, media interviews or angry editorials on the matter for nearly three weeks. And any mention of Christopher Paul and his Columbus Al-Qaeda co-conspirators has been tellingly scrubbed from CAIR’s website.

This is especially curious considering the media full-court press that some CAIR officials engaged in when he was arrested in April 2007. At that time CAIR had no reservations about speaking publicly on the matter, as evidenced by the public protestations of Paul’s innocence by CAIR national vice-chairman, go-to friend of terrorists, and sometime pugilist Ahmad Al-Akhras, who defended his Al-Qaeda associate to the Associated Press:

Ahmad Al-Akhras, vice chair of the Columbus chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, knows Paul and said the charges are out of character.

“From the things I know, he is a loving husband and he has a wife and parents in town,” Al-Akhras said Thursday. “They are a good family together.”

Al-Akhras said he and others in the Muslim community are guarding against a public backlash.

“People start wondering and questioning, what is happening and why now?” he said. “When something like this pops up, it creates some anxiety among the members of the Muslim community. . . . We hope nothing bad will happen and everything will be clear.”

Two of Christopher Paul’s Ohio Al-Qaeda associates, Iyman Faris and Nuradin Abdi, are already serving prison sentences for their role in the Columbus Al-Qaeda cell (from court documents at least 10 others are known to have been involved, but have not yet been charged). As noted by Andrew Cochran at Counterterrorism Blog, Paul’s admission to his extensive collaboration with international terrorist plots going back to the early 1990s and the statement of facts in the case indicates that he is the earliest known American Al-Qaeda operative.

In each of these cases of the Columbus Al-Qaeda cell, CAIR has initially rushed to publicly defend these men from the charges and to flog their own grievance-mongering agenda. But as the full scope of their involvement in the terrorist network became clear they attempted to distance themselves and their organizations from the terrorist network, while still attempting to promote their agenda and give their terrorist associates as much cover as possible.

For instance, after Iyman Faris had pled guilty to felony terrorism charges, Al-Akhras business partner Mohammad Tarazi (whose wife serves as the corporate secretary for CAIR-OH), was dispatched to speak to a local TV station to float the story that Faris was mentally ill and possessed by demons:

An Islamic religious leader said an Ohio trucker who pleaded guilty to felony terrorism charges had once claimed he was possessed by demons and attempted suicide.

Mouhamed Nabih Tarazi volunteers as an imam to lead prayer services at various sites around Columbus. He performed the marriage ceremony for Iyman Faris, but said Faris did not attend services regularly because he was often on the road.

Tarazi said he never heard Faris talk about politics, but thinks he might have been mentally ill.

“He did have some mental problems. We did not know about these problems when he was married,” Tarazi said.

Here Tarazi is attempting to deal with the guilty plea aftermath by simultaneously distance the mosque (Masjid Omar Ibn El Khattab, which was the hub of the Columbus Al-Qaeda cell) from Faris while explaining away his behavior with bizarre claims of mental illness and demon possession to still give cover for his friend — a claim that magically appeared only after the guilty plea.

Nuradin Abdi’s arrest was more difficult for CAIR-OH to address as Abdi was known to have been an active in Masjid Omar and was one of the leaders of the local Al-Maghrib Institute (aka “Jihad U”) chapter.

So it’s not surprising that Ahmad Al-Akhras rushed to defend Abdi to the local media:

“What we know about him is unlike how he is portrayed,” said Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Ohio office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The group’s leaders questioned the evidence and the timing of the announcement of charges against Abdi, noting that the FBI has dropped charges accusing others of terrorism.

“This may be one of the cases also that may not have enough evidence or there’s no evidence at all,” Al-Akhras said.

CAIR-OH actively aided Abdi’s defense team by parroting their bogus narrative that Abdi had been tortured in prison by US officials and was exhibiting signs of mental illness because of this alleged abuse.

This time it was CAIR-OH president Asma Mobin-Uddin who was dispatched to do the group’s dirty work. She penned an op-ed for the Columbus Dispatch invoking her credentials as a physician to attest to Abdi’s mental state:

As a physician, I am extremely concerned that his behaviors might indicate mental and possibly physical abuse during his detention, and that his mental injuries may be permanent.

Area Marxist moonbat Harvey Wasserman and Columbus State professor and fellow moonbat Bob Fitrakis also parroted this theme of Abdi’s alleged torture:

In court, Abdi looked nothing like a terrorist — or his former self. His family and the larger Somali community here were horrified to see Abdi enter the courtroom smiling vacantly and failing to recognize his own brother. Apparently unconscious of his surroundings, Abdi banged his head repeatedly on a table and grinned at nothing. Many who know Abdi in the central Ohio community say the vague, sensational charges against him are absurdly out of character.

No photos have emerged of abuse in prison. But Abdi’s new attorney, his family and the community who knew him find little else to conclude. Some say he has apparently lost his mind under the conditions of his incarceration.

The problem with Mobin-Uddin’s narrative of Abdi’s torture and mental collapse, however, is that she is a pediatrician, not a psychiatrist, and had a definite conflict of interest in her bogus diagnosis. And unfortunately for CAIR-OH, when actual mental health officials examined Abdi, they found that he was faking symptoms of mental illness in an attempt to avoid the 80 years in prison that he possibly faced. A federal appeals court also rebuffed his lawyers’ attempt to suppress incriminating statements he made at the time of his arrest.

Notwithstanding Abdi’s eventual guilty plea, Asma Mobin-Uddin still features her Columbus Dispatch editorial in defense of Abdi on her personal website. And when a local Muslim columnist, Mahmoud El-Yousseph, conceded Abdi’s guilt and proper punishment and chastised CAIR-OH for refusing to withdraw their support for the terrorist, he was publicly rebuked by Ahmad Al-Akhras and others for deviating from the CAIR line of maintaining Abdi’s innocence at all costs.

