CAIR-OH opposes zoning laws, representative democracy

The ladies of CAIR-Ohio have got their burqas in a bunch over a decision by the Sugarcreek Township board of zoning appeals in the Dayton area denying a request by the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton to allow them to build a mosque on a remote 15 acre farm. The obligatory outrage by CAIR has been endorsed by the leading dead tree media outlet, the Dayton Daily News, who denounced the zoning board’s decision as evidence of Islamophobic bigotry in a Jan. 16th editorial, “Sugarcreek bigots can’t call the shots”.

So what evidence does CAIR and the Dayton Daily News provide that the zoning board’s decision was based on the group’s religious beliefs? Well, that’s a problem, you see, because they don’t have any. Their outrage is that there might be some lurking Islamophobia in the hearts of the zoning appeals board members and elsewhere in the community. Here’s the reasoning they provide:

The appeals board’s denial comes at a time when other communities nationally have been resistant, even hostile, to construction of Islamic gathering places. The prejudice is not always overt, but can be couched in technical zoning objections — pretexts used to cover discrimination.

Karen Dabdoud, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Cincinnati, suggests this may be what is going on in Greene County’s Sugarcreek Twp.

“This kind of thing is, unfortunately, very common across the country,” she said. “It’s usually framed in terms of traffic and property values, but, underneath, it is a situation of religious tension.”

“Yes, we have no evidence for our Islamo-fascist hysteria, but we don’t like the decision, so we must hound out the secret bigots behind this like Nazis used to blame the global Jewish conspiracy”, CAIR and the Daily News seem to agree. (I guess I should consider myself lucky that I haven’t been blamed yet for the zoning board’s decision.) But remember that these are the same folks who howl “McCarthyism” anytime someone actually exercises their freedom of speech to criticize their extremism. No McCarthyism here, folks. Move along, move along.

It should be noted that Ms. Dabdoud and CAIR-OH do not have a spotless record when it comes to religious bigotry. As I noted in an article for The American Thinker, “Kafir-phobia: Americans as violent anti-Muslim bigots”, when a Xenia sub shop owned by Jordanians was subject to a series of firebombings in July and August 2006, Ms. Dabdoud and other CAIR-OH officials were quick to point their finger of blame at the entire non-Muslim community for harboring violent Islamophobes even before any of the facts were known. A press release issued by the national CAIR organization (which has curiously disappeared from their website) screamed the headline, ‘Blast at Arab — American Restaurant ‘Suspicious’. Ms. Dabdoud herself was quoted by the local media (including the Dayton Daily News) as saying:

‘Anytime an attack like this happens, the perception in the Arab and Muslim community is that it is ethnically or religiously motivated. Especially in the absence of perpetrators [and any evidence — ed.] being caught by law enforcement, that’s the fear [gee, you mean like a “phobia”? — ed.]. Until that (motivation) is discovered, people speculate, rightly or wrongly.’

Dabdoud and CAIR-OH were right there to fuel those speculations, but as I noted at the time, however, the facts that were known even at the time that Dabdoud was speaking to the media didn’t fit with CAIR-OH’s narrative of pandemic anti-Muslim hatred in small-town America. Even while CAIR officials continued to perform their full religious grievance show, police, the media and CAIR already knew that the Jordanian store owners, who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with CAIR in front of the media microphones and cameras, were themselves implicated in the firebombings. Details later emerged that they had hired a former employee to commit the initial firebombings, and that the final blast which fatally injured the storeowners, Musa Shteiwi, and his son, Essa, was sparked when one of them unintentionally set off a pool of fuel inside the store, which had been spread to later set the store on fire, when one of them lit a cigarette. Both men died in the weeks that followed from their injuries.

Needless to say, Ms. Dabdoud and CAIR-OH never apologized for falsely accusing non-Muslims in the area for being violent anti-Muslim bigots and harboring Islamophobic tendencies. Thus, it’s not surprising to see them following that same script again when the Sugarcreek Twp. zoning case didn’t go the way they wanted it to. And it seems that the facts at hand don’t fit their “rampant Islamophobia” claims. In fact, the Dayton Daily News buried the facts of the case at the very end of the editorial:

For its part, the Islamic Society has a duty to take a second look at its plans. Correspondence from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency casts doubt on whether the site — without very expensive sewage-related improvements — is environmentally well-suited for such a large structure.

Has the society’s architect done his due diligence? Could the current plan be recast in ways that meet zoning requirements and the society’s building needs? Conversations need to be had on these questions.

Oh, you mean the Ohio EPA says the site isn’t suitable for the purpose? What a bunch of Islamophobes. A follow-up letter to the editor also suggests that other zoning issues, like the fact that the two-lane rural road may not be able to support the traffic for the suggested mosque, which they hoped would accommodate nearly 1,000 visitors. Doesn’t matter — Islamophobia must be to blame. Where is Ahmad Al-Akhras when you need him? Dubai, you say?

No, in fact the problem CAIR-OH has is with being required to follow zoning laws and being subject to fortunes of representative democracy, like all of us infidels have to.

Muslims in Ohio deserve much better than CAIR. And they certainly deserve better than the dead tree media dhimmis at the Dayton Daily News representing to the world that CAIR speaks for anyone other than their Islamic extremist masters. When was the last time CAIR had elections? When did they go to Muslims in Ohio to get the permission to speak on behalf of an entire religious community? Oh, that’s right. Never.

