Martin Luther on the Jihad

In the early 16th century, nearly a hundred years after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turkish Sultan, the Turks had overrun much of the Balkans and recently subdued Hungary. The Germanic principalities in Central Europe were threatened by the Turkish advance, but their customary fractiousness — and the advent of the Protestant Reformation — had made it that much harder for Christendom to unite and repel the invaders.

In 1528, Martin Luther had no way of knowing that a century and half later the Christian states of Europe would unite long enough to drive the Turks back from the Gates of Vienna. In his day, Europe was up for grabs.

Here are some excerpts from what Luther had to say about Islam, and the necessity for a robust military defense of Christendom, from Vom Kriege wider die Türken (On War Against the Turk):

I have some pieces of Mohammed’s Koran which might be called in German a book of sermons or doctrines of the kind that we call pope’s decretals. When I have time, I must put it into German so that every man may see what a foul and shameful book it is. In the first place, he praises Christ and Mary very much as those who alone were without sin, and yet he believes nothing more of Christ than that he is a holy prophet, like Jeremiah or Jonah, and denies that he is God’s Son and true God. Besides, he does not believe that Christ is the Savior of the world, Who died for our sins, but that He preached to His own time, and completed His work before His death, just like any other prophet.

On the other hand, he praises and exalts himself highly and boasts that he has talked with God and the angels, and that since Christ’s office of prophet is now complete, it has been commanded to him to bring the world to his faith and if the world is not willing, to compel it or punish it with the sword; and there is much glorification of the sword in it. Therefore, the Turks think their Mohammed much higher and greater than Christ, for the office of Christ has ended and Mohammed’s office is still in force.

From this anyone can easily observe that Mohammed is a destroyer of our Lord Christ and His kingdom, and if anyone denies concerning Christ, that He is God’s Son and has died for us, and still lives and reigns at the right hand of God, what has he left of Christ? Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Baptism, the Sacrament, Gospel, Faith and all Christian doctrine and life are gone, and there is left, instead of Christ, nothing more than Mohammed with his doctrine of works and especially of the sword. That is the chief doctrine of the Turkish faith in which all abominations, all errors, all devils are piled up in one heap.

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[…]

In the second place, the Turk’s Koran, or creed, teaches him to destroy not only the Christian faith, but also the whole temporal government. His Mohammed, as has been said, commands that ruling is to be done by the sword, and in his Koran the sword is the commonest and noblest work.

Thus the Turk is, in truth, nothing but a murderer or highwayman, as his deeds show before men’s eyes. St. Augustine calls other kingdoms, too, great robbery; Psalm 76:4 also calls them “fastnesses of robbers,” because it is but seldom that an empire has come up except by robbery, force, and wrong; or at the very least, it is often seized and possessed by wicked people without any justice, so that the Scriptures, in Genesis 10:9, call the first prince upon earth, Nimrod, a mighty hunter. But never has any kingdom come up and become so mighty by murder and robbery as that of the Turk; and he murders and robs every day, for it is commanded in their law, as a good and divine work, that they shall rob and murder, devour and destroy more and more those that are round about them; and they do this, and think that they are doing God service. Their government, therefore, is not a regular rulership, like others, for the maintenance of peace, the protection of the good, and the punishment of the wicked, but a rod of anger and a punishment of God upon the unbelieving world, as has been said. The work of murdering and robbing pleases the flesh in any case, because it enables men to gain high place and subject everyone’s life and goods to themselves; how much more must the flesh be pleased when this is a commandment, as though God would have it so and it pleased Him well! Therefore among the Turks, too, they are held the best who are diligent to increase the Turkish kingdom and who are constantly murdering and robbing round about them.

[…]

All fanatics, as a rule, when the spirit of lies has taken possession of them and led them away from the true faith, have been unable to stop there, but have followed the lie with murder and taken up the sword, as a sign that they were children of the father of all lies and murder…

[…]

Summing up what has been said: Where the spirit of lies is, there is also the spirit of murder, though he may not get to work or may be hindered. If he is hindered, he still laughs and is jubilant when murder is done, and at least consents to it, for he holds it right. But good Christians do not rejoice over any murder, not even over the misfortunes of their enemies. Since, then, Mohammed’s Koran is such a great spirit of lies that it leaves almost nothing of Christian truth remaining, how could it have any other result than that it should become a great and mighty murderer, with both lies and murders under the show of truth and righteousness. As, therefore, lies destroy the spiritual order of faith and truth, so murder destroys all temporal order instituted by God; for where murder and robbery are practiced, it is impossible that there should be a fine, praiseworthy temporal government, since they cannot think more highly of peace than of war and murder, or attend to the pursuits of peace, as one can see in soldiers. Therefore, the Turks do not regard the work of agriculture highly.

The third point is that Mohammed’s Koran thinks nothing of marriage, but permits everyone to take wives as he will. Therefore, it is customary among the Turks for one man to have ten or twenty wives and to desert or sell any of them that he will, when he will, so that in Turkey women are held immeasurably cheap and are despised; they are bought and sold like cattle. Although there may be some few who do not take advantage of this law, nevertheless this is the law and anyone can follow if he will. Such a way of living is not marriage and cannot be marriage, because none of them takes a wife or has a wife with the intention of staying with her forever, as though the two were one body, as God’s Word says, in Genesis 2:24, “The man shall cleave to his wife and they two be one body.”

[…]

Now we have heard above what kind of man the Turk is, viz., a destroyer, enemy, and blasphemer of our Lord Jesus Christ, who instead of the Gospel and faith, sets up his shameful Mohammed and all kinds of lies, ruins all temporal government and home-life, or marriage, and, since his warfare is nothing but murder and bloodshed, is a tool of the devil himself.

[…]

Just so Mohammed treats the Gospel; he declares that it is indeed true, but has long since served its purpose; also that it is too hard to keep, especially on the points where Christ says that one is to leave all for His sake, love God with the whole heart, and the like.

Therefore God has had to give another new law, one that is not so hard and that the world can keep, and this law is the Koran. But if anyone asks why he does no miracles to confirm this new law, he says that that is unnecessary and of no use, for people had many miracles before, when Moses’ law and the Gospel arose, and did not believe. Therefore his Koran did not need to be confirmed by wasted miracles, but by the sword, which is more effective than miracles. Thus it has been, and still is the case among the Turks, that everything is done with the sword, instead of with miracles.

We hear a lot these days about the necessity for becoming more educated about Islam, as if a fuller acquaintance with the Islamic faith would make the Legions of the Prophet seem less threatening and dangerous.

We can see from these excerpts that the opposite is the case. Martin Luther was very well-educated in the scripture of the Mohammedans, and it only served to confirm to him that their religion was in fact demonic, a worldly manifestation of pure evil.

We would do well to heed his words.


Hat tip: Kepiblanc, in the comments.