The most recent guilty plea by Columbus Al-Qaeda member Christopher Paul, however, provided a particularly difficult conundrum. Not only was Paul an active and well-known member of Masjid Omar, for years he had been the martial arts instructor for the mosque, presumably providing members there with jihadist training. This no doubt prompted Al-Akhras’ full-court media press at the time of Paul’s arrest.

And now that Paul has admitted his guilt and acknowledged that he had conspired to use weapons of mass destruction against US citizens at home and abroad, CAIR’s continued silence is as condemning as the respective guilty pleas by Iyman Faris, Nuradin Abdi and Christopher Paul. Considering that our local terrorist cell is the largest known Al-Qaeda operation in the US since 9/11, and that these convicted terrorists were close associates to CAIR officials (by their own admission), the campaign of silence by CAIR has becoming deafening.

Monday, June 2, 2008

BREAKING: Columbus Al-Qaeda cell member Christopher Paul to plead guilty!

UPDATE #1: Added local news video from 10TV reporter Maureen Kocot below.

UPDATE #2: For those not familiar with the terror problem in the Columbus area, I’ve also added below the 5 minute CBN News feature from last October, “Jihad in Central Ohio” (link is to video text; video below).

UPDATE #3: Incredible as it seems, take a gander at my most recent post, “Local Muslim leader defends convicted Columbus Al-Qaeda cell members”.

UPDATE #4: Now that Paul has officially pled guilty, see my wrap-up, "What Columbus Al-Qaeda cell member Christopher Paul pled guilty to".

This is breaking news, but it is being reported today that Columbus Al-Qaeda cell member Christopher “Kenyatta” Paul has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. While two of Paul’s conspirators, Iyman Faris and Nuradin Abdi, have already been convicted on terrorism charges, we also know from court documents in these three cases that there are at least 10 others known to have been involved in the Columbus Al-Qaeda cell that have not yet been charged.

You might remember that several prominent Muslim organizations and self-appointed Islamic spokesmen (CAIR National Vice Chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras included) openly criticized Paul’s April 2007 arrest as evidence of Islamophobia (see Erick Stakelbeck’s CBN News article, “Columbus Al-Qaeda Man Charged, CAIR not pleased”). What is CAIR’s response today? Nothing appears on their website. For Al-Akhras’ comments regarding Christopher Paul and his other convicted terrorist associates, see my FrontPage article, “Hometown Jihad: Getting By With a Little Help from His (Terrorist) Friends”. Oh, and Christopher Paul was the longtime martial arts instructor at Masjid Omar Ibn El Khattab, where Ahmad Al-Akhras attended before fleeing the country earlier this year.

Also recall that local wackademic, Ohio State National Security Studies chair John Mueller has published a book, “Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them”, and created a cottage industry of touring the country claiming that there is no domestic threat from Al-Qaeda to the United States. No doubt Mr. Mueller is not available today for comment.

Here’s the Associated Press report:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Court documents say an Ohio man will plead guilty in an alleged plot to bomb overseas U.S. military facilities and European resorts.

Christopher Paul of the Columbus suburb of Worthington is the last of three Ohio men charged with alleged terrorist activities.

Documents filed Monday in federal court in Columbus say Paul will plead guilty Tuesday to one count of using bombs in a terrorist attack with a possible sentence of 20 years.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Paul’s attorney, Jim Gilbert, says the documents speak for themselves.

The Columbus Dispatch report is more specific, saying that Paul has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. He could face life in prison.

UPDATE #1: Here’s a video news report by reporter Maureen Kocot courtesy of 10TV CBS News.

UPDATE #2: As a refresher to our local terrorism problem, here’s the CBN News video, “Jihad in Central Ohio” (link is to video text):

Thursday, May 8, 2008

CAIR-OH revisited, 1999: CAIR-OH rushes to aid pre-9/11 dry-run hijackers

Continuing this week’s look at CAIR-Ohio’s past achievements in preparation for their annual banquet this Saturday evening at the Columbus Marriot Northwest, we revisit November 1999 and CAIR-OH’s rush to defend two Saudis (pictured above), Muhammad Al-Qudhaieen and Hamdan Al-Shalawi, which the 9/11 Commission Report identified (page 520, footnote 60) as individuals who ran a pre-9/11 dry-run hijacking on a Columbus-bound America West flight from Phoenix. CAIR-OH helped the pair file a lawsuit against the airline and threatened to file criminal charges against the pilot.

Our two previous installments in the CAIR-OH commemorative series:

1999 CAIR-OH banquet speaker: convicted terrorist and bin Laden operative, Abdurahman Alamoudi

CAIR-OH revisited, 2001: CAIR-OH holds fundraiser for notorious cop killer, Jamal Al-Amin

According to the 9/11 report, Al-Qudhaieen and Al-Shalawi were friends of Arizona-based Al-Qaeda recruiter, Zakaria Mustapha Soubra, who drove them to the airport that day in Qadhaieen’s car. Both men attended the Islamic Center of Tuscon, which counterterrorism expert Rita Katz described in a September 2002 Washington Post article as “basically the first cell of Al-Qaeda in the United States; that is where it all started”.

The men repeatedly tried to enter the airplane’s cockpit to test the flight’s security. Before the plane landed, the flight’s pilots had radioed ahead that Al-Qudhaieen and Al-Shalawi had repeatedly tried to enter the cockpit even after being warned by the flight crew not to attempt further entry, kept changing seats, as well as asking the flight crew strange questions about the plane and its destination. Immediately upon the flight’s arrival in Columbus the pair was taken into custody.

CAIR-OH president Ahmad Al-Akhras then lept into action on the dry-run hijackers’ behalf. Al-Akhras immediately began making accusations of racial profiling and denouncing the FBI’s investigation into the matter. He, along with Andy Amid of Arab Americans of Central Ohio, were quoted in the local, national, and international media protesting the innocence of the two Saudi men. Al-Akhras was quoted by the Columbus Dispatch the following day:

Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio chapter, said that the government and the airline industry appear to be profiling Arabs and Muslims.