Note to CAIR: This is America. Get over it.

Jamaat Al-Fuqra: A blast (and blaze) from the past

While reading through a very dated FBI domestic terrorism report I came across a reference to an Ohio-based Islamic terror attack I had never heard of before. Unfortunately, the organization responsible for the series of attacks in August 1983 that left one innocent Muslim man dead in addition to two of the terrorists responsible is still very much alive and active in the US today.

The organization in question is Jamaat Al-Fuqra, which has been responsible for more terror attacks in the US than all other terrorist groups combined. Al-Fuqra, headed by Pakistani Shiekh Mubarak Gilani, operates a number of compounds throughout the US. One law enforcement estimate states that Al-Fuqra members are suspected in at least 10 unsolved assassinations and 17 firebombings between 1979 and 1990 targeting Muslim minority sects and other religious institutions.

It is during that period that the attacks in question, led by an Akron man, occured. An ADL report on Al-Fuqra describes what happened:

August 8, 1983: Canton, Michigan — A leader of the Muslim Ahmadiyya sect, Dr. Mozaffar Ahmad, is shot to death. The Ahmadiyya Center of Detroit is set on fire shortly afterward. William Cain, an Al-Fuqra follower from Akron, Ohio was identified as Ahmad’s murderer. Both he and an accomplice, Calvin Jones were killed in the fire.

The Ahmadiyya are a small, peaceful Islamic messianic sect that are actively persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere. Many followers have taken refuge in the West, including large populations in the US and Canada, fleeing violence from Islamic extremists.

What isn’t mentioned in the ADL report, but is included in the FBI report, is that Cain and Jones made phone calls to law enforcement falsely claiming responsibility for the assassination and another attempted fire in the name of the “Jewish Defense League”. The gun that killed Dr. Ahmad was recovered from Cain when his body was found.

While this terrorist attack has long since been forgotten, Jamaat Al-Fuqra is still a very active organization. In light of its lengthy history of violence (the Beltway snipers are said to have been associated with Al-Fuqra), the US government would do well to FINALLY officially designated the group a terrorist organization.

Here are a couple of videos with background on Al-Fuqra and their US operations. The first is by Erick Stakelbeck of CBN News, and the following two reports aired recently on WBS-TV (ABC) in Atlanta.



Part I of the WBS report


Part II of the WBS report


WBTV in Charlotte also recently reported on a new Al-Fuqra compound being built in South Carolina (Part I, Part II).

Top Ten Central Ohio Terrorism-Related Stories of 2007

Now safely into the new year, we here at Central Ohioans Against Terrorism would like to take a few minutes to reflect on the major terrorism-related Central Ohio news stories here in 2007. Needless to say, it was an eventful year. Let’s hope that 2008 is equally as interesting.

1. Nuradin Abdi guilty plea in shopping mall terror plot
   
   
   After years of heated denials and conspiracy theories, the extremists in the Muslim community were shocked in late July when Nuradin Abdi, arrested as part of the Columbus Al-Qaeda cell run out of Masjid Omar Ibn El-Khattab just north of campus, agreed to a plea deal rather than go to trial on multiple charges of terrorism support, including a plot to shoot up a Columbus-area shopping mall. Local CAIR officials, including national vice chair Ahmad Al-Akhras and Ohio chapter president Asma Mobin-Uddin, had made a series of bizarre claims, including that Abdi had been tortured and was being drugged by federal authorities. A federal appeals court quickly rejected their conspiracy theories, concluding that Abdi was putting on an act (in accordance with stated Al-Qaeda incarceration guidelines). Abdi was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a charge of material support for terrorism in November. And as Dirk Thompson of 610 WTVN reported, Abdi’s attorney went on an anti-American rant in front of the local media following the announcement of the plea deal.
   
   Related Nuradin Abdi COAT posts.



2. Christopher Paul arrested as part of Columbus Al-Qaeda cell
   
   
   In April, Worthington-raised Christopher Paul (nee-Paul Kenyatta Laws, aka Abdulmalek Kenyatta) was arrested after a federal indictment was unsealed charging Paul with plotting to attack American tourists overseas. Paul is a 1983 graduate of Worthington High School. Following his arrest, CAIR officials became confused, as Adnan Mirza tried to distance the Muslim community from Paul, while Ahmad Al-Akhras came out in his defense, claiming that Paul was a “loving husband” and led a “good family”. (see, “Columbus Al-Qaeda Man Charged, CAIR Not Pleased”)




3. Hilliard HAMAS cleric Salah Sultan appears at Middle East terror confab
   
   
   Salah Sultan (right) sitting on the speaker dais with Specially Designated Global Terrorists Khaled Mishal (left) and Yousef Al-Qaradawi (middle)
   
   
   Salah Sultan speaking at the terror confab in Qatar
   Notwithstanding having been defended by the Columbus Dispatch and a number of area Islamic leaders as a “moderate”, Salah Sultan showed his true colors this past summer when he appeared at a conference honoring HAMAS spiritual leader Yousef Al-Qaradawi in Doha, Qatar. Sultan delivered a tearful speech praising his mentor and also produced a paper on Qaradawi’s “scientific thought” (both being published on Qaradawi’s personal website). Sultan was even photographed with Qaradawi, and he could be seen in the Al-Jazeera live coverage of the event during the speech by HAMAS head Khaled Mishal. Both Qaradawi and Mishal have been listed by the US government as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Also in July, Sultan was identified by name in a LA Times article as one of two clerics preaching holy war and “sharing the outlook of Al-Qaeda” in Bahrain.
   