Sheikh Gilani Lane Videos

An extra-big size 7¾ hat tip to CP, who recorded these WDBJ7 News stories from Tuesday night and uploaded them to YouTube. With his permission and encouragement, I am embedding them here:







Now I know that “The Rev” (see previous post) and Sam Weddington are one and the same person.

The elderly lady who gets interviewed in the video is Nathalie Jones, the mother of Averett Jones. Mr. Jones, as you may remember from the Charlotte County Files, is the editor of The Southside Messenger.

It’s all in the family, y’all.

[Nothing follows]

Imitatio Christi

The other night at the Charlotte Courthouse demonstration I engaged in a lengthy discussion — well, an argument, really — with a Presybterian minister. I’ll call him “The Rev”, since I never caught his name.

The Rev counts among his friends a number of residents of the Jamaat ul-Fuqra compound in Red House, and he thinks that they are being unfairly maligned when we associate them with terrorism.

I pointed out that their founder and leader, Sheikh Gilani, is on record as supporting violent Jihad against Americans, and that members of the group have been convicted of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, fraud, and firearms violations, among other things.

But it was his contention that such things had nothing to do with the people in the Red House compound. I got the feeling that he considered the Muslims of America to be a big-tent organization, with room for peaceful Muslims here and terrorists there, a group that has something for everyone — with the possible exceptions of homosexuals and pig farmers, of course.

He has worshipped with these folks, taken meals with them, and coached their children. He knows that they are good people, and that they came to Red House so that they could practice their faith in peace. He said that it was wrong for me to judge people whom I have never even met.

I told him about some of the history of the Red House Compound — its use as a safe house for fugitive felons, the firearms stockpiling and subsequent arrests — but he waved that away impatiently. “You haven’t even met these people,” he said. “How can you justify going around spreading all this fear?”

Another participant in the discussion pointed out that the Koran explicitly prescribes violence against non-believers. This made The Rev especially voluble.

“Christianity has had its share of violence! The Bible has its own violent verses — ‘dash the babies’ heads to pieces’ and so on.

“Christ’s message to us is that we must love one another, and that love includes our Muslim brothers and sisters. This attitude of suspicion and hate is what’s wrong with the world today.”

After I came home, I thought about what The Rev had said, and I spent a little time looking up some of the violent verses in the Bible.
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The passage he referred to may have been from Hosea 13:15-16:

Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Or it might have been Isaiah 13:15-16:

Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

For additional violence, consider the peculiar revenge that Elisha took on the obnoxious little boys, from 2 Kings 2:23-24:

Then he [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.

You have to really comb through the New Testament to find anything violent (except for the violence that was directed against Christians by their persecutors, of course).

The verse that is most often cited in this regard is Matthew 10:34:

[Jesus said,] “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

But only a superficial reading would take this to be a prescription for violence. The next two verses make it clear that Christ was predicting internecine — even intra-family — conflict between those who believed in him and those who didn’t:

“For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”

The Koran, on the other hand, is rife with violent passages. Yoel Natan has compiled a selection of 164 verses explicitly directing the believer to wage violent jihad against the infidel. And those are just from the Koran itself, and not from the Hadith or the Sunna.

Here’s a selection:

2:190-191 …fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you… And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.

8:12 When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.

8:39 …fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah…

9:29 Fight those who do not believe in Allah…nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

25:52 So obey not the unbelievers and fight strenuously with them in many a strenuous fight.

47:4 …when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates…

If you compare these passages with those from the Old Testament, you’ll notice a big difference: the violence in the Koran is normative, while the violence in the Bible is descriptive. The scripture of the Christians and the Jews tells stories about violence, but the Koran requires believers to practice it on behalf of Allah.

In 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles one can find descriptions of hideous carnage, but no directives from God to the Israelites to inflict the carnage.

The prophets repeatedly describe what is to come — the wages of sin to be meted out to the House of Israel. They do not direct God’s chosen people to commit such violence.

The exception is to be found in Joshua, which describes the occupation by the Israelites of the Promised Land; their instruction is to drive out the Canaanites.

But — and this is crucial — once the land is occupied by the tribes of Israel, there is no further divine mandate for slaughter. God did not order His chosen people to convert pagans to Judaism at the point of a sword, nor to kill those who refuse to convert. Judaism was never an expansionist religion, except via the command to “be fruitful and multiply.”

The core message of the Koran, on the other hand, is that all infidels must be converted, killed, or subjugated. Any redaction of this message would leave a lot of blank spaces in the holy text. One can always hope for a modern, enlightened reinterpretation of the book, one that removes the imperative for violence, but it’s very difficult to see how this could be done.

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The history of Christianity includes many instances of barbarism and violence, but such acts were never carried out at the behest of Scripture, but always in spite of it. No Crusader could cite chapter and verse to justify a particular bloody act. The members of the Inquisition believed themselves to be engaged in a holy and righteous cause, but they would have been hard-pressed to point to a passage of the Bible that required them to behave as they did.

And what would Jesus do? If He had lived during the time when the Legions of the Prophet swept through the Holy Land, what action would He have recommended to His disciples?

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” doesn’t work here, since, to a Muslim, Ceasar and God are the same person. The temporal and spiritual realms are not distinct; the political order is coterminous with the leadership of the True Faith.

Many modern mainstream Christian leaders seem to think that their religion requires them to kneel before any violent group and bare their necks to the sword. But if Christians in 732 and 1683 had followed this playbook, Christianity would no longer exist.

Christ commanded us to love our enemies, but does He require us to choose between abjuring Him and committing suicide?

Another side of Christ can be found in Matthew 21:12-13:

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”

A robust resistance to the unholy is incumbent upon all Christians, since the Kingdom will never flourish in a land of brutality and slaughter. It is time to overturn the tables of the beheaders and the seats of those who make the bomb belts.

The people The Rev broke bread with in Red House may be sincere, or they may be cynical manipulators. But, in any case, they are the smiley-face multicultural front for a group that is insidious, violent, and dangerous.

If Christians refuse to look this truth squarely in the face and deal with it, then Christianity is on its last legs.


Thanks to Ben of the 910 Group for help with the Koran research.

MSM Digest: Sheikh Gilani Lane

I want our readers to know that Gates of Vienna beat all the MSM web outlets last night in posting the news story about the Charlotte Courthouse demonstration. We scooped the Richmond Times Dispatch by about half an hour. Plus we had photos!

But here’s a survey of the Real Journalism coverage of the event as of this morning. It ranges from mediocre to not so hot.

WSET TV (ABC 13) had the best account. They also used a copy of Gates of Vienna’s exclusive photo of the “Sheikh Gilani Lane” sign. But that’s OK; we let Christian Action Network borrow it; and the TV people can have it, too.

Group Protests Sheikh Gilani Lane Name

It wasn’t on Tuesday night’s agenda, but that didn’t stop protesters from getting across their opposition to Sheikh Gilani Lane. About two dozen protestors paraded around the county building.