“It seems like they single out some individuals because of their name, the way they look or their national origin,” Al-Akhras said. (Roger Alford and Kevin Mayhood, “Airline detains, releases ‘suspicious’ pair at airport”, Columbus Dispatch [November 20, 1999])

Al-Akhras’ comments were also picked up by the Egyptian daily, Al-Ahram, as were Andy Amid’s, who told the Egyptian paper, “Americans are programmed to think of Arabs as terrorists”. Amid also gave the Dispatch his take on the event:

“It’s called Islamophobia,” said Andy Amid, former president of Arab Americans of Central Ohio.

Except in this case, the two men involved were terrorists, Al-Akhras and Amid’s protestations notwithstanding.

CAIR held a press conference with the two Saudi men in Washington D.C. the day after the incident and called for Muslims to boycott America West. Ahmad Al-Akhras threw his weight behind the effort, sending an email to local Muslims on November 21, 1999 saying:

salam

CAIR is pursuing legal action and asking Muslims, Arabs and other concerned people to boycott American West until it investigates the issue and makes corrective measures.

Ahmad

When someone responded that the “innocent” Saudi students should not settle for anything less than the dismissal of the American West pilot, Al-Akhras went further:

salam

CAIR is exploring all leagl [sic] venues at this time and may press charges. i’ll keep you posted. salam.

Ahmad

What legal charges Al-Akhras and this CAIR crew had mind against the flight’s pilot he doesn’t say, but in fact, CAIR filed a lawsuit in 2000 against America West on behalf of the two Al-Qaeda terrorists over the matter, which the judge quickly dismissed. But the damage by Al-Akhras and his CAIR comrades had been done. Instead of beefing up airline security, CAIR’s intimidation tactics were no doubt instrumental in maintaining the status quo in aviation security, that is, until 9/11.

As I have noted here previously, CAIR has quietly scrubbed any mention of the incident from their website.

And whatever happened to Mohammad Al-Qudhaieen and Hamdan Al-Shalawi, who’s innocence Ahmad Al-Akhras and Andy Amid were quick to proclaim? As I reported in a FrontPage Magazine article back in April, “CAIR’s Grievance Theater, the Flying Imams, and 9/11”:

As the 9/11 Commission Report explains, Hamdan al-Shalawi was in Afghanistan in November 2000 training at an Al-Qaeda camp learning to make car bombs and planning to launch “Khobar Tower”-type attacks against the US in Saudi Arabia, and Mohammad Al-Qadhaieen was arrested in June 2003 as a material witness in the 9/11 attacks.

No doubt CAIR-OH, Ahmad Al-Akhras, Andy Amid and “Arab Americans of Central Ohio”, are proud for helping make the most devastating terror attack in American history a reality.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

CAIR-OH revisited, 2001: CAIR-OH holds fundraiser for notorious Cop Killer, Jamal al-Amin

Convicted cop-killer Jamil Al-Amin (center), with his Central Ohio cop-killer defense crew, Siraj Wahhaj (left) and Ahmad al-Akhras (right)
[In commemoration of CAIR-OH’s upcoming annual banquet this weekend (10 years of Islamofascism!), we are revisiting some of the groups most infamous highlights. Today we revisit CAIR-OH’s open support for notorious copkiller, Jamal Al-Amin. For yesterday’s installment on 1999 CAIR-OH keynote speaker, convicted terrorist and “bin Laden’s man in America” Abdurahman Alamoudi, go here]

The next time CAIR-OH does a “cultural sensitivity” seminar for one of our local law enforcement or homeland security agencies, perhaps someone there will ask the CAIR representatives about why their organization has persistently defended convicted cop-killer Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, who was convicted in March 2002 of murdering Fulton County (GA) Deputy Sheriff Ricky Kinchen and seriously wounding his partner in an ambush as they were serving an arrest warrant on him. He was convicted on all 13 counts and sentenced to life in prison.

Deputy Kinchen’s murder took him away from his wife and two small children. CAIR-OH held no fundraisers on his family’s behalf.

Even before Al-Amin’s trial, CAIR and several other prominent Islamic organizations championed his innocence. In a March 21, 2000 press release jointly-issued by CAIR even before Deputy Kinchen’s body was still cold, they claimed: “The charges of Imam Jamil are especially troubling because they are inconsistent with what is known of his moral character and past behavior as a Muslim.” Nothing was said about Al-Amin’s interstate flight to Montgomery, Alabama after the shootings or that when he was arrested police recovered the vehicle bearing bullet holes and the weapons used to ambush Deputies Kinchen and English.

One step these organizations, including CAIR, took was to form an alliance, the National Support Committee for Imam Jamil, and begin fundraising for his defense. One fundraising site was Columbus, Ohio, organized by CAIR-Ohio and the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus. Demonstrating their utter contempt for law enforcement, the keynote speaker was none other than Siraj Wahhaj, a member of CAIR’s Board of Advisors who was named by US District Attorney Mary Jo White as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Columbus event was organized by then CAIR-Ohio president (now CAIR national vice chairman) Ahmad Al-Akhras. The event was held at Masjid Omar ibn El-Khattab near campus, the gathering place for our local Al-Qaeda cell and known affectionately as “Masjid Al-Qaeda”.

Here is a copy of the announcement from CAIR-Ohio and the Islamic Society of Great Columbus for the Jamil al-Amin fundraiser:

From: “Ahmad Al-Akhras”
To: “Columbus Muslims”, “AACO”
Subject: (CAIR-Ohio) Imam Siraj Wahhaj in Columbus
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 16:30:59 -0400

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

CAIR-Ohio
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio
4700 Reed
Road, Suite B
Columbus, Ohio 43220
Tel: 614-470-5228
E-Mail: cairohio@...
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

Islamic Society of Greater Columbus
580 Riverview Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43202
Tel (614)262-1310
E-Mail: info@isgc.org
URL: http://www.isgc.org

April 12, 2001

-----------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2001 (COLUMBUS, OH 4/12/2001) CAIR-Ohio and ISGC host Imam Siraj Wahhaj to speak about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter and the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus are pleased to host Imam Siraj Wahhaj on Friday April 27, 2001.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj will give Juma’ Khutba at the Bill McDonald’s Athletic Complex on Olentangy River and Bethel Roads. In the evening, Imam Siraj Wahhaj will speak at Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque. The topic of the lecture, which will be after Maghrib Prayer, will be about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin of Atlanta, GA.

