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![]() Please read just a few of the headlines that World Net Daily has published.
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS Texas children roped into Islamic training Class by CAIR teaches: 'There is one god, Allah' Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe's actions. Pastor Dave Welch, spokesman for the Houston Area Pastor Council, confirmed the indoctrination had taken place and called it "unacceptable." "The failure of the principal of Friendswood Junior High to respect simple procedures requiring parental notification for such a potentially controversial subject, to not only approve but participate personally in a religious indoctrination session led by representatives of a group with well-known links to terrorist organizations and her cavalier response when confronted, raises serious questions about her fitness to serve in that role," the pastors' organization said. According to a parent, whose name was withheld, the children were given the Islamic indoctrination during time that was supposed to be used for a physical education class. "I am simply trying to get the word out to those whose kids may not have told them about an Islamic presentation that all kids were required to attend," wrote the parent, who was working to assemble protests to the school board. WND previously has reported how public school textbooks being used across the nation have begun promoting Islam, teaching even the religious doctrines. WND also has reported on several other school situations in which Islam has been taught as a required subject, and when administrators have defended those decisions. In the Texas case, a school e-mail to parents provided only a half-hearted acknowledgement that such mandatory religious indoctrination might not have been the best decision. "In hindsight, a note should have been sent home to parents indicating the purpose and content of the presentation in time for parents to contact me with questions or concerns or requests to exempt their child," the school note from Lowe said. "This will be our practice in the future, should we ever have another presentation of a similar nature." School officials also said the "Islamic Awareness" presentation was "to increase understanding of the Islamic culture in response to racially motivated comments that have been made to students on campus." The pastors said in a statement: "According to students who were forced to attend these sessions, these Islamic evangelists taught them:
The pastors noted that the principal's claim there were "comments" to students on campus was unverified. Nor does that excuse or justify "this infringement upon the religious beliefs of students and parents of the community nor the violation of school policy and possibly state and/or federal law," they said. "We do not believe that this unapproved action by Principal Robin Lowe represents the school district and certainly not the majority of students or parents in the Friendswood community. Our commitment is to support all appropriate administrative, legal and political remedies to assure that this will not happen again and these Islamic activist organizations are kept out of our schools," the pastors said. The parent reported the presentation was 30-40 minutes long and handled by two Muslim women from CAIR's Houston office. CAIR, as WND has reported, is spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Among the convicted CAIR staffers are former communications specialist Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges he trained in Virginia for holy war against the U.S. and sent several members to Pakistan to join a Kashmiri terrorist group with reported ties to al-Qaida; and Bassem Khafagi, who was arrested in January 2003 while serving as CAIR's director of community relations and convicted on fraud and terrorism charges in connection with a probe of the Islamic Assembly of North America, an organization suspected of aiding Saudi sheiks tied to Osama bin Laden. In October 2006, Ghassan Elashi, a member of the founding board of directors of the Texas branch of CAIR, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for financial ties to a high-ranking terrorist. The parent reported that Lowe told students her sister, niece and nephew were Muslim. But the parent complained the Muslims "were given full attention of our kids, during academic school time, to present their religious beliefs … This was put right at the end of the school year … which will most likely prevent a Christian response." There also was no parental notification and students were required to attend. "The kids did not even know they were having an
assembly or what topic it pertained to until they entered the gym," the
parent wrote. "I send my kids to school for academics … I teach them
religion at home." World Net Daily
IN THE MILITARY Secret Army plans under way to tear down Christian symbols Army says chapel crosses violate policy U.S. soldiers stationed at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo may be stunned to find three wooden crosses stripped from the exterior grounds of their chapel in coming weeks – and many never saw it coming. Several high-ranking officers have met behind closed doors to discuss plans for the crosses. They have decided to remove, and perhaps destroy, the Christian symbols located outside Peacekeeper's Chapel in the name of free exercise of religion. Lt. Col. William Jenkins, 35th Infantry Division's Kosovo Force 9 command chaplain, told WND, "The removal of the crosses … is bringing the chapel into line with long-standing regulations and policies that apply to every U.S. Army chapel around the world and that are supported by all faith groups in the U.S. Army." Jenkins cited the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as validation for the cross removal, saying it guarantees every American the right to the free exercise of religion. He also referenced an Army directive that bans religious symbols from chapels:
Army chapels are also required to be devoid of religious symbols on furnishings, such as altars, pulpits and lecterns. "This is not a new regulation and exists to protect the free exercise of religion of all soldiers," Jenkins said. "Army chapels are for all soldiers of all faith groups." Following a secret vote, several officers decided to take down the crosses as part of a "relandscaping" project. Only one person present at the meeting voted against the measure. Soldiers say high-ranking officers have been secretive about plans for the crosses and have not made an official announcement to troops – leaving most in the dark about plans until the crosses have been removed. The crosses will be replaced with a stone monument engraved with the name of the chapel and the crest of U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, Jenkins said. At the time of this report, there were no indications of plans to notify soldiers of the decision. Although the camp itself was named after Sgt. James Bondsteel, a soldier who earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam, high-ranking Army personnel have also decided to remove a memorial plaque dedicated to fallen Chaplain Gordon Oglesby, who served and died in Kosovo, because it violates a policy against naming a chapel after a soldier. One person stationed in Kosovo became concerned about freedom of religious expression in the military after WND reported the Army deliberately shut down a chaplain's Baptist service at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Iraq. The soldier expressed agitation at a perceived double standard after an American sniper accused of shooting a Quran for target practice faced disciplinary action and removal from Iraq for desecrating the religious property. "It is very discouraging as a Christian soldier to
see our Army punish him for destroying a Quran, but then it pays a
private company to destroy some crosses," the soldier said. "I feel it
is a slap in the face to me, my Lord and my freedom." World Net Daily