Their chants included demands that the county rename the road, which is inside a Muslim community in Red House. The Christian Action Network organized the protest, because they say Sheikh Gilani a terrorist. Along with the protestors, there was another group in support of leaving the street sign up.

Nathalie Jones, Supports Sign — “I’m a Christian, and I believe in letting your neighbors make their choice about who they worship.”

Copeland Casati, Wants Sign Removed — “I think there’s a misconception that this is an attack on neighbors. This is not. It’s a concern about Sheikh Gilani.”

Haywood Hamlet, County Supervisor — “We see no need of changing it and opening the precedence of changing names all over the county.”

Despite the county’s stance on the issue, the Christian Action Network says they’ll keep fighting. They say they want to educate county residents about the situation, and say they may hold another protest in the future.

Copeland, by the way, is a young woman. You should see her on TV — she did an excellent job.
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Next is WDBJ TV (CBS 7):

Road bearing name of suspected terrorist sparks controversy

A road bearing the name of an international terrorist has sparked controversy in Charlotte County.

Sheikh Gilani Lane is an access road into the Muslims of the Americas community in Red House. It is a rural area of Charlotte County, about 15 miles south of Appomattox.

The U.S. government considers Gilani a terrorist. They believe he is responsible, in large part, for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Last week, Charlotte County Supervisors voted not to change the name of the road.

The Christian Action Network, out of Forest, is stepping up its pressure on the board to do something about the road’s name. They demonstrated in front of the county administration building Tuesday night. They chanted slogans and demanded the sign be removed.

However, the board did not address the issue again. Muslims in Red House tell us they are just trying to ignore the controversy and lead a normal life.

That’s not bad; it’s got the WTC bombing aspect in it, which you don’t hear much about.

Finally, the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Charlotte road’s name protested

Carrying signs and chanting as they marched, 20 people turned out last night for an hourlong protest over the name of a road they say honors a terrorist.

Repeating, “Remember our heroes and ground zero,” “It’s about time to remove the sign” and “V-A the American way,” the protesters marched around the Charlotte County administration building, waved their signs along the road and gathered on the lawn under a flagpole in front of the building.

The Forest-based Christian Action Network contends that Sheikh Gilani Lane, located in the Muslims of America enclave, was named after an international terrorist. The network has pushed to have the road sign removed.

Martin J. Mawyer, the group’s president, said he hopes the protest will raise public awareness and urge the county’s supervisors to change the name.

Established in the mid-1990s, the Muslim community sits on 44 acres in the western part of Charlotte County and is made up of mostly mobile homes. Sheikh Gilani Lane was named after Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarik Gilani, who founded the area and other similar sites in the United States. About 20 families were estimated to live at the Charlotte site a few years ago.

Opponents of the road name say the Muslims of America communities are hideouts for the al-Fuqra terrorist organization. They also blame Gilani for the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was reportedly on his way to interview Gilani when he was abducted Jan. 23, 2002, in Karachi.

But residents of the communities repeatedly have denied terrorist ties, insisting the areas are “a pure and safe environment for raising families and for worshipping the One Almighty Creator of all things.”

This month, the county supervisors declined to change the name of the road, citing their long-standing policy against changing road names. County rules allow residents to name their private lanes.

“As citizens of the United States, these individuals have the right to name the [road] whatever they want to,” Supervisor Joseph Carey said.

Mawyer said he will contact the national media about the issue. “It had been our hope that the Board of Supervisors would handle this without bringing national embarrassment to the state and the county,” he said.

The Christian Action Network is a nonprofit lobbying organization that says it is dedicated to protecting traditions of the American family and defending the nation against radical Islam.

The Rev. Sam Weddington, who lives in the county, said last night’s protest makes Muslim residents feel they are not welcomed.

“They are good people,” he said.

Sam Weddington, by the way, is probably the Presbyterian minister I mentioned in my last post. I never got his name.

The tone of this story is not bad; it just has a major factual error. CAN doesn’t blame Sheikh Gilani for Daniel Pearl’s abduction; they just cite his probable involvement in the betrayal of Mr. Pearl to his murderers.

My best guess is this: Sheikh Gilani had arranged through intermediaries to meet Daniel Pearl for an interview. He needed a favor from the group that kidnapped Mr. Pearl, or maybe he needed to ease the tensions of inter-group rivalry. So he traded in his bit of information about where to find his would-be interviewer, and when. And that was it for Daniel Pearl.

It would defy common sense, given the Sheikh’s notorious history, to assert that he had no involvement whatsoever with the abduction of Daniel Pearl. But there’s no way to tell exactly what his rôle was.

“Gilani Lane Is Insane!”

This evening just after dusk the Christian Action Network organized a demonstration at Charlotte County Courthouse. They were protesting against the official county approval of a road named for a known terrorist, Sheik Gilani, the founder of the Muslims of America and Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The event was scheduled just before a Board of Supervisors meeting.


I got there early while it was still light so I could take some photos of the area. Charlotte Courthouse is one of the more beautiful locations in the Commonwealth of Virginia, scenic and historic — the home of Patrick Henry — without being overrun with boutiques and tack shops like a lot of other “old towns” are.

While I was waiting I chatted with a local businesswoman, who said she was appalled by the name “Sheikh Gilani Lane”.

“I’ve got a son in the Navy,” she said. “That’s not what he’s fighting for.”

She wondered why the FBI couldn’t do something about the Red House compound. I reminded her that this is a free country, and that unless someone there did something overtly illegal, there wasn’t much that law enforcement could do.

She gave a reluctant assent, but added, “You know, this country is really getting kind of screwed up.”

The Christian Action people gathered at Mimmo’s Restaurant just down the road from the Courthouse to eat and prepare for the demonstration.

The media showed up in full force, and Martin was interviewed a couple of times in front of the restaurant before he could eat his dinner.

The demonstration was not at the Courthouse itself, but just down the road in front of the County Administration Building, since that is where the Board of Supervisors meets.

I got there early, while the TV crews were setting up, and spent some time talking to the counter-demonstrators who were already there in anticipation of the arrival of the Christian Action Network. The TV people took footage of them while they were waiting.

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One lady carried a sign that read, “Have we made our neighbor welcome? Christ says that by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for another.” She told me that she was feeling like a young picketer. I remarked that she didn’t really look like a hippie. She replied that she thought there was a little hippie in her.

The state police were there to make sure no one got out of hand (no one did).

I chatted for a while with a representative of the state police. When I told him I was a blogger, he asked me which one.

“Gates of Vienna,” I replied.

“You’re with the 910 Group, right?”

“Well… yes, I’m associated with them.”

It turns out that he is a regular Gates of Vienna reader, and has been keeping up with the Jamaat ul-Fuqra news. He had even read today’s post. Hooray for the state police! Christine from the 910 Group was one of the demonstrators, and went over to introduce herself to him.