   Related Salah Sultan COAT posts.
   
   Related FrontPage Magazine articles:
   
   Hometown Jihad (04/03/2006)
   Hometown Jihad: Blowback (05/24/06)
   Hometown Jihad: Our Newest Citizen? (09/08/06)
   Hometown Jihad: The Return of Salah Sultan (03/29/07)
   Hometown Jihad: The HAMAS Connection (05/11/2007)



4. October-terror-fest at the Ohio Statehouse
   
   
   The Interfaith Association of Central Ohio sponsored an event, “The Many Voices of Islam”, in the Ohio Statehouse atrium in October featuring two known HAMAS operatives, Anisa Abd El Fattah and Robert “Farooq” Crane, and one official for the now-closed Toledo Kindhearts terror fundraising “charity”, Zulfiqar Shah, who as Southeast Asia director for the group partnered with the Al-Khidmat Foundation in Pakistan, founded by Osama bin Laden mentor and Al-Qaeda founder Abdullah Azzam. The event was organized by local extremist Abukar Arman, and was also sponsored with a $1,000 grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, a taxpayer-funded organization.




5. Cleveland imam quits before he starts
   
   
   Instead of just reporting the news, COAT became part of the news when blogger Tom Blumer of Bizzyblog reported back in September that the newly-hired imam for the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ahmed Alzaree, had preached some virulently anti-Jewish sermons in his previous post in Omaha, Nebraska. We then followed up with additional information noting other troubling aspects to Alzaree’s preaching and breaking news of his terrorist ties (and the establishment media’s ignoring of such). Even after multiple articles by the Cleveland Plain Dealer came out defending the imam, who was scheduled to begin his new job in early November, two days before he was scheduled to start, he announced that he was quiting. According to the Plain Dealer, one of the reasons cited by Alzaree for throwing in the towel was our COAT post, “Cleveland’s new imam: interfaith “moderate” or two-faced jihadist?”. Alzaree was brought in to replace deported former imam Fawaz Damra (see below in “Honorable Mention”).




6. Abukar Arman tossed from Franklin County Homeland Security oversight committee
   
   
   A front-page article in the Columbus Dispatch and a coordinated political cover-up by City Hall and the Franklin County Commission (more on the cover-up) weren’t enough to save Abukar Arman’s position with the county Criminal Justice Planning Board, which oversees Franklin County Homeland Security. After my FrontPage expose discussing Arman’s vocal support for terrorism in a series of published articles, Arman was forced to resign from the board, in addition to losing his full-time job with the Columbus Public Schools. County Commission officials withheld information related to the Arman investigation from Dirk Thompson of 610 WTVN and myself, while simultaneously providing the exact same information to Dispatch reporter Barbara Carmen. Only after the Dispatch article appeared did the Commission release the requested information.
   
   Related Abukar Arman COAT posts.




7. Hilliard HAMAS cleric Salah Sultan denied US citizenship, flees the US for Bahrain
   
   
   As noted above (item #3), Hilliard-based HAMAS cleric Salah Sultan appeared at a terrorist confab in Qatar in July. But perhaps the most important reason for Sultan’s unashamed open association with designated terrorists in July is that earlier in the year he had been denied US citizenship based on his previous known terrorist associations and had fled the country. Once informed about the rejection, Sultan picked up most of his family and moved to Bahrain. But even his arrival there was met with controversy, as Bahraini politicians complained in May that Sultan and his buddy Wagdi Ghoneim had received almost instantaneous citizenship there (as reported by Al-Wasat). The Bahraini press noted Sultan’s hasty departure and the denial of his US citizenship. Even Bahraini bloggers have been critical of Sultan and his jihadist crew.




8. HAMAS operative Anisa Abd El Fattah/Caroline Keeble interviewed for open Columbus Public School Board spot
   
   
   Anisa Abd El Fattah on the left; Caroline Keeble on the right. Two different versions of the same person.
   During the investigation into Fattah’s appearance at the October-terror-fest at the Ohio Statehouse, I noticed that Fattah’s non-jihad persona, Caroline Keeble, had been interviewed by the Columbus Public School Board last January for an open position on school board. The results of my investigation were published in a PJM article, “HAMAS: Coming to a School Board near you”. The resume she had submitted as part of her application (obtained with great difficulty from the school district despite an Open Records Act request) made no mention of the HAMAS front organizations she had worked for during the 1990s and earlier this decade, nor her longtime consulting position with now convicted terrorist leader Abdurahman Alamoudi or her founding board member position with the national Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Though one of the few candidates to receive an interview by the school board, she did not get appointed to either of the two open seats she applied for.




9. Muslim Brotherhood leader identified in Central Ohio
   
   
   I haven’t done much follow-up reporting on this issue since my original post, but one bombshell piece of evidence that came out of the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial in Dallas this past summer was a phonebook of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in North America. One entry in this Muslim Brotherhood leadership directory was an individual, Hany Saker, located in Columbus and identified as such by the readily identifiable 614 area code. As I reported back then, the office phone number listed for Saker was an Ohio State University number. Elsewhere in the phone directory Saker is listed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Board of Directors, and also the Eastern regional leader in North America. We hope to have more reporting on this story in 2008.