WHEN: FRIDAY April 27, 2001
Juma’a Khutbah
at Bill McDonald’s
and
Lecture
at 8:30 p.m. — after Maghrib Prayer

WHERE: Juma’a Khutba
at Bill McDonald’s
Intersection of Olentangy River Road and Bethel Road
Columbus, Ohio
and
Lecture: Defending Muslims Rights, the Case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin
at Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque
580 Riverview Dr
Columbus, Ohio
Tel 614-262-1310

TITLE: Defending Muslims Rights, the Case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin

CONTACT: Mohammed Azhar Masood, (614) 937-3357, Ahmad Al-Akhras, (614) 989-5916

When the guilty verdicts were announced, CAIR and these other Islamic organization denounced the trial as unfair and mobilized for his appeal. In a news conference they said, “We do not believe the facts presented in court warranted a guilty verdict against Imam Jamil. His defense team offered credible evidence indicating that he was not the person who shot the deputies. We believe Imam Jamil will be exonerated on appeal.” Fortunately, all of his appeals were examined, considered and rejected.

Here is one description of the events surrounding Deputy Kinchen’s murder and Al-Amin’s arrest:

Preaching a firebrand version of Islam, Al-Amin in the 1980s became a pillar of Atlanta’s burgeoning Muslim community. He and the law stayed on separate paths until 1995, when he was arrested for shooting a drug dealer four times in the legs, and also charged with carrying a concealed and unlicensed .45 caliber handgun. A year later, he was investigated in connection with more than a dozen homicides, which a police report ascribed to revenge, business rivalries and eliminating people who “knew too much.” By 1999 he was arrested on charges of driving a stolen car and carrying a concealed weapon.

Even so, when the two sheriff’s deputies, Aldranon English, 28, and Ricky Kinchen, 35, found Al-Amin standing in a black trench coat by a parked black Mercedes-Benz, they were not prepared for what came next. Finding Al-Amin’s hands concealed, they followed standard procedure and ordered him to show his hands. “OK, here they are,” he replied and allegedly pulled out two guns, firing first a .223 caliber assault rifle, then switching to a 9 mm revolver. English was shot in both legs, the left arm and right chest. Six bullets killed Kinchen. The next day English identified Al-Amin from a selection of mug shots.

Al-Amin, meanwhile, fled to White Hall, Alabama, and for the second time in his life made the FBI’s most-wanted list. Four days later he was caught — this time by no less than one hundred well-armed police officers. Al-Amin was wearing body armor when apprehended. Police found in White Hall his black Mercedes — complete with a tell-tale bullet hole-two cartridge clips, a .223 caliber rifle and a 9 mm handgun. Ballistic tests showed the guns to be those used to shoot English and Kinchen.

Something our local law enforcement officials ought to consider next time they agree to cozy up to CAIR-Ohio for “cultural sensitivity” and “community outreach”.

Monday, May 5, 2008

1999 CAIR-OH keynote speaker: convicted terrorist leader and bin Laden operative, Abdurahman Alamoudi

In honor of this Saturday’s upcoming CAIR-OH banquet, I thought it appropriate to revisit this week some of CAIR-OH’s previous keynote speakers and events since last year’s banquet. Today we remember 1999 speaker, convicted terrorist leader Abdurahman Alamoudi, a founding CAIR board member. Alamoudi was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for his terrorist activities.

According to the US government, Alamoudi was Osama bin Laden’s point man in the US, and was used by bin Laden as a conduit to funnel money to “blink sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman (currently serving life in prison for his involvement in planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plotting other terrorist attacks inside the US).

According to the NY Post:

Amoudi’s name surfaced almost a decade ago when federal agents grabbed the blind sheik and several other suspects as they were literally mixing a “witches brew” of explosives in Queens to detonate bridges, tunnels and landmarks in the Big Apple, a knowledgeable source said.

Among those arrested was Abdel al-Rahman Haggag, the sheik’s speechwriter, who turned government informant.

Haggag said he believed Osama bin Laden routinely funneled $5,000 payments to Rahman through Amoudi and his organization, the American Muslim Council.

Bin Laden’s funds were allegedly used to pay Rahman’s rent and phone bills in New Jersey and Brooklyn, a source said.

So Alamoudi’s involvement with bin Laden was what initially put bin Laden on the US terror radar.

So who better to headline the second annual CAIR-OH banquet! Here’s the announcement:

CAIR-Ohio Second Annual Meeting and Fundraising Dinner

Date: Saturday, June 19, 1999
Time: 07:00PM - 09:00PM EDT

In the next century, American Muslims will (inshallah) take their proper place in this society. The Muslim voice must be heard at every level and on every issue of importance, both domestic and foreign. Grassroots support for national and regional Muslim organizations is a key to the community’s success.

The past year saw a new culture of activism being born in our community. CAIR Ohio has been working on promoting balanced and correct understanding of Islam and Muslims, defending Muslims’ rights and making a difference. . .