“Oh, so you’re Christine!” he said. “I know you.”

I had a long discussion with a local Presbyterian minister, whose sign displayed a passage from Ephesians about the neccessity for giving up anger and focusing on love. He felt that the protest was doing injustice to their peaceful Muslim neighbors. He knows people in the compound; he’s met with them, eaten meals with them, and coached their children. They’re peaceful, decent, people, and the demonstrators have no right to judge them when they don’t even know them.

When I confronted him with Sheikh Gilani’s own words, he said that his friends in the compound think the Sheikh was being taken out of context.

Well, consider this, from a recruitment video:

In a videotape obtained by The Washington Times, Sheik Gilani calls on American Muslims to help him form an “international organization.”

“We have reached out and prepared them to defend themselves in a highly specialized training in guerrilla warfare,” he says, referring to two camouflage-clad black men flanking him. “Life is becoming more hard for Muslims. Therefore, every man and woman will learn to defend himself or herself.”

Must have been some context.


The demonstrators arrived, led by a CAN member dressed as the Statue of Liberty, with another young man leading the chants with a bullhorn. “Sheikh Gilani out of the county!” and “Gilani Lane is insane!” are two that I remember.


The demonstrators circled the complex several times while the media milled around getting video footage and interviewing people.

Another 910 Group member was interviewed at length while I eavesdropped, and she did an excellent job, speaking very clearly and articulately about the issue of Jamaat ul-Fuqra. You may have seen her if you were watching the 11 pm news on ABC13 out of Lynchburg.

At least one of the demonstrators was a local Charlotte County resident, a six-year veteran of the military who said that he had to come and speak out against the naming of the road.

A final gathering in front of the building, a big round of applause, and then the demonstration broke up.

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The Board of Supervisors knew that CAN was coming, and the had hastily rearranged their schedule to meet for a moment at 7:00 pm, adjourn, and reconvene a little later at a local school, where no demonstration would be allowed. I assume they thought that by this stratagem they could duck all the adverse publicity.

But by absenting themselves so thoroughly from the scene, they made sure that Martin’s folks and the 910 Group people got most of the talking-head time on the news, without a single official representative of Charlotte County on camera.

I’m not a media-savvy person, but given the indefensible case they have to try to make, this doesn’t seem to have been a very wise move on their part.

Jason Says a Lot More Than His Prayers

After numerous tries to post the response below to a comment left on one of our recent posts on Jamaat ul-Fuqra by someone named “Jason” I gave up the attempt. Blogger Comments do not seem to be functioning - at least with our present dial-up situation.

Instead, here are his remarks and my response, converted into a post (which you will see if Blogger itself is working).

First of all, we don’t get many Jason-types on Gates of Vienna, though I know other conservative blogs are plagued with them. The vitriol and lack of coherence in these kinds of remarks always amazes me. People like Jason seem to break out in an angry rash when they run across something which lies outside their particular viewpoint or experience. The response is inevitably reactive, insulting and sneering.

Jason’s comment is a cut above some of the remarks I’ve seen. At least his excretory insults are confined to urine; most of them are more fecal in nature. These tirades bring to mind a child I knew, who, when very angry at some perceived personal injustice, would stamp his foot and retort, “pee, poop, piss, damn!” This crowning insult would be delivered in a very loud, angry voice. The adult interlocutor was supposed to be devastated by this “argument,” but sometimes it was hard to keep a straight face.

With that, let me present Jason, in full flower:

ugh. you disgusting, racist, xenophobic bigots.

ever heard of the melting pot? america is full of lots of different kinds of people who all have different religious views. why are you so afraid of what you don’t understand?

the strawman argument you make is laughable at least. we are in no way even close to being ‘taken over’ by islam. the tiny percentage of people in America that are muslim is so small there is no way, even if they had such pernicious plans you hold in your feverish imaginations, that they could take over anything.

How is this one muslim you are so afraid any different than the christian terrorists here in the US who shoot doctors or blow up clinics or blow up buildings in Oklahoma? McVeigh was a Christian.

I’m more afraid of my Constitution being destroyed by your abject piss-stained fear.

I don’t often bother responding to this kind of juvenilia. It reminds me of the arguments I see on adolescents’ Live Journals. This is especially the case when a commenter fails to use caps when he starts a new sentence.

But to give Jason credit, he actually spells out “you” and “your” instead of resorting to the ubiquitous “u” and “ur.” Though it is obvious he never took Rhetoric, and probably didn’t join the debate team, I give him credit for being able to spell correctly, and he builds sentences which contain clauses. Again, a plus for him, given the poor quality of his argumentation in general.

Jason—

Your comment tells me we’re on the right track.

Not only is the spotty “information” you supply woefully out of date, it consists entirely of retreaded MSM talking points. These are boring, Jason. Everyone has heard them repeated ad infinitum, ad nauseam. You are free to believe them, but the rest of us find them wearisome. Like gnats.

Instead of whatever it is you do to get information, try some first-hand investigation yourself. Talk to the scared, intimidated people who live near these compounds. Especially some of the people who’ve had assault rifles pulled on them by these thugs.

The neighbors who live in these small towns near the compounds in Georgia, VA, SC, NY, etc., are indeed afraid, though none of their many emails to us expressing this fearfulness have mentioned “piss stains.” Perhaps they’re embarrassed?

On the other hand, I’d be interested to observe your reaction should someone pull an assault rifle out of his truck and threaten you with it. Would we have any opportunity to observe “abject, piss-stained fear” in such an encounter? And whose clothing would be wet? Would it be the angry man waving the assault weapon in your face or would it be sneering Jason with the dark stain on his trousers?

You say “one muslim” ?? These are groups of thugs whose leader is persona non grata in the US because of his terrorist recruitment within our borders. Gilani started this in 1980. His followers have murdered peaceful Hindus in this country and blown up their community centers. One dissident was brutally murdered in his home.

These guys cash their welfare checks and send at least 30% of the proceeds to Gilani in Pakistan, where he lives royally. He’s also been implicated in the execution of Daniel Pearl.

We are xenophobic? My dear, you are abysmally ignorant and it may be an impediment you are no longer capable of surmounting. For one thing, your spittle-flecked prejudice regarding Christians is so pedestrian and predictable it has become boring. Surely you have a less shop-worn argument to display?

In truth, what you presented was not an argument, son — it was a tirade. Tirades are resorted to when there is insufficient knowledge of a subject, or a lack of intellectual acumen, or simply a hair-trigger reactivity which betrays insufficient emotional maturity to hold one’s own in an intellectual exchange.

Tirades are neither novel nor creative. They do not have enough gravitas to carry the discourse forward. Think of Rumpelstiltskin, Jason; he indulged in a tirade. People inclined toward a despotic character do the same thing.