FAITH UNDER FIRE Muslims equate Christians with terrorists Police raid homes, seize literature, arrest converts and deport missionaries Christian missionaries are "as dangerous as terrorist activities or the illegal drug trade," Islamic theologians in Uzbekistan declared. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports a new documentary called "In the Clutches of Ignorance," featuring Uzbek experts, state officials and representatives of Orthodox and Catholic churches in Uzbekistan, claims missionaries pose a serious threat to the Islamic republic. The Uzbek state film criticized Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christian Gospel Church and Blagodat (evangelical charity), saying they cause a "global problem, along with religious dogmatism, fundamentalism, terrorism, and drug addiction." Jasur Najmiddinov, one of many religious experts interviewed, accused Protestants of being a "political tool" and a "part of geopolitical games," RFE/RL reported. "Their center or place of origin traces back to the United States," Najmiddinov said. "They have even gone so far as meddling in politics. We all know representatives of the Protestant movement played a significant role in the Orange Revolution in Ukraine." The Uzbek theologian said missionary activities disrupt society because Uzbek families do not tolerate relatives who convert from Islam. The May 16 documentary featured clips of people praying and claimed Uzbek Christians, who have turned their backs on Islam, could effortlessly betray their country. Uzbekistan bans missionary activity, religions that are not registered with the government and printing of faith-based literature without state consent. Norway's Forum 18, an organization defending religious freedom, reports intolerance of religion is steadily growing in Uzbekistan as police invade private homes, seize Christian literature, arrest converts and deport missionaries. The new state documentary warns, Christian missionaries seek out "those with low political awareness and weak-willed young people, as well as minors," and it said they "get funds abroad" to destabilize Islam. Although the government says its official stance of "religious toleration" is part of its policy, persecution of a wide variety of religious groups is common in Uzbekistan. Human rights organizations say the government incarcerates Muslims for worshipping outside state institutions and calls them extremists determined to bring down the government. Uzbek imam Obidkhon Qori Nazarov blames the strict government for putting so much pressure on Muslims that it often separates them from Islam, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported. "People are being fired from their jobs or expelled from universities for merely growing a beard or wearing head scarves," he said. "Some people are even sent to prison. People are afraid of following the most basic Islamic requirements." Nazarov claims terrified parents refuse to let their children pray or go to mosques because they fear the government, as it controls all religious activities and even appoints imams. "It's like Soviet times," Nazarov said. "In the Soviet days,
we also had mosques and churches everywhere. But in reality, they all
operated under the tightest government control." World Net Daily
WorldNetDaily IRS clears pastor who backed Huckabee 'I'm sorry folks, I live in America, not Russia or China' Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park, Calif., First Southern Baptist Church has been cleared by the Internal Revenue Service of allegations he violated the nation's tax code and endangered his church's tax-exempt status by endorsing Mike Huckabee for president. Drake announced news of the IRS decision to his congregation on Sunday, explaining that even though he's a pastor, he is still entitled to free speech. "I'm sorry folks, I live in America, not Russia or China," Drake said. He then added, "The pastor does not run the church. The people run the church." In February, the IRS notified the church it was being investigated at the request of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which complained about Drake's activities. Drake was accused of using a press release and his radio program to endorse Huckabee, allegedly in violation of a tax code amendment filed in 1954 by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, which banned churches from intervening in political campaigns on behalf of – or in opposition to – candidates for public office. "This is an absolute prohibition," said the first letter, "violation of which can result in revocation of exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes." Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, had released a statement saying, "I commend the IRS for investigating Pastor Drake's flagrant abuse of church resources." However, Drake was defended by one of the pre-eminent advocacy law firms in the nation, the Alliance Defense Fund. Attorney Erik Stanley told WND that defending the complaint against Drake was straight-forward because Drake endorsed a presidential candidate as an individual, not as a representative of his church. "The IRS doesn't really have anything to stand on," he told WND before news of the exoneration broke. "He [Drake] personally endorsed Mike Huckabee and made it clear it was a personal endorsement. They are allowed to do that." The endorsement was publicized in two ways: in an e-mailed press release that Drake had sent to personal acquaintances and also on "The Wiley Drake Show," an online program broadcast on Crusade Radio. The press release, however, was sent from a personal e-mail account to people outside the church, and Drake's radio show is not funded by, nor operated by, the church. The IRS' conclusion found the endorsement was done in Pastor Drake's "personal capacity" and "was not authorized or approved by the Buena Park First Southern Baptist Church and no church resources were utilized." "Based on these facts," concluded the IRS, "Buena Park First Southern Baptist Church did not engage in prohibited political campaign intervention in violation of the requirements of IRC section 501 (c)(3)." "Churches have for too long feared the loss of tax exempt status arising from speech in the pulpit addressing candidates for office," the group said. "After 50 years of threats and intimidation, churches should confront the IRS directly and reclaim the expressive rights guaranteed to them in the United States Constitution." The group is encouraging pastors across the U.S. to deliver sermons on Sunday, Sept. 28, that "openly discuss the positions of political candidates and other moral and social issues from the pulpit." Furthermore, ADF said it will "equip, protect, and defend pastors who exercise their First Amendment right" in so doing. Pastors who want to participate can find information at a special page assembled on the ADF website. Certain restrictions to "The Pulpit Initiative" do apply. "By standing together and speaking with one voice," says the
group's website, "it is our hope to recapture the rightful place of
pastors and churches in American life." World Net Daily WorldNetDaily TV news crew probing Islam at public school attacked Sought comment on state report ordering institution to stop religious accomodation Officials at a charter school in Minnesota attacked a TV news crew yesterday that came to investigate whether the publicly funded institution complied with a state order to stop accomodating Islamic prayers and religious programs. KSTP-TV in Minneapolis-St.Paul reported police are probing the incident at the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., which is housed in the same building as a mosque and the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society. The station said a photographer was injured while wrestling with two school officials over a camera. As WND reported, a substitute teacher at the school reported religion appeared to be a significant educational focus. Amanda Getz said her duties included taking students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing." She told a Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist teachers also "led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day" led prayer. The school, which came under investigation after a series of Star-Tribune reports, yesterday was ordered by state officials to comply with state and federal law. The academy must no longer allow Islamic prayers on school grounds and must stop delaying transportation until an after-school religious program is completed, the state officials said. The state, according to the Minneapolis newspaper, found the 30-minute prayers take up so much time they could burden non-praying students and prevent the school from fulfilling its required number of instruction hours. The state report also noted allowing teachers to participate, even though they don't lead prayers, could give the impression the school endorses Islam. The KSTP crew was dispatched to the school to cover the story and obtain reaction from school officials, according to a statetment on the station's website . "While on school grounds, our crew was attacked by school officials," the station said. "Our photographer was injured while wrestling with the two men over the camera. Our photographer was examined by paramedics and suffered minor shoulder and back injuries." The Minnesota Department of Education's deputy commissioner, Chas Anderson, said the agency "goes to great lengths to make clear to charter schools and their sponsors that, while schools should appropriately accommodate students' religious beliefs, they must be 'nonsectarian' under the state's charter school law." Along with the issue of communal prayer giving the appearance of state sponsorship, the state said the school should stop delaying its bus service until completion of the after-school Islam course, so students who don't particupate can go home immediately. "We have directed the school to take appropriate corrective actions regarding these matters and will continue to provide oversight to ensure that the school is in compliance with state and federal law," Anderson said. KSTP reporter Chris O'Connell told Fox News today he and his photographer had been on public property in front of the school trying to reach school officials for an hour. Another