10. Hate Sheikh Siraj Wahhaj appears at Columbus fundraiser for Islamic group headed by mayoral advisor
    
    
    Hate sheikh Siraj Wahhaj (left) and his longtime buddy and Mayor Coleman advisor Ahmad Al-Akhras (right)
    
    When the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio needed a keynote speaker for their annual fundraiser, its president Ahmad Al-Akhras turned to his old friend and prominent hate sheikh Siraj Wahhaj for help. Wahhaj was named by US Attorney Mary Jo White as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj had appeared at a March 2006 fundraiser for Sunrise Academy in Hilliard to raise money for their new gym, in June 2006 for the CAIR-Ohio annual banquet, and again in February 2007 at Sunrise Academy for yet another fundraiser for Masjid Abubakar Al Siddique. Among many other things, Wahhaj says that he isn’t sure that Osama bin Laden is responsible for 9/11; he calls for the return of the global Islamic caliphate and the imposition of Islamic shari’a law, including punishment by amputations and stoning; and he calls for the violent overthrow of American government.

Honorable Mention:

Censorship State at Columbus State for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

(graphic courtesy of DarthDilbert)
When the Terrorism Awareness Project student group at Columbus State Community College wanted to promote their events for the national Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week in October, CSCC administrator Timeka Rashid prohibited the group from posting promotional fliers around campus and warning the student leaders not to discuss her prohibition. After I exposed Rashid’s censorship of the student events in a FrontPage Magazine article, “Censorship State”, CSCC relented and did not interfere any further in the group’s scheduled activities. As reported by Jacob Laskin in 2006, Rashid had previously prevented the same student group from hosting a screening of the documentary, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.

I later reported that Columbus State’s earlier censorship efforts were in response to a letter from former Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar sent to CSCC president Valeriana Moeller asking for the school’s cooperation in obstructing events related to Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.


Akron-born jihadist pleads guilty to terror charges, sentenced to 15 years


In April, Akron native Mahmud Faruq Brent pled guilty to supporting a terrorist organization and in late July was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attending a Lakshar-e-Taiba terrorist training camp in Pakistan. A convert to Islam, Brent had been living in Maryland driving a taxi at the time of his arrest. The case was part of the Virginia Jihad Network series of prosecutions.


Cleveland Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fawaz Damra deported


The two faces of Fawaz Damra
The year 2007 started off right as federal officials deported Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fawaz Damra in early January. Damra had been the longtime imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland. He was deported for lying to authorities about his ties to the terrrorist organization, failing to disclose them on his citizenship application, and for recruiting suicide bombers to attack Israel. Damra had been hailed as an "interfaith moderate" in Cleveland, that is, until videos surfaced of him calling Jews "the sons of apes and pigs" and fundraising for jihad along with PIJ leader Sami Al-Arian. Then there was his prior tenure with a NY-based front for Al-Qaeda.

Go to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Fawaz Damra archive.


Jihad Julio Pino at Kent State


One of the most underreported stories of the year (one we didn’t even have a chance to get to) involves Kent State Latin American History professor Julio “Jihad” Pino, who was found earlier this year operating a now-closed jihadist forum, the “Global War” blog, which proclaimed: “Are You Prepared for Jihad? IN THE NAME OF OBL. 2007: THE YEAR OF ISLAMIC VICTORY!” University of North Carolina-Wilmington Criminology professor Mike Adams exposed Pino’s jihadist rants in an article at Townhall back in February. A series of articles by Adams ran throughout the year expanding on the story. Things at Kent State came to a head in November when the History department chairman, John Jameson, was fired by the university after he approved a paid leave for Pino to travel to the Middle East without university approval. No action has been taken by the university against Pino.

CAIR’s Ahmad Al-Akhras set to flee the country for Dubai

Ahmad ♥ Central Ohioans Against Terrorism. Infidel.

UPDATE #1 (1/3/08): More than two weeks after we reported it here, the Columbus Dispatch today gives their friend Ahmad a polish job and a send-off. Way to keep up, guys.

ORIGINAL POST: It’s official. As you heard it here first two weeks ago (after putting to bed the rampant rumors about his taking the open Ohio Civil Rights Commission position), CAIR national vice chairman and close advisor to Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is set to follow the example of his friend, former Hilliard HAMAS cleric Salah Sultan, and flee the country for Dubai, UAE (Sultan fled to Bahrain). Be sure to revisit all of our past coverage of Al-Akhras’ antics.

We will miss you dearly, Ahmad.

Here’s the announcement posted by Al-Akhras himself:

Posted by: “Ahmad Al-Akhras” alakhras10
Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:16 pm (PST)
Re: Thank you and salam to you all

Dear Brothers and Sisters, my friends — Assalamu Alaikum

I pray that you receive this message in the best of health and spirits. . .

I want to share with you that I accepted an international assignment in Dubai. After a long and thorough thinking and consultation, I decided that it is an opportunity that will allow me to share my expertise in the areas of transportation planning and traffic engineering. It is a very challenging prospect but I thought I can positively contribute so I took it.