If you haven’t taken Rhetoric 101 yet, you might give it a try. Learning the rules of rhetoric and argumentation provides a skill that would allow you to construct a coherent argument. That’s argument, Jason, not tirade. The latter does not qualify as argument and it reflects poorly on the person producing it. Tirades have their place: in the school yard and streaming from the mouths of despotic tyrants. They have no place in civil discourse.

Study some methods of debate so you can avoid the abundant errors you left on this blog in your several comments.

I’ll point out a few of these errors — ones which weaken your side of the debate; ones which could be addressed in some remedial rhetoric classes:

• ad hominem attacks,
  
• appeals to the lowest common denominator,
  
• specious, one-off comparisons,
  
• accusations without back-up information, and
  
• flagrant categorical errors.

Son, you need lessons in civil discourse... real bad and real soon. Your lack of skill is as embarrassing to read as would be the essay of someone who couldn’t spell and had no inkling there was such a thing as a paragraph. You have those skills. Now you can build on them.

Whoever may have demonstrated by example, or may have told you that winning arguments by sneering, by insulting your interlocutor, or by making prejudicial remarks as you accuse others of bigotry... well, Jason, they led you down the primrose path. Such tactics are counter-productive, at best. At worst, they diminish your own character and virtue.

If you like, I can show you how to make your statements into civil discourse. Quite possibly you are accustomed to arguing only in the manner you show here. However, if you google Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric, you will find excellent translations and study guides. When I looked just now, there were almost a million hits. See how easy it would be to fill in the lacunae left by your illiberal education?

Learning the manners neccessary to hold a discussion in the public square can be compared to learning a new language. Past a certain age, it will never be a native tongue, but you can limp along with a charming patois if you apply yourself.

It is not essential that people agree, only that their exchanges remain civil. It is an acquired skill, a subset of critical thinking. Unfortunately, it is one no longer taught in many schools.

Or you could just continue your tirades. But not here, son. In the future, I’ll simply remove your ravings. Life is too short, and bandwidth is too narrow to be cluttered with rude logical fallacies, and a long parade of the horribles.

In other words, Jason, get a courtesy clue bag and use it liberally while commenting here or I’ll delete your butt.

[End of post]

The Charlotte County Files

In the recent days The Southside Messenger — a small regional newspaper covering an area that includes Charlotte County, Virginia — has published pair of letters to the editor from residents of the Muslims of America compound near Red House, as well as an uncritical “news” story — dare I say puff-piece? — about the MOA.

Christine, the Operations Manager of the 910 Group, was dismayed by the lack of substantive information in the newspaper about Sheikh Gilani and Jamaat ul-Fuqra. She wrote an email to Averett Jones, the editor of The Southside Messenger, and suggested that he consider some of the available sources on Sheikh Gilani’s terrorist and criminal activities.

Mr. Jones proved an unreceptive audience. At first he suggested that there was no information about any terrorist activities by Sheikh Gilani, that all the allegations floating around on the web were derived from questionable fringe groups such as the Christian Action Network. Only information from the federal government would convince him. If he could be shown any such data, he would be glad to publish a story about it in his paper.

After Christine provided a copious amount of government information, Mr. Jones insisted that he meant that there was none from the State Department, which he considered the authoritative source. When supplied with State Department links, he added a requirement that they be recent documents, not from before 2002.

Christine has now supplied him with recent government documents, both state and federal, State Department and otherwise, detailing the extensive criminal and terrorist activities of Sheikh Gilani and the Muslims of America. But she is convinced that Mr. Jones is not acting in good faith, and will never make good on his promise to publish such material if she were to produce it.

As a result, she has decided to go public with the whole exasperating exchange. She is writing to all her contacts in Charlotte County — local government officials, law enforcement personnel, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens — to let them know that their local newspaper editor has been engaging in de facto censorship concerning Sheikh Gilani, Jamaat ul-Fuqra, and the Muslims of America compound near Red House.


In the process of dealing with a recalcitrant newspaper editor, Christine has managed to compile the web’s most comprehensive collection of links to official documents detailing the activities of Sheikh Gilani. Readers who are interested should save her lists for future reference.

Notice how closely Mr. Jones’ attitude reflects that of the MSM — no need to find out the facts; we know what’s true; any information obtained from conservative sources is by definition invalid; etc., etc.

It’s the Tiny Trickle Media aping the Mainstream Media.

Averett Jones, the editor of The Southside Messenger, told Christine, “If anyone could provide concrete evidence to a terrorist connection we will be happy to publish it.”

Don’t hold your breath for that one.

Christine has given me permission to post the entire email exchange here. Take a look, and see the extremes to which denial, self-dhimmification, and willful blindness will go.

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Email sent to Charlotte County residents, February 19, 2007

Hi,

You may have heard that a rally will be held Tuesday February 20 at 6:00 pm at the County Court House administration building, to protest the Charlotte Board of Supervisors’ vote on February 6 to honor Sheikh Gilani by naming a road after him. I will attend the rally as a concerned Virginia resident, and I hope you will too, if you read even some of the information provided here in links to 9 official U.S. federal or state government websites and reports that link Gilani to terrorism.

According to press reports, the public road sign has since been removed (the private one remains), but the Board’s vote preserves it on official government maps, and keeps it as part of Virginia’s cultural heritage and economic development profile. The negative impact extends to the entire state, not just to Charlotte County.

The Charlotte Board’s decision was based on incorrect information. According to the February 6 issue of the Charlotte Gazette (page 3), the Board’s decision to honor Sheikh Gilani was based on Supervisor Nancy Carwile’s research:

“But Carwile said she had extensively researched FBI, State Department, and Justice Department websites and could find no proof of any Gilani-based terrorist acts. In fact, during a brief Power Point presentation at the beginning of the meeting, all she did find were sites ‘made up’ by groups and individuals that supposedly showed ‘facts.’”

Supervisor Carwile is incorrect. Sheikh Gilani is linked to terrorism, as shown in several official U.S. federal and state government websites listed below.

I presented these links in a lengthy email to Averett Jones, editor of the Southside Messenger; that email is attached in entirety and summarized below. Mr. Jones stated, initially, that these websites are “pretending” to be official, and therefore he will not publish any articles on their existence.

I urge you to decide for yourself, to inform yourself about Sheikh Gilani and Jamaat ul-Fuqra, and to determine on your own the validity of this information and its serious implications for your community.

The exchange with Mr. Jones is included below, in chronological order, to explain why I am sending this information out, citizen to citizen. After a very long effort, I have given up trying to encourage Mr. Jones to publish the information. I include the links to the reports first, for your convenience.