camera crew arrived and went directly onto the property to try to obtain a comment, so he and his cameraman followed, he said. O'Connell said that as soon as he and his cameraman stepped onto the school property, two men from the school "came right out" and tried to wrestle the camera away. "There were two guys on my cameraman," he said. O'Connell called police. "It's quite clear they targeted us as a station," he said. He said police were investigating various charges related to the cameraman's injuries, as well as possible trespassing charges against the news crew brought by school officials. "The police are going to try to look into our videotape," O'Connell said. "Our competing station also got video from another point of view. It's pretty telling video. You see it all go down." The state report said many of the school's operations comply with state charter school law and federal guidelines for prayer in schools, but the two areas – the formalized Islamic prayer time during the school day and the plan delaying transportation home for children until after the post-class religious instruction is finished – must be addressed. School director Asad Zaman told the Star-Tribune, "I now have proof that this is not a religious school." The Star-Tribune previously documented that the charter high school for kindergarten through eighth-grade students is named after a Muslim warlord, shares the address of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, is led by two imams, is composed almost exclusively (99 percent) of blacks and has as its top goal to preserve "our values." And it's all funded by the taxpayers of Minnesota. Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten wrote she was denied permission to visit the school. The school also has declined to return WND telephone requests for an interview. The institution has drawn criticism from a number of observers, including Robert Spencer, who monitors such developments at Jihad Watch. "Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that – in the same building – a prominent chapel. And let's say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars," he wrote. "Inconceivable? Sure." If such a place existed, Spencer said, "the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say 'separation of church and state,' to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding, warning darkly about the growing influence of the Religious Right in America." The substitute teacher Getz told Kersten after she spent the day at the school, "The prayer I saw was not voluntary. The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred." Kersten previously revealed other links between the school and Islam, including a carpeted space for prayer, halal food in the cafeteria and fasting for students during Ramadan. The Muslim American Society of Minnesota has not hidden the fact that the charter school is located at its facility. The published program for its annual convention last year – featuring the theme "Establishing Islam in Minnesota" – asked, "Did you know that MAS-MN … houses a full-time elementary school?" On the adjacent page was an ad for Tarek ibn Ziyad. World Net Daily LAW
OF THE LAND The city of Chicago has been handed another defeat in its effort to take over a church's property in order to use in it a redevelopment project, according to officials with the Alliance Defense Fund. Government officials took title to the property after they first claimed the organization had failed to pay sales taxes on fundraising bake sales, even though such activities are exempt from sales tax requirements, and then sending notifications of the taxes due as well as the tax lien sale to the wrong address. Officials with Beth-El All Nations Church now have gone to court to regain title to their facility, and yesterday a judge rejected an effort by city officials to have the action thrown out. "The government should not demonstrate hostility toward religion by penalizing churches when there's clearly no reason to do so," said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. "To put a lien on a church's property for the invented reason that the church somehow engaged in some undefined 'resale activity' and didn't collect and pay sales tax is simply ludicrous," said ADF-allied attorney and lead counsel Andy Norman of the Chicago law firm Mauck & Baker. "The court was right to allow the church's case against the city to proceed." The long-running dispute dates back to shortly after the church acquired its property in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood in 1976 and rehabilitated the location to begin worship services. While there were no complications at first, about 1986 Cook County officials decided that the church no longer was exempt, and started assessing property taxes, totaling more than $100,000 between the period 1986 to 1995. The law firm said the issue was that county officials had decided the church was engaging in an unspecified "resale activity," but church officials said the only such event that could be described that way – even remotely – would be its fundraising bake sales, which in Illinois are not subject to sales taxes. Then because of "numerous procedural errors" by government officials, the church never was informed of the taxes, or the government's later decision to put a lien on the property, or the eventual tax sale through which the county obtained a title to the church. The county later re-assigned that to the city of Chicago. According to documents in the case, among other mistakes that happened, was a notice to the church about its right to redeem its property. "An employee of the city of Chicago mistakenly addressed a notice to Beth-El All Nations Church at 1534 East 63rd Street, instead of Beth-El's true address, 1534 West 63rd Street," court records note. "The notice was pretty important: it advised the church of its right to redeem title to the 63rd Street property after the parcel was sold for delinquent taxes." Similar mistakes had happened with earlier tax notifications, the court documents confirmed. "Despite the misaddressed notice, the city acquired a tax deed to the 63rd Street property in 1998. … The city sought to oust Beth-El from the property in 2006," but a federal complaint was filed to correct the government employees' mistakes. According to the ADF, the site long has been desired by government officials to be used in a redevelopment project there. The documents in the case reveal that the not only did the city use the wrong address, it then represented to the court "that all required notices had been served." The church said the 1998 proceedings should be set aside because "the tax deed had been procured by fraud or deception." Bishop Edgar Jackson, the pastor since 1995, testified the church never was located at 1534 East 63rd Street, and that he hadn't been told of any disputes over what he assumed was the church's tax-exempt status. A state court ruling sided with the city, concluding the
city's mistake should be overlooked and it could take over the
property, but in federal court, the church alleged violations of the
Fourth Amendment for "unreasonable search and seizure" and other
violations. A judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, at one point scolded the city for its actions. Ordering the church to shut down, he said, could cause "severe harm" and result in "losses to the community that could not be quantified in dollars and cents … In fact, it is entirely unclear why the city would desire such an asset to the community to cease its operations…" World Net Daily
Teacher keeps Bible, cites God-given rights Principal ordered Good Book hidden from students An Ohio school teacher has refused an order from his public school principal to hide his personal Bible, which he's kept on his desk for 18 years, from his students. The teacher, John Freshwater, held a news conference today to respond to questions from local reporters about the issue as the deadline set by school officials for him to hide his Bible passed. No formal action was taken immediately by officials in the Mount Vernon, Ohio, School District in response to Freshwater's move, according to Coach Dave Daubenmire of Pass The Salt Ministries and Minutemen United, who was acting as a spokesman for Freshwater. Daubenmire has had his own experience with such perspectives, having been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1999 for praying with his football teams while coaching in Ohio. Freshwater has been a middle school science teacher for 20 years in the Mount Vernon School District. Recently the principal visited his classroom, and then notified him of several changes he would be required to make. One was a demand to remove a copy of the Ten Commandments from a collage of historic information in one location in his classroom, a demand Freshwater agreed to fulfill. But he said the district must prove to him how it can order him to remove his personal Bible from his desk without infringing on his God-given and First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion. "John Freshwater has sounded the alarm and we have hope that his cause will not die for a lack of a second