Columbus will continue to be my home. I very much enjoyed working with many of you my dear brothers and sisters. It has been a great and rewarding experience. I hope that you continue supporting your great organizations in town.

I will be leaving soon. I will continue, however, to communicate with you during my, hopefully, short assignment abroad. Salam and keep me and my family in your dua’a. I hope you can come and be at the Open House — see below.

Jazakumullahu Khairan and take care..

Ahmad
=============
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Time: 5–7 pm

Farewell Open House for Ahmad Al-Akhras

Please join us in congratulating Ahmad in his new position in Dubai UAE. You are invited to afarewell open house in our main conference room

Please RSVP to:
Deb Crosby at 614-233-4145
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
111 Liberty Street, Suite 100
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 228-2663
Fax: (614) 228-1904

Don’t forget to RSVP!

Everyone at Central Ohioans Against Terrorism wishes you a fond farewell, Ahmad!

Bon voyage! Via con Dios, me amigo!

Anisa Abd El Fattah backs Ron Paul and neo-Nazi STORMFRONT

Vote for Ron Paul, infidel.

UPDATE #1: Welcome everyone visiting from LGF, Atlas Shrugs, Ace and RoP!

UPDATE #2: For a visual comparison of her Anisa Abd El Fattah persona (her nom de jihad), and her Caroline Keeble identity, take a look at the top of this post.

Sultan Knish informs us that our local HAMAS operative, former CAIR national board member and would-be Columbus Public School Board member Anisa Abd El Fattah/Caroline Keeble has a couple of recent posts on the “Muslims for Ron Paul” Yahoo forum coming out in favor of presidential hopeful Ron Paul and wishing neo-Nazi website STORMFRONT the best of luck in their battle against ADL. How nice.

This is the same Anisa Abd El Fattah who spent this past weekend speaking at a conference for an Iranian government front group identified by former FBI Director Louis Freeh as a direct domestic terror threat.

But don’t worry: the Columbus Dispatch still thinks she’s a moderate.

In her first message, she encourages candidate Paul not to bow to outside pressure calling for him to return donations from neo-Nazi leaders:

Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:48:00 -0800 (PST)
To: Muslims_for_RonPaul@yahoogroups.com
From: caroline keeble
Subject: Re: [Muslims_for_RonPaul] ADL Concerned About Ron Paul Supporters

Well, this will be the first test for Ron Paul. We will know if he is really our man if he stands for the Constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in the political process and to exercise their right to free speech. Campaign contributions are free political speech, and I think the ADL should be very careful not to attempt to chill or deprive Americans of their Constitutional rights. We already know they believe that only their flunkies have rights, and that they have the power to dictate to others who to vote for, etc. So this will be the test. Let’s see how Paul responds when it comes to dealing with the ADL.

Anisa

Next up, she offers a prayer for STORMFRONT:

Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:49:12 -0800 (PST)
To: Muslims_for_RonPaul@yahoogroups.com
From: caroline keeble
Subject: Re: [Muslims_for_RonPaul] ADL Extremism vs. Stormfront Extremism

28 USC 241 is a criminal statute. Traditionally only the US Attorney, or an Attorney General can file a suit under this statute. This is why the National Association of Muslim American Women filed a complaint back in January with the DOJ, requesting a Department of Justice investigation of the Jewish Lobby, including the ADL, not only for their routine attempts to tar and feather every Muslim and Arab as terrorist or potential terrorists, but also because there is a very good chance that these organizations, and their supporters are the sources of the so-called secret evidence that is the cause for many of the wrong arrests, imprisonments and other acts that have been carried out unfairly against Muslims and Arabs. Once tried in courtrooms these cases fall apart because the groups and individuals that provided the secret evidence, or who spread the rumors are liars.

There is also a very good chance that if we had gotten the investigation, it would have been proven that much of the testimony they have provided in Congressional hearings and private meetings has been lies, or rather perjury and false statements made to government officials, both crimes under 18 USC 1001. We attempted to circulate a petition asking Muslims and Arabs to sign onto the request for an investigation, to demonstrate to the DOJ that this was a serious initiative, and an issue of importance to nearly 8 million American citizens. We got 98 signatures, and so the Lobby continues with these tactics because they feel emboldened by Muslim and Arab apprehension about speaking up and pushing back. I pray that the people of Stormfront and their followers will have better luck with their people than we did with ours. It’s time for someone to stand up to the JDL and the ADL, and for their attempts to chill and deprive other Americans of rights be stopped.

Anisa

The Sultan notes this is not the first, or even the second time that Fattah has come out in support of the neo-Nazis (see my previous FPM article, “Islamofascist Defends Fascists”, covering her unashamed approval of neo-Nazis). In her published exchange with UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, she goes out of her way to defend “White nationalists”, explaining the motive for their “fear mongering”:

The point is that every American has equal rights to free speech. That aspect of White nationalist behavior that includes fear mongering, name calling, and intimidation is wrong, yet they argue that their actions result from their frustration that they are stereotyped, and misrepresented by the media and made to appear as enemies of blacks and Jews, and others, when they simply want to preserve the white race, and its majority status. They feel that Jewish supremacism threatens their existence, and that Jewish activism is aimed at limiting their rights, and many Christians feel that same way.

No doubt, Ron Paul is proud to have her support.

Anisa Abd El Fattah speaks at conference for Iran’s mullahocracy

Happy New Year, infidel!