Regards,
Christine

Summary of U.S. Federal and State Government Websites and Reports linking Sheikh Gilani and Jamaat ul-Fuqra to terrorism

1.		These first links all refer to the annual State Department “Patterns of Global Terrorism” Reports. Sheikh Gilani is mentioned in each of them. I provide links for all years in which I found his name. Search text for “Gilani”: http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps14740/www.state.gov/ www/global/terrorism/1997Report/backg.html http://sweden.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1998/appb.html http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1996/appb.html http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1995/appb.html http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1999/appb.html
2.		The next link is a reply to a query about the delisting of JUF in 2000 by the State Department: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/7738.htm
3.		This link is to the transcript of a State Department briefing from 01/31/2002: Search text for “Gilani” http://usembassy-australia.state.gov/hyper/2002/0131/epf401.htm
4.		This excerpt is from the State Department briefing from March 27, 2002. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2002/9025.htm
5.		This testimony by Daniel Pipes is provided by the State Department at: http://www.state.gov/s/p/of/proc/tr/11443.htm
6.		These reports for 2004 and 2005, published by the California Department of Justice on “Organized Crime in California, Annual Report to the California Legislature.” See pages 2,23,24 and 25 in 2004; page 26 in 2005 http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/org_crime2004.pdf
7.		This link is from the Colorado Attorney General’s official website: http://www.ago.state.co.us/pr/121001_link.cfm Gilani’s name is spelled here as “Jilani.”
8.		This Library of Congress site provides a brief summary for a report on Jamaat ul-Fuqra: http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/hispanic/terrorism/pakistan.html
9.		The National Criminal Justice Reference Service, of the Department of Justice, provides this 93 page report on Jamaat ul Fuqra and Sheikh Gilani (spelled Jilani here): http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/209520.pdf

- - - - - - - - - -
Email Exchange and Link Summary between Averett Jones, Editor, Southside Messenger, and Christine

[Mr.Jones’ computer appears to be set a day ahead – it may be a yahoomail problem.]

[All emails below will be forwarded, individually, at your request, if you wish to validate the accuracy of this email exchange. All emails are included here in entirety, with the exception of the very long Feb. 18, 2007 email with 9 categories of links, which is summarized in this page and included in full as an appendix.]

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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:16:34 –0500
From: Averett Jones editor@southsidemessenger.com
To: Christine
Subject: Re: Sheikh Gilani Road Sign Rally Feb 20

Dear Mrs ---,

Thank you for your letter and the links to Mercury news.com. I have personally read every article I could find on Gilani both in mainstream press and on web sites. I read your link to Mercury News and found the same information I have found in hundreds of websites and on CAN’s website. Our problem with this information is that not one of the claims regarding Gilani is ever documented. Gilani is not listed on any government website as a possible terrorist.

The article states “But over the years, state and federal authorities have described him as the head of an international terrorist group who draws financial support from followers in the United States.”

I have found this quote many times but again no reference to which “state and federal authorities.”

If anyone could provide concrete evidence to a terrorist connection we will be happy to publish it. At this point all we have found are rumors mostly taken from CAN’s website. We have also received dozens of emails with quotes alleged to be from Gilani which also appear to originate on CAN’s website. If you find any additional information please do not hesitate to send it to us.

Thank You for writing.
Averett Jones
Editor, The Southside Messenger

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Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:57:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Christine
Subject: Re: Sheikh Gilani Road Sign Rally Feb 20
To: editor@southsidemessenger.com

Hi,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I searched on U.S. government sites and immediately found a number of links, which I provide with annotation below for your convenience. I hope that you will follow through on these. I will make them available, to assist your own efforts, to other stakeholders in our state and nation.

The total time required to find these was approximately 1 hour. I went to the central search website for the U.S. and state government sites, USAsearch.gov. I have not searched Lexis Nexis yet, since you expressed an interest primarily in official government sites.

You state in your email to me, “If anyone could provide concrete evidence to a terrorist connection we will be happy to publish it.” Below, I provide reports from the State Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Department of Justice, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the Library of Congress research service, and a 93 page report on Gilani and Jamaat ul Fuqra funded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

These reports provide concrete evidence to a terrorist connection for Sheikh Gilani and Jamaat ul Fuqra. I will be happy to see you publish these materials. Please send me a link to the published article.

The nine links follow below, with summary annotations and excerpts for your convenience.

[See Appendix at the end of this email for the details supplied to Mr. Jones.]

Regards,
Christine
Fairfax, Virginia

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Tue, 20 Feb 2007 09:02:47 –0500
From: Averett Jones editor@southsidemessenger.com
To: Christine
Subject: Re: Sheikh Gilani Road Sign Rally Feb 20

Morning Ms ---,

Again, thank you for the information. I have already seen these sites but the problem is that when I attempt to return to the “State Department” website from them, they are not attached to that site. This indicates they are not official sites. Please advise me if you find additional information.

Sincerely
Averett Jones
The Southside Messenger

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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:43:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Christine
Subject: Re: Sheikh Gilani Road Sign Rally Feb 20
To: editor@southsidemessenger.com

Hi,

Mr. Jones, I’m beginning to think you’re not actually looking at these links. Let me urge you to do so, with greater care.

Of the nine itemized links below to official government sites that I provided, ALL of them have a link back to the official home page of the government agency. I just checked.

Two of them are old enough that they go back to an archived home page:

1.		In the five links provided for item #1 below, the first item is an archive file, and clicking on the state department link returns to the archive home page. Perhaps you are not aware of the archiving policies for websites within the U.S. Government. Of course, clicking on the State Department link for the other four items leads to the current State Department home page. Is it possible you clicked only on the first link of all those I provided? Surely not.
2.		Item #3 is also an archive file from an embassy website, but clicking on the “home” page link leads to an official homepage. This appears to me to be a non-standard approach to archiving, by the way, and I am happy for you not to treat it as an active link.

That leaves 8 additional links — plus the four from Item #1 — that are not archived files, but are active and all are on identified official government websites.

I look forward to your researching these documents, preparing a balanced article, and publishing it as you said you would do in an earlier email. Please send me a copy when you do.

As noted before, I will also be helping your efforts to educate the public, by sharing our email exchanges with stakeholders in our state and nation.

Regards,
Christine
Fairfax, Virginia

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Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:32:33 –0500
From: Averett Jones editor@southsidemessenger.com
To: Christine
Subject: Re: Sheikh Gilani Road Sign Rally Feb 20

Dear Mrs ---,

I AM looking at the links. The address to the state Department is http://www.state.gov. Any link that does not begin with this address is not an official website it is a private site made to look official. I have serious reservations with any site made to look official with no official standing. The site I mentioned earlier has a return link to the State Dept. but the site itself is not official. The only official links you provided are in item 2 and 4.

Item 2 Question: The group headed by Shaykh Gilani used to be designated by the State Department as a terrorist group but it was taken off the list. Why?