from the church leadership in Mount Vernon," said Jim Harrison, national director of Minutemen United. He said the hope is the community churches will rally behind Freshwater's desire to keep his Bible handy. "This is an incredible opportunity to right some historical misconceptions about the church and state relationship in our great nation," Harrison said. Daubenmire, who said he "has a deep appreciation and understanding for what John is doing," told WND Freshwater is not yet represented by counsel, but hasn't been subjected to any sanction by the school yet either. "Today at noon he informed them he would not comply with the order to remove his personal Bible from where it's sat for 18 years," Daubenmire told WND. "It's his personal Bible. He draws great strength from it." He also said Freshwater has not, and does not, use the Bible in his interaction with students, but he also believes he does not forfeit his own rights just for being a teacher. Such a school demand, he said, amounts to an ongoing viewpoint discrimination, since a Muslim woman would not be ordered to hide her head covering from students' views. "The Mount Vernon Schools today directed one of its middle school science teachers to remove from his classroom the 10 Commandments he had displayed and to remove his Bible from his desktop while students were in his room. The Mount Vernon Schools has not taken this action because it opposes religion, but because it has an obligation under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs." Daubenmire said, however, the school's demands go far beyond making sure it doesn't "establish religion" and reaches the level of a "continuous purging of Christianity." In an earlier commentary for WND, Daubenmire framed the issue as a rampant attack singling out Christianity. "Please notice that the attack on religious freedom in America is on Christianity. No one is trying to silence the religious freedom of Muslims or atheists or humanists. Quite the contrary. We are told to 'understand' Muslims, to be sensitive to the atheists and to tolerate the humanists and their various denominations of 'isms' (environmentalism, feminism, secularism, socialism, communism), which we teach openly in our schools," he said. "Our rights are God-given rights. They are not 'constitutional' rights," he continued. "Take some time and read the U.S. Constitution. You will see that it does not grant any rights to anyone. Instead, while setting up the federal government, the document (the first 10 amendments) also prohibits the government from interfering with various aspects of human freedom. The first 10 amendments limit what the government can do. They shouldn't be called the Bill of Rights; they should be called the Bill of Limitations." Instead of claiming constitutional rights, citizens
of the U.S. should proclaim their God-given rights, he said. World Net Daily FAITH UNDER FIRE Face of Olympic spirit: China threatens Christian with death 'Leading up to the Olympic Games, we actually see things getting worse' A Chinese man has been taken into custody and faces a possible sentence of death for charges alleging "subversion of the national government and endangering national security." But several Christian organizations that monitor human rights activities in China say Alimujiang Yimiti could face the penalty simply because he is a Christian. While much headline space has been devoted during recent days to China's crackdown on residents of Tibet, such attacks are more-or-less everyday experiences for Christians in the communist nation, according to officials with three of the largest organizations monitoring China: International Christian Concern, China Aid Association, and the Voice of the Martyrs. "In the months now leading up to the Olympic Games, we actually see things getting worse," said Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs. "There are more raids, foreign Christians are not having their visas renewed and are being forced to leave the country. There are numerous circumstances where the churches are under attack by the government." China had assured the international community when it was awarded the 2008 Summer Games that it would address concerns that have been raised about its human rights record. However, the three organizations see no evidence yet. "Christians who refuse to come under the communist control are subject to arrest, imprisonment, harassment by the police at any time," Nettleton said. "There are places where Christians are facing very serious persecution." He cited the case of Alimujiang. "He possibly could be executed for what the government says is subversion of the national government. What he's facing a penalty for, in reality, is he's a Christian." He said the Chinese government believes, perhaps naively, that in 2008 it can clean up its international image by simply repressing those who disagree. "I think there is an element of sort of keeping things under the rug until the Olympics are over, making sure there's no disturbances or embarrassment during the Games," he said. Since visitors supposedly will be allowed to travel as they wish in China during the Olympics, the one place to keep dissidents is in prison, since those still will be off-limits to visitors, he said. "China has thousands of Internet policemen," he continued. "Their job is to monitor information and keep in the information they want to keep in, and keep out the information they want to keep out. I think they do have a little bit of a naïve sense they can control the message and information." Ashley Dingler, regional manager for East Asian for International Christian Concern, said her organization sees evidence routinely that human rights violations in China are getting worse as the Olympics approach. "I think it has a large part to do that they could lose face on such a world stage," she said, "when everyone is looking at China. "Christians and others might stage protests, reveal information," she said. "I think the manner of going about it is counterintuitive, but they are trying to save face by imprisoning more and more. "We've seen a huge increase in the numbers of house churches that are being raided, especially the leaders of the house churches are being taken into custody," she said. "In early March, there were 70 [leaders] taken at one time." A few are released occasionally, but the arrests are so many it's hard to keep track, she said. Some of those taken into custody simply have vanished, she said. Bob Fu, founder of China Aid Association, said the deterioration in human rights started getting worse as soon as China was awarded this year's competition. "From all measures we can find in terms of religious freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, it all shows it's becoming much worse," he told WND. "In the past two years, we found more than 3,000 underground pastors were arrested, detained, some sentenced," he said. Those sentences were up to and including the death sentence. All three of the organizations obtain reports regularly from within China, and it was Fu's organization that documented the case of Alimujiang. "We should call upon the democratic country leaders including President Bush to withdraw from the opening ceremonies," he said, "and not become part of the showcase. "We're not calling for a boycott of the athletic events, but for these political leaders to go there and be part of the Chinese government's propaganda machine, it's simply wrong," he said. Alimujiang, a Uyghur Christian, Muslim convert and father of two, is expected to be sentenced before the end of April, China Aid's report said. He had been accused last year of "illegal religious activities," but then was arrested in January on claims of "subversion." "Alimujiang is neither a separatist nor a terrorist, local sources say. He has told officials many times during interrogation that as a Christian he loves and supports the Chinese government, something many young Uyghurs struggle with as Han Chinese culture becomes increasingly dominant in Xinjiang. As a loyal Chinese citizen and business entrepreneur, Alimujiang has held to high standards, paying his taxes faithfully and avoiding a common local custom of paying bribes for business favors. He has also done his best to assimilate into Chinese culture, making the unusual decision to send his children to a Chinese language school in a predominantly Uyghur area," the report said. "Friends say Alimujiang simply wants the freedom to quietly express his faith, a right guaranteed to him in the Chinese constitution. Currently however, it is illegal for Alimujiang to own a Uyghur Bible," the report continued. Even his lawyer is not being allowed to meet with officials with the Bureau of State Security, because of a so-called "national secret" reason, China Aid said. According to officials with the persecution monitors, anti-Christian efforts broke out in China in 1922, three years after communism emerged. When the Communist Party took control in 1949 it started expelling missionaries immediately, and the arrests and torture of Christian leaders was begun. A brief respite arrived in the 1970s when Deng Xiaoping released some Christians from prison to demonstrate to the West its "religious freedom," but with a few years the arrests had returned by the thousands. In the 1990s, a number of church organizations were labeled "evil cults." Among recent cases was one in which four people were arrested in Taizhou for distributing Gospel flyers at a bus station.They each were sentenced to several days in jail. The work of the government, however, has failed to stop the interest in Christianity, with one organization estimating 3,000 people are joining Christian churches in China on a daily basis. According to International Christian Concern, China ranks fourth in the world, behind only North Korea, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, in its persecution of Christians. "Chinese Christians, wary of state-controlled religious organs, have increasingly turned to the model of 'house churches,' which have helped spark a once unthinkable revival across the Middle Kingdom, as estimates now number Chinese believers at more than 100 million," the group's annual report said. That, in turn, has triggered more and more government repression, the report said. "Their fingers bleed, but they press on, for if they don't make the day's quota – 5,000 bulbs – they are beaten. The Christmas lights that decorate the trees of Christian believers around the world are often made by inmates like these. Their crime? Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. House church pastors are sent to work camps after their arrest, and in some respects, these are the lucky ones, for they survived the standard interrogations that greet most Christian leaders after they are detained; several are killed or 'disappear,' never to be seen or heard from again. …," the report said. President Bush, meanwhile, believes it will be better to be "calling on" China to reach out and work with dissident factions rather than give in to growing pressure to formally protest that nation's human rights abuses by boycotting the opening ceremonies of this year's Beijing Olympic Games. Following up on an announcement by Bill Donohoe, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, that Sen. Hillary Clinton is right to suggest such a boycott because of China's record, Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, recently asked about the possibility of such plans. "Since we presume the president is as devoted to human rights as any world leader, why has he failed to join the president of France, the chancellor of Germany, and now the prime minister of Canada in their announced refusal to appear at China's Olympic Games?" he asked at today's news briefing. "The president's position on this has been very clear. But the key part of what the president can do as the president of the United States is before, during and after the Olympics, push very hard for increased human rights, press freedoms, and political freedom in China," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. World Net DailyApril, 2008 For more information on this topic, Click Here
Terror suspects planned family sacrifice
Report: Non-Muslims Deserve to Be Punished A report posted on Islam Watch, a site run by Muslims who oppose intolerant teachings and hatred for unbelievers, exposes a prominent Islamic cleric and lawyer who support extreme punishment for non-Muslims — including killing and rape. A question-and-answer session with Imam Abdul Makin in an East London mosque asks why Allah would tell Muslims to kill and rape innocent non-Muslims, including their wives and daughters, according to Islam Watch. "Because non-Muslims are never innocent, they are guilty of denying Allah and his prophet," the Imam says, according to the report. "If you don't believe me, here is the legal authority, the top Muslim lawyer of Britain." The lawyer, Anjem Choudary, backs up the Imam's position, saying that all Muslims are innocent. Click here to watch the interview with Islamic lawyer Anjem Choudary. "You are innocent if you are a Muslim," Choudary tells the BBC. "Then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are not a Muslim, then you are guilty of not believing in God." Choudary said he would not condemn a Muslim for any action. "As a Muslim, I must support my Muslim brothers and sisters," Choudary said. "I must have hatred to everything that is not Muslim." Click here to read the report from Islam Watch. FOX News
NORTHERN EXPOSURE Dobson editing radio show to avoid 'hate crimes' laws Focus working to meet demands of 'human rights laws' "Hate crimes" laws were defeated in Congress just a few months ago. Just a few weeks ago, Frank Wright of the National Religious Broadcasters Association warned, "We must be one in Christ to face the days ahead" because "hate crimes" laws would create untold new liability for Christians. Now a major Christian ministry has confirmed that such "hate crimes" laws already are setting limits on what it can broadcast. The issue is "hate crimes" laws in Canada, and they are affecting U.S. Christian ministries that broadcast into that nation. WND reported just a week ago on a Christian ministry based in Canada that essentially was ordered shut down under that nation's "hate crimes" laws which prevent Christians from expressing Biblical opinions on a wide range of issues. So what used to be called MacGregor Ministries with offerings in how to recognize and eliminate "faulty fads" in Christian churches has been re-created in the United States, and now operates under the name MM Outreach Media Ministries, according to spokeswoman Lorri MacGregor. "Canada has very strong hate laws," she told WND. She said the ministry points out the differences between Christianity and various cult beliefs, but also with respect, and never as a proponent. She said the work always is in response to a question or issue. "When a group such as Jehovah's Witnesses said of our doctrine we're worshipping a freakish three-headed God (the Trinity), we should be able to respond," she said. "We say, 'Here's the doctrine of the Trinity and here is where it is in the Scripture.'" That, however, violates Canada's hate crimes laws, and the ministry was ordered to either make wholesale changes in its presentations, or shut down. "There was nothing we could do that would please them," she said. "They wanted us every time we criticized something to say, 'So Christianity is equal to Buddhism, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses… Just decide for yourself.'" "We cannot do that," she said of the work she and her husband, Keith, have spent their lives assembling. Now comes confirmation from the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, one of the largest Christian publishing and broadcasting organizations in the nation, that it has been reviewing, and if necessary editing, its broadcasts to avoid complications with Canadian "hate crimes" laws. In a statement attributed to Gary Booker, director of global content creation for Focus, the organization confirmed that broadcast standards have a "dynamic nature." "Our staff at Focus on the Family Canada works proactively to stay abreast of the dynamic nature of broadcast standards, Canadian Revenue Agency legislation and both national and provincial human rights laws," the statement said. "Parameters regarding what can be said (and how it should be said) are communicated by Focus on the Family Canada to our content producers here at Focus on the Family in the U.S. To the best of our ability, programming is then produced with Canadian law in mind," Focus continued. "In particular, our content producers are careful not to make generalized statements nor comments that may be perceived as ascribing malicious intent to a 'group' of people and are always careful to treat even those who might disagree with us with respect. Our Focus on the Family content creators here in the U.S. are also careful to consult with Focus on the Family Canada whenever questions arise. Focus on the Family Canada, in turn, monitors the content produced in the U.S. and assesses this content against Canadian law," the group said. "Occasionally, albeit very rarely, some content is identified that, while acceptable for airing in the U.S. would not be acceptable under Canadian law and is therefore edited or omitted in Canada," Focus said. Focus broadcasts programs on thousands of radio stations across the continent, publishes dozens of magazines and newsletters and provides a wide range of other resources to Christian families and churches. Wright had told the NRB that the U.S. version of "hate crimes" that was blocked from the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill last year originally would have made religious broadcasters liable for various criminal acts. The subject of homosexuality, specifically, was provided protections in the U.S. proposal, and is one of the issues that Canadian law addresses. WND previously reported when the the Canadian Family Action Coalition confirmed activists who claim they have "hurt feelings" are demanding and getting penalties imposed against those who oppose the homosexual lifestyle. "We today have a major national magazine, a federal political party leader and a registered political party, a major Catholic