Columbus resident, HAMAS operative, and would-be Columbus Public School Board member Anisa Abd El Fattah is a featured speaker this weekend at a conference for a front group for the Iranian theocracy identified by former FBI Director Louis Freeh as a known domestic terrorist threat.

But don’t worry — she’s still considered a moderate by the Columbus Dispatch.

Fattah is speaking this weekend at the annual conference for the Muslim Student Association-Persian Speaking Group (MSA-PSG), also known as Anjoman Islami.


In 1999, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh identified MSA-PSG/Anjoman Islami as a domestic terror threat to the US operating under the control of the Iranian mullahocracy in testimony before the US Senate:

There are still significant numbers of Iranian students attending United States universities and technical institutions. A significant number of these students are hard-core members of the pro-Iranian student organization known as the Anjoman Islami, which is comprised almost exclusively of fanatical, anti-American, Iranian Shi’ite Muslims. The Iranian Government relies heavily upon these students studying in the United States for low-level intelligence and technical expertise. However, the Anjoman Islami also represents a significant resource base upon which the government of Iran can draw to maintain the capability to mount operations against the United States, if it so decides. (Prepared Statement of Louis J. Freeh, Director Federal Bureau of Investigation, before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Subcommittee, February 4, 1999, Federal News Service, February 4, 1999.)

Director Freeh said that this organization is used by our avowed Iranian enemies to conduct spying against the US and a resource that Iran will draw from to launch terrorist attacks against the US.

A Decenber 2001 article in Insight Magazine by Kenneth Timmerman quotes a US government official about the immanent threat posed by MSA-PSF/Anjoman Islami:

“Without a doubt this is the most dangerous Iranian government-controlled group currently operating in the United States” one U.S. government investigator tells INSIGHT. “If they received orders, we believe they could be called into action to assassinate Iranian political leaders living in exile, in addition to the intelligence-gathering tasks they now perform.”

Counterterror expert Yehudit Barsky observes that MSA-PSG/Anjoman Islami has also been the primary promoter of the anti-Semitic and anti-US “International Al-Quds Day” celebration inaugurated by the late Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini, and also that MSA-PSG published materials have openly advocated for the “global Islamic revolution”.

This is the same organization that Anisa Abd El Fattah will be addressing this weekend. Here is her conference bio and session abstract:

Sr. Anisa Abd el Fattah

Anisa Abd el Fattah is the founder and Chairwoman of the National Association of Muslim American Women. She is a former Executive director of the Center for Public Policy Research, and served briefly as the President of UASR, the United Association for Studies and Research where she also served for five years as Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs. From 1996-2000, Anisa served as the Editor of the Middle East Affairs Journal, an internationally acclaimed academic and peer reviewed journal that served as a forum for academics as well as activists writing from an Islamic perspective on issues pertaining to Islamic reform movements in the Muslim and Arab worlds.

She is author of the book, Reflections on the Spiritual Meanings of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In 1998 she conducted an in depth study of the Iranian Constitution, and authored a report on Social Order, Individual Rights and Islamic Constitutionalism based upon that research.

She co-authored the book, The Agent; Truth Behind the Anti-Muslim Campaign in America, and numerous occasional papers on Islam in the United States such as, Islam in America: A New Reading, and Justice and Normative Law: Underlying Keys to Christian/Muslim Cooperation in the US.

Abstract

“In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”

Unity before Ummat; seeking God in the transformation of Prophet Ibrahim (as) And a meaning of Ummat

In Sura Nahl, (The Bee), Chapter 15 of the Qur’an, God guided the prophet Muhammad (sa) saying, “Follow the ways of Ibrahim the true in faith, and he joined not Gods with God.” This implies that the life of the prophet Ibrahim (as) is an example for Muslims to follow for many important reasons, including spiritual and also social and political reasons. It also seems to imply that the secrets to the success that we intuitively desire and are seeking in respect to establishing Islamic Ummat in our lifetime, like the prophet Muhammad’s success, is also to be found in the example of prophet Ibrahim (as), and the concept of unity.

Through this presentation we hope to attain a better understanding of the prophet Ibrahim’s life and his transformation from the son of an idol maker, and a member of a pagan society, to his realization of Tawhid, (Oneness of God) and the impact of that realization upon his life journey. His journey included the establishment of the first community of believers and the Kaba, which is the Sacred House of God that also became the Qibla, or direction of a new community of Muslims distinguished by the completion and perfection of their way of life, which God named Al-Islam.

For those just joining us, her bio touts her lengthy tenure at the United Assocation for Studies and Research (UASR), which one convicted terrorist leader described as “the political command for HAMAS in the US”. It also notes that she briefly served as president of UASR. The reason she rose to that position was all of her other UASR colleagues had either been deported as terrorists, been arrested and charged for being terrorists, or fled to country to avoid prosecution as terrorists. I guess that’s one way to climb the corporate ladder.

And then there is her “co-authored” book. Just whom did she co-author her book with, you may ask? Current HAMAS spokesman Ahmed Yousef.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph makes sense — and gets rebuked by CAIR for applauding Al-Qaeda conviction

I’m not one to begrudge someone when they’re right, or kick someone when they admit that they were wrong. That’s why I was pleased to here from David at The Conservatarian earlier this week about Mahmoud El-Yousseph’s recent letter to the editor published on the Columbus Dispatch website’s web-only LTE section.