Answer: Jamaat ul-Fuqra has never been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. It was included in several recent annual terrorism reports under “other terrorist groups,” i.e., groups that had carried out acts of terrorism but that were not formally designated by the Secretary of State. However, because of the group’s inactivity during 2000, it was not included in the most recent terrorism report covering that calendar year.

This does not state Gilani is a terrorist in fact it states ul-Fuqua was not included in 2000. (and has not been included for the past 6 years.) As I said earlier we are searching for the truth. I have difficulty believing the truth will be found in sites pretending to be official government sites.

Regards
Averett

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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:58:21 -0800 (PST)
From: Christine
Subject: Two questions regarding Charlotte Board and Sheikh Gilani research
To: editor@southsidemessenger.com

Hi,

I have two questions for you, Mr. Jones.

1. Question #1:

In an article by Robert Benning, “Name Will Stay the Same” (Charlotte Gazette, 2/7/07, page 3), Nancy Carwile of the Charlotte Board of Supervisors is quoted as follows:

“But Carwile said she had extensively researched FBI, State Department, and Justice Department websites and could find no proof of any Gilani-based terrorist acts. In fact, during a brief Power Point presentation at the beginning of the meeting, all she did find were sites ‘made up’ by groups and individuals that supposedly showed ‘facts.’

“Anyone can make up a website that says anything...you have to be careful when you search the internet,” she said. “If it doesn’t end with ‘.gov’ then it is not an official government site.”

This statement by Carwile closely reflects your own statements in our exchange of emails. Are you the source of Carwile’s research? Did you prepare the powerpoint she provided to the Board? The Board made their decision based on an assessment that no official websites or reports, federal or state, exist that link Gilani with terrorism. Are you responsible for that assessment, and therefore for their decision?

2. Question #2:

As to your suggestions that the websites I sent you are, in your words, “sites pretending to be official government sites,” your assessment is simply wrong, and you do need to learn more about domain name conventions within .gov sites. The site URLs that you have decided are pretending” are Embassy websites. Their URLs are either listed as subdomains within the state department website, or as their own URLS with a .gov suffix.

The other website links that I provided are also either U.S. federal or state government sites. You have not commented on these other links in your emails, although I am confident you exercised prudence and due diligence, followed each link, read the webpage content or the attached reports, and assessed the validity of the URLs, before dismissing them as “sites pretending to be official government sites.”

The URLs for these additional sites include:

1.		Three websites with the http://www.state.gov URL which you say you trust;
2.		The Office of the Attorney General of California (NOTE — NOT A .GOV ADDRESS, BUT STILL OFFICIAL) http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/org_crime2004.pdf
3.		The Office of the Attorny General of Colorado (NOTE — NOT A .GOV ADDRESS, BUT STILL OFFICIAL) http://www.ago.state.co.us/pr/121001_link.cfm
4.		The Library of Congress, ending in a .gov address http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/hispanic/terrorism/pakistan.html
5.		The National Criminal Justice Reference Service, also ending in a .gov address http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/209520.pdf

So this is my second question, Mr. Jones. You state in your email, “I have already seen these sites.” If so, and if you suspected that they were “pretending,” can you document your phone calls or emails to the official government agency webmasters, or to their public information offices or, in fact, to anyone, in which you actually verified that these sites were not official? Please forward that documentation if it exists.

I am, of course, particularly interested in seeing it, if your assessment of these sites was the basis for the Board of Supervisor’s decision to name the road in honor of Sheikh Gilani.

Thanks!

Regards,
Christine
Fairfax, Virginia

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Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:52:52 –0500
From: Averett Jones
To: Christine
Subject: Re: Two questions regarding Charlotte Board and Sheikh Gilani research

Mrs. ---

I apologize for any misunderstanding. I am trying to answer your concerns and get my work done at the same time. I was not saying the websites you listed were not official. They are. When I said I could not find information on official sites, I should have said current sites. I have been unable to find anything after the 2002 statement that Gilani is no longer listed as a potential terrorist. There are hundreds of current sites which contain the same information that was official from 1995 to 2002 which are not official but have current dates. I have been unable to find anything official with current dates. I should have said I have seen the same information listed on these unofficial sites. I have never discussed this matter with Dr. Carwile until after the board meeting, nor am I responsible for any board decision. I will again apologize for the miscommunication and if you can find any current information regarding Gilani, please share it with me. My personal opinion is simple. I believe that everyone is innocent until proved guilty and this includes you, me, the Muslims in Red House and Sheik Gilani.

Sincerely, Averett Jones

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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:30:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Christine
Subject: Re: Two questions regarding Charlotte Board and Sheikh Gilani research
To: editor@southsidemessenger.com

Hi,

You state below, “I have been unable to find anything after the 2002 statement that Gilani is no longer listed as a potential terrorist.”

Please refer again to the list of links that I sent you. No doubt you reviewed them carefully and simply missed the dates of the documents. The report from the U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/
grants/209520.pdf, is dated April, 2005, and includes significant cited information from 2004.

The report from the California Department of Justice is, in fact, their 2004 Annual Report on Organized Crime.

Since you are concerned about recent information, I also found references to Gilani in the California 2005 Annual Report on Organized Crime, available here: http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/org_crime2005.pdf

This means that the latest official government information I could find, based on a 1 hour search, is less than two years old.

As mentioned before, I look forward to your doing what you said you would: “If anyone could provide concrete evidence to a terrorist connection we will be happy to publish it.”

Please do so.

Thanks,

Regards,
Christine
Fairfax, Virginia


APPENDIX

1. These first links all refer to the annual State Department “Patterns of Global Terrorism” Reports. Sheikh Gilani is mentioned in each of them. I provide links for all years in which I found his name.

http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps14740/www.state.gov/
www/global/terrorism/1997Report/backg.html
http://sweden.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1998/appb.html
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1996/appb.html
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1995/appb.html
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/terror/rpt1999/appb.html

2. The next link is a reply to a query about the delisting of JUF in 2000 by the State Department:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/7738.htm

3. This link is to the transcript of a State Department briefing from 01/31/2002: The mention of Sheikh Gilani is the following excerpts from the transcript:
http://usembassy-australia.state.gov/hyper/2002/0131/epf401.htm

		QUESTION:		Pearl. Do we know anything, or does the State Department know anything about this sheikh that they have arrested, Sheikh Gilani or his group? Just tell us everything.
		MR. BOUCHER:		That’s the problem. I don’t think I’m in a position to tell you everything about what we know, about groups or an ongoing investigation. So I’m going to have to believe that it wouldn’t be in the best interests of Mr. Pearl for us to do that. I can make clear that the Pakistani police are continuing their efforts. We are assisting them, US law enforcement officials are assisting them. The cooperation is very close, and as the Secretary told you, the senior Pakistani officials are interested and involved. Our Embassy in Islamabad and the State Department have been in very close touch with Mr. Pearl’s family and with the Wall Street Journal to work with them, to keep them updated. The Embassy met today with American journalists in Pakistan to advise them on the security situation. And we have taken other measures to increase the security awareness of official and non-official Americans. We issued that new Travel Warning yesterday to include information on possible kidnappings and terrorist actions. Mr. Pearl should be released immediately and unconditionally. His continued detention is no help to any cause. This continuing to hold him, threatening to kill him would only hurt the people who are holding him. He is a Wall Street Journal reporter, and he should be released immediately and unconditionally. He is a respected journalist. He has no connection with the US Government.
		QUESTION:		With the arrest of Sheikh Gilani, does the United States believe they are going in the right direction (inaudible) with Daniel Pearl?
		MR. BOUCHER:		Again, I’m not going to comment on the process of investigation, on the progress of the investigation. I think I really have to let that proceed, and it would not help Mr. Pearl for me to try to talk about it or second-guess it from here. I’m sorry…
		QUESTION:		Without getting into the details of the investigation, this group that Mr. Gilani belonged to used to be on the State Department terrorism list and was taken off. Could you say why?