newspaper (Catholic Insight) and an internationally renowned journalist all of whom are being investigated by appointed 'hate speech therapists' from the commissions," the group said. The journalist is Mark Steyn, according to CFAC spokesman Brian Rushfeldt, and the newest case involves Canada's national Catholic magazine of news, opinion and analysis. The publication has been told it is being targeted by a complaint from Edmonton resident Rob Wells, who alleges the publication has offended homosexuals. But Rushfeldt confirmed the result of any such dispute is up in the air, because ordinary courts don't handle such complaints, they are taken on by various Human Rights Commissions in Canada. They are set up to take action if anything "indicates discrimination" or "is likely to expose to hatred or contempt." Rushfeldt noted that Alberta's provincial law, for example, orders: "No person shall publish, issue or display or cause to be published, issued or displayed before the public any statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that (a) indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate against a person or a class of persons, or (b) is likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt bcause of the race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income or family status of that person or class of persons." "You see if my feelings are hurt and I feel discriminated against due to my 'religious orientation' then surely I must have a right and entitlement to have an appointed group of people in the Human Rights Commission at taxpayers' expense, intervene and force the activist to pay me compensation for my feelings. This is really not bullying is it? Or is it more like extortion?" said a commentary by the Family Action organization. "How can I prove my feeling are hurt? I don't need to prove it. I just say it is so and it is so. Do I need to provide truth? No, not under the functions of the Human Rights Act. … Section 3(1) states that if something 'indicates discrimination' and 'is likely to expose to hatred or contempt' is a basis for action." Similar restrictions have been found valid for broadcasting, officials said. And websites and books also will have to be edited, since those were the primary issue affecting MMOutreach when it used to operate in Canada. "They said if we were just preaching our own Gospel, and weren't criticizing anybody else, we could continue," Mrs. MacGregor told WND in the earlier case. "If you're going to defend the Gospel, you've got to criticize sometimes." For example, the ministry addresses the issue of "fads," including a "creeping Eastern mysticism" appearing in some churches, "turning meaningful prayer meetings into mind-emptying rituals called contemplative prayer promising experiences of a spiritual nature." "Feelings have often replaced the solid word of God," their website warns. Mrs. MacGregor told WND the government ultimatum was that she would have to preach that "all religions are equal," but she could not work within such restrictions. "We wrote on Feb. 7 and voluntarily revoked our [license] ourselves," she said. "We said this auditor requires us to compromise our Christian faith, which we cannot do." "You're not allowed in Canada to speak in a persuasive way about your own faith," she said. The U.S. proposal was launched in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1592 and would have punished crimes based on the "actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability…" The immediate concern – and still unresolved worry –
expressed by Christian radio broadcasters, ministers and others was: If
someone attacks a homosexual, will those speaking against homosexuality
also be charged for inciting violence? World Net Daily MEDIA MATTERS Dutch MP's anti-Quran film debuts on Web 17-minute 'documentary' juxtaposes images of Islam's holy book with terror attacks Defying the wishes of the government of the Netherlands, a Dutch MP has posted his 17-minute documentary on the Quran, juxtaposing images of Islam's holy book with terror attacks and bombings by Muslim extremists. Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, released "Fitna," an Arabic word meaning strife, on the political party's website today, but it disappeared a short time later due to "technical difficulties," reported the London Times. The film is currently viewable on the British video-sharing website, LiveLeak.com, in Dutch and English.
Wilder, an outspoken critic of the "Islamization" of the West, released the film after weeks of debate couched in terms of free speech and religious bigotry as well as fears of violence like that following the Danish publication of cartoons depicting Muhammed. Wilders said he understood Muslims could be upset by the film but said that was not his purpose in producing it. "It remains widely within the framework of the law ... My film was not made to provoke violence," he said. Plans to put the film on the Internet were briefly stalled earlier this week when the domain registrar, Network Solutions, refused to host Wilder's Internet domain. That controversy, as well as threats by Muslim groups to seek an injunction, did not deter LiveLeak.com, which issued the following statement: "LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow. There was no legal reason to refuse Geert Wilders the right to post his film and it is not our place to censor people based on an emotive response." The film has been condemned by Wilder's government. The Dutch foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, called it irresponsible after rioting Muslims killed over 50 people following publication of the Danish cartoons."The film equates Islam with violence. We reject that interpretation," Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, said. "We believe it serves no purpose other than to offend," he added. Early critics had expressed fears Wilder would show a copy of the Quran being destroyed in his film but the ending offered a slight surprise. As someone leafs through the Quran, a sound of tearing is heard. "The sound you heard was from a page [being torn out] of the phone book. It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Quran," the screen text read. "Stop Islamization. Defend our freedom," it concluded. World Net Daily
GLOBAL JIHAD Bold ex-Muslim threatened by top sheik Wafa Sultan shocks Islamic TV audience again, Al Jazeera apologizes Wafa Sultan – the Syria-born psychiatrist whose Al Jazeera interview two years ago sent shockwaves throughout the Islamic world – reportedly is the target of a serious tacit death threat from an influential Muslim scholar in the wake of a second interview with the Arab satellite television network. Al Jazeera issued an apology after Sultan's interview earlier this month, pointing to "offensive remarks" but never specifying anything she said. Since then, however, the prominent Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi of Egypt "has directed his rage against Sultan," writes author and Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer in FrontPage Magazine Qaradawi said Sultan, a former Muslim, uttered "unbearable, ghastly things that made my hair stand on end." Specifically, "she had the audacity to publicly curse Allah, his prophet, the Quran, the history of Islam and the Islamic nation." Spencer concludes, "These are serious charges, and Qaradawi states them in terms that his jihadist minions will understand as meaning that she must be killed. "Given that Qaradawi has justified suicide attacks against Israeli civilians and American soldiers in Iraq, it is clear that he has no distaste for violence, and thus law enforcement officials should take his latest fulminations against Wafa Sultan very seriously indeed," Spencer writes. In her Al Jazeera appearance this month, she defended the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that have sparked violence by Muslims around the globe. "The reactions of the Muslims, which were characterized by savageness, barbarism, and backwardness, only increased the value of these cartoons and gave them more importance than they merited, simply because they proved that these cartoons were true, and that the message they were conveying was true." Sultan said. "The Muslim is an irrational creature ruled by instincts," she declared. "Those teachings have deprived him of his mind, incited his emotions and reduced him to the level of an inferior creature that cannot control himself or react to events rationally." An Egyptian Islamist, Tal'at Rmeih, who debated Sultan on the March 4 Al Jazeera show, replied: "God help me. First, Islam is too great to be harmed by the publisher of the cartoon, or by that woman who is talking over there. The truth is that everything she said is 100 percent false, I'm sad to say. It seems to me that the American and Zionist intelligence agencies have begun to produce people who are hostile to their own nation." Spencer points out that Qaradawi – who was praised by Saudi-funded U.S. academic John Esposito as a "reformist" – in 2006 exhorted Muslims to fight against Israel by invoking the traditional saying of Muhammad, that on the Day of Judgment "even the stones