Muslims, Challenges and CAIR. . . Making a Difference

Guest Speakers:

Omar Ahmad, CAIR National Chairman
Abdurahman Alamoudi, American Muslim Foundation

Where: Ramada University Hotel
3110 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, Ohio

Tickets: Columbus Ahmad Al-Akhras (614)457-1141
Andy Amid (614)471-9849
Asma Mobin-Uddin (614)761-9650
Inam Khokar (614)527-4617
Cleveland M. Esam Zaiem (440)835-1946
Cincinnati Hassan Dawas (513)651-0321
Dayton Beshir Ahmed (937)667-8071
Mohammad Abu Matar (937)643-9891
Toledo A. Hammuda (419)474-2889

For More Information, please contact:

Council on American Islamic Relations, Ohio
570 Riverview Drive
(off Olentangy River Road)
Columbus, OH 43202
Tel: (614)470-5228

Not long after his appearance for CAIR-OH, Alamoudi was videotaped leading a rally in Layfayette Park in Washington DC, leading the crowd in chants hailing the terrorist groups HAMAS and Hezbollah (Alamoudi is the speaker; the man highlighted in the video is Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society):

Here’s a transcript of Alamoudi’s remarks, courtesy of the Investigative Project:

Alamoudi: I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas, anybody supports Hamas here?
[Crowd cheers, “Yes!”].
Anybody is a supporter of Hamas here?
[Crowd cheers, “Yes!”].
Anybody is a supporter of Hamas here?
[Crowd cheers, “Yes!”].
Hear that, Bill Clinton, we are all supporters of Hamas, Allahu Akbar. [Crowd responds].
I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hizballah. Anybody supports Hizballah here?
[Crowd cheers, “Yes!”]
Anybody supports Hizballah here?
[Crowd cheers, “Yes!”]
Takbeer!
[Crowd: “Allahu Ahkbar!”].
Takbeer!
[Crowd: “Allahu Ahkbar!”]

How nice. Both HAMAS and Hezbollah were designated terrorist organizations in 1995 by the US government.

Just a few months after that in January 2001, Alamoudi put in an appearance at the “First Conference on Jerusalem” in Beirut. Also in attendance were representatives of Al-Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, HAMAS, Hezbollah, and terrorist leaders from all over the Middle East.

The picture below shows Alamoudi (second from left) at the Beirut conference with current HAMAS spokesman Ahmed Yousef (far left; recently noted here as local Columbus resident Anisa Abd El Fattah’s coauthor), Yaser Bushnaq, and Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad.

Here’s one description of the conference, courtesy of Fox News:

— In February and April of 2001, the world’s most extreme Islamic terror groups held meetings in Beirut and Tehran, respectively, to set aside their differences and unite for jihad (holy war) against Israel and the United States. The two unprecedented meetings had over 400 militants in attendance. They called it “the Jerusalem Conference,” aimed at uniting behind the Palestinians and winning total Arab control over Jerusalem. Sources say the group agreed on a document and the creation of an actual organization now known as “the Jerusalem Project.” The document included the statement: “The only decisive option to achieve this strategy is the option of jihad in all its forms and resistance . . . America today is a second Israel.”

The participants included leaders of Usama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terror group, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Qatar, Yemen, the Sudan and Algeria. Sources say at least one participant went to the conference from the United States and returned to the country afterward. U.S. intelligence sources have identified two leaders of the Beirut-based Jerusalem Project.

The end for CAIR-OH keynote speaker Abdurahman Alamoudi came in August 2003, when he was arrested at Heathrow Airport with $340,000 he had obtained from Libyan intelligence to fund a variety of terrorist operations. Again, according to the NY Post:

On Aug. 11, Amoudi was stopped in England at Heathrow Airport with 34 bundles of sequentially numbered $100 bills in his suitcase as he prepared to fly to Syria.

He said he received the money from Libyan officials to try to win release of Libyan assets frozen after the 1988 Pan Am bombing.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Brett Gentrup said in court documents yesterday the feds suspect Amoudi might have been funneling the $340,000 to terror groups operating in Syria, such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Gentrup also said a transcript had been uncovered in which Amoudi criticized al Qaeda’s selection of terror targets.

Amoudi said too many Muslims were killed in attacks such as the 1998 Kenyan embassy bombing, the court documents claimed.

“I prefer to hit a Zionist target in America or Europe or elsewhere,” Amoudi said, according to the court documents.

Yes, he complained that Al-Qaeda attacks were killing too many Muslims and not enough Americans. As noted by the Washington Post, Alamoudi pled guilty and confessed to his crimes. CAIR-OH, however, has not said a word in response to the terrorist activities of their previous annual fundraising banquet keynote speaker.

Thanks to Ahmad Al-Akhras and everyone associated with CAIR-OH for bringing this terrorist leader into our community!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, and remembering CAIR's censorship of it

We fly Israel's flag in spite of CAIR's attempt to censor it.
We recognize this week’s international commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day, vowing to never forget. And in our remembering, we recall the attack by CAIR-Ohio officials, namely Ahmad Al-Akhras, against Holocaust Remembrance Day in April 2001. Islamofascist thug Al-Akhras was joined by Andy Amid and several other leaders demanding that the city of Gahanna strip down Israel’s flag flown in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

CAIR crowed about their success in a press release (now conveniently disappeared after I mentioned in an expose of Al-Akhras last year).

Here’s the now-removed April 2001 CAIR-OH press release:

Israeli flag taken down in Ohio following protests from Muslims

The mayor of a Columbus, Ohio, suburb has agreed to take down an Israeli flag that flew for a day from the city’s flagpole. The flag had been flown as part of the “Days of Remembrance,” a national commemoration of the mass killing of Jews in Europe during World War II.

Mayor Jim McGregor of Gahanna, Ohio, took the flag down after meeting with representatives of the CAIR’s Ohio chapter (CAIR-OHIO), Arab Americans of Central Ohio, the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, and the Muslim Student Association.

“We want to thank Mayor McGregor for understanding that the desire to honor and remember all those who died at the hands of the Nazis is a completely separate issue from flying the Israeli flag. For the Islamic and Arab communities in Ohio, that flag is a symbol of the ongoing oppression suffered by Palestinian Christians and Muslims,” said CAIR-OHIO President Ahmad Al-Akhras.

Al-Akhras cited the fact that more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and more than 400 Palestinian town and villages were wiped off the map by the creation of Israel in 1948. He also noted that today is the fifth anniversary of the Qana massacre in Lebanon during which Israeli troops, using American weapons, killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians who sought shelter in a U.N. compound.

“Americans cannot, without a strong sense of hypocrisy, praise the principles of Holocaust remembrance on the one hand, and turn a blind eye to the daily atrocities committed by Israel on the other,” said Andy Amid, a founding member of the Islamic Council of Ohio, who also attended the meeting.