Whatever disagreements I might have with Mahmoud’s open support of Hezbollah terrorists or his approval of suicide bombings as “reasonable” (published a week before the 9/11 suicide attacks), he thus far is the only figure from the tiny minority of Islamic extremists in Central Ohio to applaud the conviction of Columbus al-Qaeda terror cell member Nuradin Abdi and publicly withdraw his previous statements in support of Abdi.

But as you will see below, as soon as he did, the other members of the extremist CAIR crew quickly piled on to criticize him in full McCarthyite fury, challenging whether Abdi was actually guilty by appealing to all kinds of bizarre conspiracy theories about supposed torture and mind-altering drugs (even though Abdi openly pled guilty in court to material support for terrorism in the presence of some of those same conspiracy theorists).

Here is what Mahmoud wrote (which I’m told also appeared as a column in the Marion Star):

Proper punishment for convicted terrorist

Central Ohio sleep tight tonight. A second Columbus man was busted for terror ties and was sentenced for 10 years in jail. What a relief!

Nuradin Abdi, a Somali immigrant, was convicted last week and will spend the next 6 years behind bars and then be expelled to Mogadishu. Take it from this Muslim, Abdi is getting what he deserves.

Abdi was convicted of providing material to terror activities and plan to carry out attack at an area shopping mall, targeting innocent citizens. He claimed that was in response to U.S. agression against Muslims abroad.

That is not how you should show gratitude to the country that took you in as a refugee, provided you with a chance at work, safety, and security. If he was dissatisfied with our government foreign policy (as am I), there are many legal avenues available, even to non-citizens. By advocating the use of violence, he was part of the problem and not the solution. Fortunately, he did not have a chance to carry out his plan.

I must admit I’ve never met the man. However, when I read about his case four years ago, I was suspicious about the government’s claim, since Abdi was arrested based on secret evidence. This was, afterall, at the height of anti-Muslim feeling in the U.S.

Still fresh on the minds of Muslims across America were the two high profile cases of two other U.S.-born Muslim converts: Brandon Mayfield, an attorney from Oregon and James [Yusuf] Yee of Washington state. Mr. Mayfield was falsely accused by the government and was implicated with the Madrid bombing, while Captain James Yee, who served in the U.S. Army at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, was charged with espionage and many other serious offenses. Later the government dropped all charges against both of them. The government agreed to settle with Mayfield for $2 million, and offered him a formal apology: The federal government “regrets that it mistakenly linked Mr. Mayfield to this attack.” The U.S. Army lost a valuable human resource. Captain Yee received an honorable discharge, no apology, and he wrote a book about his ordeal to pay off his $200,000 legal expenses.

During that hysteria, I spoke publicly in defense of Abdi and about his right to free and fair trial based on evidence. I even contributed to his legal defense fund. Now after his case is over and he has admitted guilt to terror ties, I accept that this misguided man has betrayed his family, local Somalis, Central Ohio’s Muslim community, and the country that welcomed him.

Of special concern to me is the lack of response to this issue by local Muslim and Arab leaders, especially by The Council of American Islamic Relations [CAIR]. CAIR has defended Abdi vigorously throughout his case when it perceived he was a victim. One would think that CAIR leadership would have the moral courage to denounce Abdi’s act, once he was found guilty on credible evidence. I made four attempts by phone seeking a reaction from two CAIR members, my messages were not returned. Sadly, that was the same group that I once admired and took heat for defending in the press.

Lets hope and pray that the New Year does not bring us anymore unpleasant surprises, the likes of Nuradin Abdi. As far as this Muslim is concerned, I will continue to speak out my opinion — a freedom which is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution — even when it is not popular. But I will keep in mind my late mother’s (bless her soul) advice to me as I embarked for America: Don’t spit into the plate that feeds you!

Mahmoud El-Yousseph, Westerville

I certainly don’t agree with all of the various interpretations that Mahmoud offers, but the crux of his argument is dead on: Abdi pled guilty to his crimes and the Muslim community as law-abiding Americans should be grateful that this terrorist is behind bars. He also complains (rightly so) that CAIR refused to retract their support for Abdi after his guilty plea, let alone respond to his calls to CAIR on the matter. That is very telling in itself.

Is this a sign of a new, improved peace-loving moderate Mahmoud El-Yousseph? We’ll wait and see. Honestly, I don’t hold out a lot of hope that he has changed his terror supporting ways. I would certainly like to be proved wrong. That said, however, I will grant him this: he’s shown here that he has the courage to buck the party line handed down by the CAIR politburo and think independently about the issue. I have always argued that CAIR doesn’t actually represent the Central Ohio Muslim community, the vast majority of whom reject the jihadist ideology promoted by CAIR, ISGC, etc. Most Central Ohio Muslims do not belong to CAIR (in fact, recent tax documents show they don’t have any members AT ALL, and the leadership is entirely self-appointed) and don’t attend services at ISGC facilities. One law enforcement official told me that out of the tens of thousands of Muslims in the Columbus area, probably less than a thousand, probably closer to five hundred, would associate with CAIR and its extremist ideology.

But no sooner had Mahmoud posted his comments than the knives came out to attack him wielded by the self-appointed CAIR caliphs to enforce their ideological conformity.