and the trees will speak, with or without words, and say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there's a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'" Sultan first drew attention worldwide in a February 2006 Al-Jazeera interview that spread across the Internet through a video clip produced by the Middle East Media Research Institute. In her interview this month, Sultan charged that if Islam "were not the way it is, those cartoons would never have appeared. They did not appear out of the blue, and the cartoonist did not dig them out of his imagination. Rather, they are a reflection of his knowledge." "Westerners who read the words of the Prophet Muhammad, 'Allah has given me sustenance under the shadow of my sword,' cannot imagine Muhammad's turban in the shape of a dove of peace rather than in the shape of a bomb," she said. "The Muslims must learn how to listen to the criticism of others, and maybe then they will reexamine their terrorist teachings." Qaradawi fired back, saying her statements are "all based on ignorance," contending she has no knowledge of the Quran or Sunna, the body of customs based on the acts of Muhammad. The sheik also Spencer says Qaradawi falsely charges – "with stinging irony in light of his support for suicide attacks" – that Sultan "sanctions the killing of Muslims in Gaza and elsewhere, claiming that they deserve to be killed." Sultan, says Spencer, has "yet again shown up the hollowness of the denial, obfuscation, and finger-pointing that all too many Islamic leaders engage in rather than embarking upon the searching self-reflection" she urges along with and other "defenders of universal human rights and human dignity." "Wafa Sultan is a national and international treasure," Spencer says. "The American government should be rushing to protect her against any who might be motivated to act by the distortions of the thuggish Qaradawi." Named to Time Magazine's list of 100 influential people in the world, Sultan told WND in 2006 Bush's insistence Islam is a religion of peace has been "empowering" to Muslim leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world. In her February 2006 Al-Jazeera appearance, which first brought her death threats, she asserted the world is witnessing "a battle between modernity and barbarism which Islam will lose." The video clip is estimated to have been viewed at least 1 million times, according to the New York Times. Sultan's 2006 interview found her squaring off with Al-Jazeera host Faisal al-Qasim and Islamic scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli about Samuel P. Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory. The exchange took place on the 90-minute discussion program "The Opposite Direction," with Sultan speaking via satellite from Los Angeles. "The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations," she said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete." World Net Daily
MEDIA MATTERS Savage lawyers aim at CAIR paymasters Muslim group bankrolled by Arab states tied to 9/11 Preparing an appeal of a dismissed lawsuit against the Council of American-Islamic Relations, talk radio host Michael Savage and his legal team have taken a new tack, investigating CAIR's foreign financial backers, WND has learned. CAIR is registered as a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under IRS code section 501(c)(3), which restricts "lobbying on behalf of a foreign government." CAIR's website claims that it receives no foreign government support. However, CAIR's headquarters near the U.S. Capitol until recently was owned by the ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the ruler's foundation has pledged $50 million to capitalize a long-term CAIR public-relations campaign. "This should start to get interesting," said a member of Savage's legal team. The UAE formally recognized the Taliban, and Dubai acted as the transit point for cash for the 9/11 hijackers and the staging ground for the entire plot. Two of the hijackers were Emirates, and one served in the UAE military. Before 9/11, the ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, requisitioned (as then-UAE defense minister) C-130 military cargo planes to supply Osama bin Laden's former camps in Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Sheik Mohammed and other members of the UAE royal family joined bin Laden and Taliban leaders on hunting parties there. His Al Maktoum Foundation – which until 2005 held the deed to CAIR's headquarters just three blocks from the Capitol – has held telethons to raise money for families of Palestinian "martyrs" during the intifada against Israel. It recently pledged a $50 million endowment for CAIR. Despite enjoying major support from the UAE government, CAIR is not registered as a lobbyist or agent for a foreign government. Savage's lawyers are investigating whether the group has legal standing to boycott his radio show and attack his advertisers as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. "CAIR would have to register as a foreign agent if their activities were not hidden under the false claim that they are a civil-rights organization that enjoys tax-exempt status," said Daniel Horowitz, Savage's lead attorney in the case. Meantime, WND has learned that the Republican leadership in Congress is seeking hearings to also investigate CAIR's foreign financing. CAIR argues that any assertions that it receives money from foreign governments is "disinformation." "This is yet another attempt to invent a controversy," it said. "CAIR's operational budget is funded by donations from American Muslims." Even so, CAIR has never publicly acknowledged the $1 million controlling interest that the ruler of Dubai's foundation took in its national headquarters just one year after 9/11. The group also received $500,000 from Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the sheik whose $10 million relief check after 9/11 was rejected by then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he blamed U.S. policy toward Israel for the attacks. "There is nothing criminal or immoral about accepting donations from foreign nationals," CAIR asserted. "The U.S. government, corporations and non-profit organizations routinely receive money from foreign nationals. "Bin Talal is not a member of the Saudi Arabian government," the group added in a statement. "He is a private entrepreneur and international investor." This may be a distinction without a difference, Savage's lawyers argue, since bin Talal is a member of the Saudi ruling family. "CAIR is proud to receive support of every individual," CAIR argued, "as long as they are not an official of any foreign government and there are no strings attached to the bequest." The group remains silent about donations from Sheik Mohammed, however, the ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE, who suggested after 9/11 that Israel and America are the real "terrorists." UAE has supported Hamas "martyrs," while CAIR recently was named by the U.S. Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror scheme to funnel more than $12 million to Hamas suicide bombers and their families. Federal prosecutors in a more recent case said in court documents that CAIR is a radical front group working with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas "to support terrorists." The UAE's $50 million endowment, pledged in 2006, puts in jeopardy CAIR's current IRS status, Savage's lawyers argue. They say CAIR more resembles a foreign-controlled lobbying group – "a paid agent for an Arab state tied to 9/11" – and the UAE may be working through CAIR to shut down debate about Islam on the American airwaves through the intimidation of media and their advertisers. According to federal law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act requires registration as an agent of a foreign principal when an organization acts on the order, request or under the direction or control of a foreign principal, or whose activities are directed by a foreign principal when that person engages in political activities for or in the interest of such foreign principal, or acts in a public-relations capacity for a foreign principal. The UAE endowment to CAIR was earmarked for public-relations efforts to repair the image of Arabs and Muslims in America after public outrage doomed a Dubai bid to run U.S. ports. Lawyers now argue that CAIR, in turn, may have used UAE funds and other foreign support to attack "The Savage Nation" show for criticizing Islam, and to target its advertisers, including Wal-Mart, GEICO and Sprint Nextel. "If the image of Islam and Muslims is not repaired in America, Muslim and Arab business interests will continue to be on a downward slide in the U.S.," CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmad was quoted in the Arab press as saying after meeting with the UAE minister of finance in Dubai and receiving the funding pledge. What's more, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a UAE press release: "The endowment will serve as a source of income and will further allow us to reinvigorate our media campaign projecting Islam and its principles of tolerance." In addition, the press