It is, of course, hypocritical to cite the events of 1948 as justification for removing the Israeli flag, as the Palestinians were not driven off by Israelis, but the invading Muslim armies who attacked Israel vowing to finish the genocide that the Nazis had begun. And the feigned concern for Palestinian Christians is equally hypocritical, as the HAMAS allies of these organizations are the biggest persecutors of Christians in Palestine. We also remember the ongoing liquidation of Christian communities in virtually every segment of the Muslim world. Where’s the CAIR press release on that?

Jim McGregor is no longer mayor of Gahanna, but now serves as a state representative.

Friday, March 7, 2008

We’ve got hate mail!

Abdul-Muhaimin Bayan says,

"Waah, waah, waaaaaah! Central Ohioans Against Terrorism is so mean!"
Awwwwww. Abdul-Muhaimin Bayan has got his feelings hurt. He spent some time perusing our website Thursday evening, and didn’t like what he saw. We were saying so many things he took offence to that he penned the following missive in defense of hate sheiks, like Siraj Wahhaj; extremist organizations, like CAIR; and politically-connected Islamist thugs, like Ahmad Al-Akhras.

So Abdul-Muhaimin Bayan says, “boo hoo hoo!”:

From: “A. M. Bayan”
To: Undisclosed-recipients: <>;
Subject: Hate and Smear Campaign Against Muslims by “Central Ohioans Against Terrorism”
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 01:46:19 -0500
Cc: Patrick Poole, Read Holy Qur’an

In the Name of ALLAH, The Compassionate, The Merciful

And ALLAH will never lead a people astray after HE has guided them until HE makes Clear to them as to what they should avoid. Verily, ALLAH is The Knower of everything. Verily, ALLAH ! To HIM belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, HE gives life and HE causes death. And besides ALLAH you have neither waliy (friend, guardian, protector) nor any naseer (helper). [Qur’an translation : at-Taubah, 9:115–116]

O you who believe, should any one of you turn back from his Religion, then ALLAH will bring a people whom HE Loves and who Love HIM, humble towards Believers, mighty against the disbelievers, striving hard in ALLAH’s Way and not fearing the censure of any censurer. This is ALLAH’s Grace — HE gives it to whom HE pleases.. And ALLAH is Ample-Giving, All-Knowing. [Qur’an translation : al-Ma’idah, 5:54]

Friday, March 7, 2008

As-Salaamu Alaikum To CAIR, CAIR-Ohio and To All Muslims and True Believers, and To All:

I seek the Guidance, Mercy, Forgiveness, Help and Protection of ALLAH in this matter and in all things. Ameen (May it be so).

Let me begin by saying that I am very happy and very blessed to be a Muslim. I am so thankful that ALLAH guided me to Islaam. I am not a terrorist. Further, I totally reject any and all forms of “terrorism” including the murdering, assaulting, maiming, raping and unjustified injuring (by hand or mouth) of any human beings. I totally reject the concept and the actual practice of torturing any human beings. I do however firmly believe in the Rule of Law and therefore believe in appropriate punishments for crimes and terrorists’ acts, in accordance with the requirements of due process.

Terrorism is terrorism, but State sponsored terrorism initiated by powerful nations against weak and defenseless nations, peoples and individuals is the most abhorrent terrorism of all.

All praise is due to ALLAH for all persons, organizations and groups which genuinely stand for truth and justice and the Rule of Law which does not discriminate between Muslims, Christians, Jews and any other classifications of people. A murderer is a murderer; a thief is thief; a liar is a liar; and all praise belongs to ALLAH Who Alone is the Judge of us all. Ameen.

CAIR and or CAIR-Ohio may already be well aware of the anti-Muslim activities of the so-called “Central Ohioans Against Terrorism”, but I have just recently become aware of this organization’s web site which constitutes a vicious hate and smear campaign against Central Ohio Muslims in particular and against all Muslims in general and also against any non-Muslims who do not express and manifest hatred for Muslims and Islaam..

The web site of the so-called “Central Ohioans Against Terrorism” slanders and targets various present and past leaders of CAIR and or CAIR-Ohio, and all of the masaajid (mosques) and all of Islamic institutions and organizations in Columbus and Central Ohio including the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, ISGC, IFCO and Sunrise Academy, for example. Hilliard, Ohio where Sunrise Academy is located is specifically targeted.

The web site slanders and targets nationally and internationally well-known, beloved and respected Muslim leaders such as Imam Siraj Wahhaj who has been a guest speaker in Columbus, Ohio on many occasions over a period of several years now.

The web site slanders and targets well-known, beloved and respected, former and current CAIR officials, including brother Ahmad Al-Akhras and sister Asma Mobin-Uddin and others.

The web site slanders and targets government officials including Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and others.

The web site slanders and targets presidential candidate Senator Barack Hussein Obama.

One of the obvious goals of the web site is to insinuate that all Muslims and non-Muslims mentioned at the site are terrorists and or supporters of terrorists. Another goal is to incite fear and panic and irrational thinking and irrational behavior against Islaam and Muslims by anyone who visits the site. The producers of the site allege that Hilliard, Ohio, a Columbus suburb, is a center of support for violent jihad, by using various fabrications.

Jihad in Central Ohio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLqbNiP45k

The publishers of the web site use a mixture of truths and falsehoods as well as pure fabrications, conjecture, speculation, inference, disparaging remarks, character assassination, guilt by association, allusion and innuendo, etc., to connect, --- some specific Muslim leaders, and more so, all Muslims and all non-Muslim leaders and officials who work with or interact in good faith with Muslims, --- to terrorism and terrorists’ plots.

Inshaa’ALLAH, if it pleases ALLAH, CAIR and or CAIR-Ohio has already been responding to, and best knows how to respond to, the web site of the so-called “Central Ohioans Against Terrorism”.

Links to some of the content on the site follows but there is much more:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008

HTTP://OHIOAGAINSTTERROR.BLOGSPOT.COM/

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008

http://ohioagainstterror.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunrise%20Academy

___________________________________________________________

Jazakum ALLAHU Khairan wa-Salaam.