First up was the grand pasha of Islamic extremism himself, CAIR national vice chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras, who had this to say in criticism of Mahmoud’s public statement:

Re: Proper punishment for convicted terrorist
Posted by: “Ahmad Al-Akhras”
alakhras@hotmail.com alakhras10
Sat Dec 8, 2007 10:54 am (PST)

salam Br. Mahmoud and all — i am not aware that you tried to call CAIR and no one responded. Would you kindly let us know who did you try and did not bother to respond to you?

On a more substantial note akhi, Abdi was not convicted as a “terrorist” rather, he was convicted of providing “material support.” The idea of “material support,” as David Cole put it in his piece in the Wash Post --see below — is that the government can charge a person and the person can be found guility because the burden is so low on this standard. I encourage you to read the whole OpEd of Professor Cole.

I also encourage you to read the testimony of the ACLU on Material Support for Terrorism Laws: Section 805 of the Patriot Act and Section 6603 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 Before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Ahilan T., an ACLU staff attorney, testified about this issue and how helping Tsunami devastated people in Sri Lanka could lead them to be directly charged with “Material Support” if they provided help in certain areas — read below.

Thank you akhi Mahmoud for all the good work you do, it is only Allah swt will be able to reward you for it as I am sure you are not waiting for anyone else. As to your attacking CAIR this way, I did not feel it was appropriate, even if you “once admired and took heat for defending in the press”. I am sure you did this because you beleived int he cause and not for anything else, right?

Thank you again, and may Allah swt guide us all. . .

Ahmad

That was follwed up by Fauzi Tayim:

Posted by: “Fauzi Tayim” ftayim.1@juno.com
Sun Dec 9, 2007 9:40 am (PST)

Mahmoud:

One of the mistakes I have done in the past but try my best to avoid now is not to jump into conclusions based on what someone tells me or what I read or see in the media. I have not been following Abdi’s case very closely but I just wonder how did you conclude that he was “found guilty on credible evidence”. Did you see the evidence? You also say he confessed to acts of terrorism. Do you under what circumstances he made such a confession? Al-Arian, the UF professor was found innocent and he is still in jail. After his jail term is over (for about 2 years I believe), he will be deported. Al-Arian’s case was labeled an Israeli trial conducted on US soil. Sometimes our legal system works and sometimes it does not. I do not know if it worked in Abdi’s case. However, I sincerely doubt that a confessed terrorist would spent only 6 years in Jail. Ayman Faris (?) got 20 years.

Before you reach any conclusions about Abdi and CAIR, take some time to examine the evidence and circumstances more closely. By the way, have you attended any of the court proceedings? Do you know if he was tortured while in prison? Do you know if he was given “mind altering medication” while he was in prison? Do you know if his confession was not retrieved under torture or duress? I will not be surprised that the evidence against Abdi was kept “secret” for “national security” purposes. If in fact the evidence was kept secret, as is the case against all “terrorists”, how in the world can anyone conclude that the evidence was credible?

Salaam,

Fauzi

Denials, conspiracy theories, half-truths and outright evasion. Al-Akhras says that because Abdi was caught before engaging in acts of terror, he really wasn’t a terrorist, but only admitted to material support for terrorism, which he apparently thinks is entirely different. Tayim blathers on about the various conspiracy theories (torture, mental illness, etc. — all of which the Appeals Courts rejected). In fact, these were some of the same conspiracy theories floated by CAIR during Abdi’s incarceration, including CAIR-OH president and Al-Akhras lackey Asma Mobin-Uddin.

Expect more of these same conspiracy theories when Christopher “Kenyatta” Paul’s trial comes up next year. Some just can’t admit that the Central Ohio Islamic institutions they support and are a part of (again, which only represent a fraction of Muslims in the area) were home to the largest known al-Qaeda terrorist cell since 9/11. Mahmoud El-Yousseph has apparently come to terms with that fact; Ahmad Al-Akhras, Fauzi Tayim, and their extremist ilk cannot handle that truth.

Now my having addressed El-Yousseph’s comments here publicy will probably bring one of two responses (perhaps both). First, in true McCarthyite fashion, Mahmoud will be subject to even more criticism and outright shunning for airing the dirty laundry of the extremists in our community complaining that he’s given me a stick to beat them with, refusing to realize that all I’ve had to do is present the facts here unvarnished. Their comments have been unedited. I’ve allowed them to speak for themselves. Second, they will retreat into further silence on the Abdi conviction. Saying something now will only look like he has shamed them into saying something, which of course will be obviously true if they do in fact say anything at all at this point. With the support they continue to give Abdi, I doubt they will.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph has certainly put them in a serious pickle, but in reality it is only their extremism catching up with them. Unable to deal with that reality, they must keep spinning further into unreality and fantasy. They can’t handle the truth.

No one will ever confuse me for a Mahmoud El-Yousseph enthusiast, and I suspect he will continue venting his spleen against me shortly (I’m still waiting for that lawsuit) with his trademark fabrications, ad hominem attacks and childish personal insults; but in this case on the Abdi conviction, Mahmoud El-Yousseph is right and he should be acknowledged for saying he was wrong for his past support of Abdi. It’s damning that the rest of the CAIR crew of Islamic extremists in Central Ohio can’t bring themselves to do the same.