release stated that UAE also "endorsed a proposal to build a property in the United States to serve as an endowment for CAIR." The Arab press said CAIR was acquiring land for a new $24 million seven-story building. A federal judge in California earlier this week dismissed Savage's lawsuit seeking damages against CAIR, which was originally filed late last year. Savage is appealing the case. As part of its background check of CAIR, Savage's California-based lawyers and investigators have been "looking into the CAIR headquarters in D.C." CAIR claims it receives no foreign support, but land records contradict that claim. In fact, the Al-Maktoum Foundation of Dubai held the deed to its property from 2002 to at least 2005. "According to records made public by (investigative journalist and author) Paul Sperry, CAIR purchased its national headquarters in 1999 through an unusual lease-purchase transaction with the United Bank of Kuwait," said Middle East Forum president Daniel Pipes. "The bank was the deed holder and leased the building to CAIR; yet despite not owning the building, CAIR recorded the property on its balance sheet as a property asset valued at $2.6 million." "This arrangement changed in September 2002 when CAIR bought out the Kuwaiti bank with funds provided, at least in part, by Al-Maktoum Foundation, based in Dubai and headed by Dubai's (former) crown prince and defense minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum," Pipes continued. "The markings on the deed indicate that the foundation provided 'purchase money to the extent of $978,031.34' to CAIR, or roughly one-third the value of the property." Here is the first page of the document filed with the District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds as a "Deed of Trust," or mortgage agreement, between CAIR and the Al-Maktoum Foundation, as posted by Sperry, author of "INFILTRATION: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington." Sperry details the real estate transactions in the chapter of his book called, "The Dark Lair of CAIR." CAIR's then-chairman Omar Ahmad's signature appears on page four of the document. Ahmad recently was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas terror-fundraising case. What's more, CAIR lists the Zahara Investment Corp. as a "related organization" on its IRS tax form 990. Curiously, Zahara was listed as a tax-exempt entity in 2002, but the next year it became a non-tax-exempt entity, which raises the question how a tax-exempt nonprofit like CAIR can be "related" to a for-profit investment firm. "One only wonders what a more complete investigation of its real estate transactions would turn up," Pipes said. Savage's legal team hopes to do just that with the help of a
court-ordered discovery process. World Net Daily
MEDIA MATTERS WorldNetDaily CAIR seeks dismissal of Savage lawsuit Judge to issue ruling soon in case linking organization to terror
A judge in California has taken under advisement a request by the Council on Islamic-American Relations to dismiss a lawsuit filed by radio talk show host Michael Savage. The San Francisco-based talker originally accused the organization of copyright violations, but later amended the action to include allegations the group "has consistently sought to silence opponents of violent terror through economic blackmail, frivolous but costly lawsuits, threats of lawsuits and abuses of the legal system." The action in U.S. District Court in Northern California also charges CAIR with using extortion, threats, abuse of the court system, and obtaining money via interstate commerce under false and fraudulent circumstances – calling it a "political vehicle of international terrorism" and even linking the group with support of al-Qaida. The federal government, in fact, recently named CAIR, based in Washington, D.C., as an unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged scheme to funnel $12 million to the terrorist group Hamas. The lawsuit was the subject of court hearing today, and according to a report from the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said she was "leaning toward tossing out" the action. She did say she likely would allow Savage's lawyer to submit a revised complaint to keep the case alive, the report said. Savage's attorney Daniel Horowitz said the copyright claim was valid because CAIR used Savage's material "for purely commercial purposes," but the judge said she found free speech arguments persuasive. "Groups like CAIR have a proven record of senior officials being indicted and either imprisoned or deported from the United States," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., co-founder of the House Anti-Terrorism/Jihad Caucus. Savage and Horowitz, a celebrity civil rights attorney, are trying to use the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to make the case that "CAIR and its co-conspirators have aided, abetted and materially sponsored al-Qaida and international terrorism." CAIR launched a campaign against "The Savage Nation," as the program is called, using extended audio clips of the show to make the case that advertisers who supported the talker were actually endorsing "hate speech" against Muslims. Savage turned the tables on the activist group by initially suing for copyright violation of the show's material, then expanding the case. Among the charges is that CAIR is "part of a deliberately complex and deliberately confusing array of related organizations" and that its "organizational structure is part of a scheme to hide the illegal activities of the group, funding, the transfer of funds and to complicate investigation of the group." Other highlights of the suit:
March, 2008 For more information on this topic, Click Here
HOMELAND INSECURITY Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques preach anti-West extremism Secret survey exposes widespread radicalism An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism, WND has learned. The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country. "So far of 100 mapped, 75 should be on a watchlist," an official familiar with the project said. Many of the Islamic centers are operating under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian government and U.S. front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt. Frank Gaffney, a former Pentagon official who runs the Center for Security Policy, says the results of the survey have not yet been published. But he confirmed that "the vast majority" are inciting insurrection and jihad through sermons by Saudi-trained imams and anti-Western literature, videos and textbooks. The project, headed by David Yerushalmi, a lawyer and expert on sharia law, has finished collecting data from the first cohort of 102 mosques and schools. Preliminary findings indicate that almost 80 percent of the group exhibit a high level of sharia-compliance and jihadi threat, including:
Though not all mosques in America are radicalized, many have tended to serve as safe havens and meeting points for Islamic terrorist groups. Experts say there are at least 40 episodes of extremists and terrorists being connected to mosques in the past decade alone. Some of the 9/11 hijackers, in fact, received aid and counsel from one of the largest mosques in the Washington, D.C., area. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center is one of the mosques indentified by undercover investigators as a hive of terrorist activity and other extremism. It was founded and is currently run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Imams there preach what is called "jihad qital," which means physical jihad, and incite violence and hatred against the U.S. Dar al-Hijrah's ultimate goal, investigators say, is to turn the U.S. into an Islamic state governed by sharia law. Another D.C.-area mosque, the ADAMS Center, was founded and financed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been one of the top distributors of Wahhabist anti-Semitic and anti-Christian dogma. Even with such radical mosques operating in its backyard, the U.S. government has not undertaken its own systematic investigation of U.S. mosques. In contrast, European Union security officials are analyzing member-state mosques, examining the training and funding sources of imams, in a large-scale project. Some U.S. lawmakers want the U.S. to conduct its own investigation. "We have too many mosques in this country," said Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y. "There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully."
World Net Daily
HOMELAND INSECURITY Islamist 'Trojan horse' in Pentagon, say experts FBI: Top defense advisers linked to radical Muslim Brotherhood Federal authorities say a high-level Muslim Pentagon aide, who led a campaign to silence a Pentagon intelligence analyst for taking a hard line against Islam, is running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism. After Islam lodged complaints, Coughlin's contract with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon was not renewed. Islam also was upset with briefings Coughlin recently prepared for the U.S. military warning that major U.S. Muslim groups were fronting for the Muslim Brotherhood, |