Abdul-Muhaimin Bayan
Columbus, Ohio

________________________

Read Holy Qur’an

dawah@erinet.com

Needless to say, Abdul-Muhaimin Bayan is not the first individual to wail and pout about our little website here, but at least he didn’t praise al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups like the last one.

So here’s a challenge, Abdul: if you don’t like us publishing stories about local terror sheiks, such as Salah Sultan, and note his open association with terrorist leaders (like the picture below where he is sitting at a table with Yousef al-Qaradawi and Khaled Mish’al of HAMAS - both designated as terrorists by the US government);

Or you don’t like us pointing out that local organizations, such as Sunrise Academy, Masjid Abubakar Siddique, CAIR-OH, Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio and Noor Islamic Cultural Center, are bringing in unindicted co-conspirators named as such by the US Department of Justice for terrorist acts against the US and its citizens, such as Siraj Wahhaj pictured below, to speak and fundraise on behalf of their groups;

And you don’t want us mentioning how CAIR officials openly praise terrorist organizations, like the blog post by CAIR-OH board member Abukar Arman below, or defend convicted cop-killers;

Then you’re free to whine all you want. But perhaps this is another Quranic verse you should reflect on:

Do not withhold any testimony by concealing what you had witnessed. Anyone who withholds a testimony is sinful at heart. (2:283)

If you find fault with the truth we speak here, you’re problem isn’t with us; it’s with Allah.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Central Ohio connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — 15 Years Ago Today

On February 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the parking garage of the World Trade Center, announcing that war had come to America.

Seven people were murdered that day by Islamic extremists:

John DiGiovanni, 45 (Valley Stream, New York)
Robert Kirkpatrick, 61 (Suffern, New York)
Steven Knapp, 47 (Manhattan, New York City)
William Macko, 57 (Bayonne, New Jersey)
Wilfred Mercado, 37 (Brooklyn, New York City)
Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child (Seaford, New York)

Memorial to the souls lost on 2/26/1993 (destroyed on 9/11)

Another 1,042 people were injured, some severely. The Islamic terrorists who committed this act had intended to kill tens of thousands, if not more.

This day should be important to us in Central Ohio, in that one of the unindicted co-conspirators in this terrorist act, Siraj Wahhaj, named as such by US Attorney Mary Jo White, is a regular speaker in our area. In just the past two years, Wahhaj has been the keynote speaker at fundraising events for Sunrise Academy, Masjid Abubakar Al Siddique, CAIR-Ohio, the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, and most recently, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center.

On March 10, 2006, he was the keynote speaker at the Sunrise Academy (the area’s full-time Islamic school) sports complex fundraiser at the Makoy Center in Hilliard. I discussed the event in my article, “Hometown Jihad: The School Gym that Terror Built”. Here’s the announcement (click to enlarge):

Then on February 16, 2007, Wahhaj again appeared in Central Ohio for a fundraiser for Masjid Abubaker Al Siddique on Sullivant Ave held at Sunrise Academy. This mosque is part of the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus (ISGC). Here is that announcement (click to enlarge):

On June 6, 2006, Siraj Wahhaj was back again in Columbus for a fundraiser for CAIR-OH. I wrote about this event previously, “CAIR’s Blood Money”. CAIR-OH later bragged how the Wahhaj fundraiser had netted them more than $100,000 in one evening to help spread their hate speech and terror apologies. Here is the CAIR press release following the event (click to enlarge):

This past September 9th, Wahhaj was the keynote speaker for the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio (IFCO), appearing on behalf of his friend Ahmad Al-Akhras, CAIR national vice chairman and president of IFCO. (See our post here, “Mayor Coleman advisor brings hate shiekh to town”, which discusses in detail Wahhaj’s virulent hate speech and violent rhetoric.)

And most recently, Wahhaj was the featured speaker at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard on December 19, 2007 for their Eid celebration.

Very few Muslims in our area agree with the extremist ideology of Siraj Wahhaj and his local allies. In fact, these events were attended by only a very tiny minority of supporters from the Muslim community. But these same supporters are not only very vocal, but are well-funded, control several of the prominent Islamic institutions in town, and have the ear of our local and state political establishment (as has been observed, Wahhaj’s 2006 CAIR-OH fundraiser was followed in 2007 by an appearance by Governor Strickland, “Not in our name, Gov. Strickland”). As we remember what happened on February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001, it would do us well to remember all those who have been murdered and vow to be vigilant in confronting the hate and extremism that is alive and well in Central Ohio.

Andrew McCarthy, the Assistant US Attorney in charge of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing prosecutions, published an article about the attacks today that is worth reading in its entirety. As you read the excerpt below and the rest of the article, remember that the violence at work on that day 15 years ago is still with us:

On the morning of February 26, 1993, Islamic militants steered a nondescript Ryder van through the winding darkness of the parking garage under the World Trade Center. They had spent years planning this moment in secret meetings at mosques and jailhouses, in rural outposts that served as paramilitary camps, and in safehouses where explosive compounds were mixed in makeshift labs.

Loaded into the van’s rear compartment was a 1,400-pound chemical bomb.

The explosive detonated at a few minutes after noon. The hyper-intensive shockwave bored a six-story canyon into the bowels of the complex. Seven people were killed (one of the six officially listed murder victims having been well along in her pregnancy), over a thousand were injured, and the structural damage would cost nearly a billion dollars to repair.

Amid the terror, the dark cloud that envelops us still 15 years later, was a silver lining. This time, the “battalion of Islam” — as the “blind sheikh,” Omar Abdel Rahman, liked to refer to the cells in his emerging jihad army — had failed.

It had been the intention of the World Trade Center bombers to annihilate tens of thousands of Americans, in addition to rendering the world’s most significant financial district uninhabitable. Detonation was consciously timed for maximum carnage: high noon on a Friday, when as many as 120,000 business professionals, laborers, diners, tourists, and area residents typically swarmed the Twin Towers and their immediate Wall Street environs.

More diabolically, not content with their sophisticated, powerfully combustible urea-nitrate mixture, the jihadists laced the compound with deadly sodium cyanide and attempted to boost the explosion with hydrogen tanks. The aim was a horror virtually unimaginable back then (though it is, today, an omnipresent fear): wide dispersal of a lethal, aerated chemical, killing the thousands too distant to be obliterated by the sheer force of the blast.

May God bless the souls of those lost that awful day. And may we never forget.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

CAIR-Ohio and the Convicted Cop Killer

Convicted cop-killer Jamil Al-Amin (center), with his Central Ohio cop-killer defense crew, Siraj Wahhaj (left) and Ahmad al-Akhras (right)
The next time CAIR-OH does a “cultural sensitivity” seminar for one of our local law enforcement or homeland security agencies, perhaps someone there will ask the CAIR representatives about why their organization has persistently defended convicted cop-killer Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, who was convicted in March 2002 of murdering Fulton County (GA) Deputy Sheriff Ricky Kinchen and seriously wounding his partner in an ambush as they were serving an arrest warrant on him. He was convicted on all 13 counts and sentenced to life in prison. Deputy Kinchen was taken from his wife and two small children.

Even before Al-Amin’s trial, CAIR and several other prominent Islamic organizations championed his innocence. In a March 21, 2000 press release jointly-issued by CAIR even before Deputy Kinchen’s body was still cold, they claimed: “The charges of Imam Jamil are especially troubling because they are inconsistent with what is known of his moral character and past behavior as a Muslim.” Nothing was said about Al-Amin’s interstate flight to Montgomery, Alabama after the shootings or that when he was arrested police recovered the vehicle bearing bullet holes and the weapons used to ambush Deputies Kinchen and English.

One step these organizations, including CAIR, took was to form an alliance, the National Support Committee for Imam Jamil, and begin fundraising for his defense. One fundraising site was Columbus, Ohio, organized by CAIR-Ohio and the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus. Demonstrating their utter contempt for law enforcement, the keynote speaker was none other than Siraj Wahhaj, a member of CAIR’s Board of Advisors who was named by US District Attorney Mary Jo White as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Columbus event was organized by then CAIR-Ohio president (now CAIR national vice chairman) Ahmad Al-Akhras, who we noted last month has fled the country for Qatar. The event was held at Masjid Omar ibn El-Khattab near campus, the gathering place for our local Al-Qaeda cell and known affectionately as “Masjid Al-Qaeda”.

Here is a copy of the announcement from CAIR-Ohio and the Islamic Society of Great Columbus for the Jamil al-Amin fundraiser:

From: “Ahmad Al-Akhras”
To: “Columbus Muslims”, “AACO”
Subject: (CAIR-Ohio) Imam Siraj Wahhaj in Columbus
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 16:30:59 -0400

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

CAIR-Ohio
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio
4700 Reed
Road, Suite B
Columbus, Ohio 43220
Tel: 614-470-5228
E-Mail: cairohio@...
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

Islamic Society of Greater Columbus
580 Riverview Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43202
Tel (614)262-1310
E-Mail: info@isgc.org
URL: http://www.isgc.org

April 12, 2001

-----------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2001 (COLUMBUS, OH 4/12/2001) CAIR-Ohio and ISGC host Imam Siraj Wahhaj to speak about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter and the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus are pleased to host Imam Siraj Wahhaj on Friday April 27, 2001.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj will give Juma’ Khutba at the Bill McDonald’s Athletic Complex on Olentangy River and Bethel Roads. In the evening, Imam Siraj Wahhaj will speak at Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque. The topic of the lecture, which will be after Maghrib Prayer, will be about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin of Atlanta, GA.

WHEN: FRIDAY April 27, 2001
Juma’a Khutbah
at Bill McDonald’s
and
Lecture
at 8:30 p.m. — after Maghrib Prayer

WHERE: Juma’a Khutba
at Bill McDonald’s
Intersection of Olentangy River Road and Bethel Road
Columbus, Ohio
and
Lecture: Defending Muslims Rights, the Case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin
at Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque
580 Riverview Dr
Columbus, Ohio
Tel 614-262-1310

TITLE: Defending Muslims Rights, the Case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin

CONTACT: Mohammed Azhar Masood, (614) 937-3357, Ahmad Al-Akhras, (614) 989-5916

Preaching a firebrand version of Islam, Al-Amin in the 1980s became a pillar of Atlanta’s burgeoning Muslim community. He and the law stayed on separate paths until 1995, when he was arrested for shooting a drug dealer four times in the legs, and also charged with carrying a concealed and unlicensed .45 caliber handgun. A year later, he was investigated in connection with more than a dozen homicides, which a police report ascribed to revenge, business rivalries and eliminating people who “knew too much.” By 1999 he was arrested on charges of driving a stolen car and carrying a concealed weapon.

Even so, when the two sheriff’s deputies, Aldranon English, 28, and Ricky Kinchen, 35, found Al-Amin standing in a black trench coat by a parked black Mercedes-Benz, they were not prepared for what came next. Finding Al-Amin’s hands concealed, they followed standard procedure and ordered him to show his hands. “OK, here they are,” he replied and allegedly pulled out two guns, firing first a .223 caliber assault rifle, then switching to a 9 mm revolver. English was shot in both legs, the left arm and right chest. Six bullets killed Kinchen. The next day English identified Al-Amin from a selection of mug shots.

Al-Amin, meanwhile, fled to White Hall, Alabama, and for the second time in his life made the FBI’s most-wanted list. Four days later he was caught — this time by no less than one hundred well-armed police officers. Al-Amin was wearing body armor when apprehended. Police found in White Hall his black Mercedes — complete with a tell-tale bullet hole — two cartridge clips, a .223 caliber rifle and a 9 mm handgun. Ballistic tests showed the guns to be those used to shoot English and Kinchen.

Something our local law enforcement officials ought to consider next time they agree to cozy up to CAIR-Ohio for “cultural sensitivity” and “community outreach”.