4. This excerpt is from the State Department briefing from March 27, 2002.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2002/9025.htm

				QUESTION:				The group Jamaat ul-Fuqra , which is associated with Sheikh Gilani, who may or may not be implicated in Daniel Pearl’s murder, was taken off the FTO list last year or in --
				MR. BOUCHER:				A couple years ago, I think, yes.
				QUESTION:				In the 2000 Report. With its reemergence, why hasn’t that been put back on the list?
				MR. BOUCHER:				We look at these things very carefully. It is a very careful review. It is an extensive review of the information before we do it. As you know, some of these have been challenged in court, although they were ultimately upheld. So it’s a very careful process to make sure that we gather all the available information and take the appropriate steps.
								Now, there are some designations under the Treasury Department’s list; for example, some of these groups get designated first in order to block their assets before we formally make them a Foreign Terrorist Organization. But it is a very careful process to make sure we get it right.
				QUESTION:				Can you say whether that was being looked at again?
				MR. BOUCHER:				I don’t think we’re able to say whether a specific group is under review, but we’re looking at various groups all the time for possible designation.

5. This testimony by Daniel Pipes is provided by the State Department at:

http://www.state.gov/s/p/of/proc/tr/11443.htm

Concerning Sheikh Gilani, the state department website excerpt from Pipes states:

“Daniel Pearl was suppose to meet with Sheikh Gilani, Pakistani militant Islamic leader who some 20 years ago organized a group known in this country as Al-Fuqra, which literally means “the poor.” It was made up primarily of African-Americans converts who live mostly in self-contained rural communities with their own schools and militias. They have a history of violence, for example murdering an Egyptian immigrant in Arizona in 1990 and recently a member of the California branch was arrested for killing a policeman. This is an extremely dangerous group, but I have no idea if Daniel Pearl was on the track of discovering something new about it .”

6. This is a report published by the California Department of Justice on “Organized Crime in California, Annual Report to the California Legislature 2004.”

http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/org_crime2004.pdf

Here are interesting excerpts:

“connection to a compound located on 377 acres off of Highway 245 in a rural mountain area of northeastern Tulare County near Fresno, California, known as Baladullah. The compound was, at one time, advertised as a site for a chapter of the Islamic Quranic Open University (IQOU). The school was founded by Pakistani cleric Sheik Sayed Mubarik Ali Gilani and has campuses on similar type compounds in various regions of the country. Sheik Gilani is also the founder of Jamaat el- Fuqra, a group that has been designated by the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization, which he created in the 1980s while in Brooklyn, New York, for the purpose of purifying Islam through violence. Sheik Gilani heads the organization from his base of operations in Lahore, Pakistan. Law enforcement authorities suspect that the compound may have been owned and occupied by individuals connected to Jamaat El-Fuqra, in part, because the IQOU and the terrorist organization are believed to be linked due to their crossover membership and that both groups operate under Gilani’s authority.

“During 2004, members of groups supporting international terrorism were engaged in the following criminal activity....

“...In November, a California resident and suspected Fuqra member was arrested in York, South Carolina, on a federal warrant for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. This individual, a former resident of the Baladullah compound in Fresno and Tulare counties, was extradited to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he remains in custody at a federal detention center awaiting trial. In early November 2004, Baladullah was placed into foreclosure.”

7. This link is from the Colorado Attorney General’s official website:

http://www.ago.state.co.us/pr/121001_link.cfm

Gilani’s name is spelled here as “Jilani.”

The page content is the following:

“INFORMATION REGARDING COLORADO’S INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF MEMBERS OF JAMAAT UL FUQRA

Beginning in the late 1980s, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office successfully prosecuted members of a fundamentalist Sufi-militant Islamic sect known as “JAMAAT UL FUQRA”. Five FUQRA members were ultimately prosecuted between 1993 and 1994.

“FUQRA” is an Arabic word, which translates most accurately as “the impoverished”. The sect advocates the purification of the Islamic religion by means of force and violence. Sheikh Mubarik Ali Jilani Hasmi, who is known by many other aliases, and who also calls himself the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr, originated this group in Pakistan.

In addition to being suspected of committing numerous acts of domestic terrorism, FUQRA members in the United States have been suspected of committing fraud against various governmental entitlement programs in an effort to financially support their activities.

Colorado’s investigation indicated that the United States FUQRA movement was composed of approximately 30 different ‘Jamaats’ or communities, somewhat mobile in nature. Most of these ‘Jamaats’ are believed to currently exist today, along with what investigators deemed to be several ‘covert paramilitary training compounds’ -- one of which had been located in a remote mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colorado prior to Colorado’s prosecutions in the mid-1990s. The corresponding FUQRA ‘Jamaat’ to the Buena Vista compound was located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Colorado’s investigation of FUQRA was initiated in 1989 when Colorado Springs Police Department detectives, initially investigating a series of burglaries, were contacted by the owner of a storage locker site and were told about a locker of, what appeared to be, abandoned property.

In September 1989, detectives executed a search warrant of the storage locker upon suspicion of illegal explosives. The search of the locker disclosed numerous items believed to belong to the FUQRA sect then residing in that area. Several explosive components-- thirty to forty pounds of explosives, three large pipe bombs, a number of smaller improvised explosive devices, shape charges, ten handguns-- some with obliterated serial numbers-- silencers in various stages of manufacture, military training manuals, reloading equipment, bomb-making instructions, and numerous FUQRA-related publications were located in this storage area. Titles of some of the publications included “Guerilla Warfare”, “Counter Guerilla Operations”, “Understanding Amateur Radio”, and “Fair Weather Flying,” and “Basic Blueprint Reading and Sketching.” Several silhouettes for firearms target practice were also discovered, including one with the words “FBI Anti-terrorist team” written on the target’s torso bullseye.

Of great interest to law enforcement officials were documents concerning potential ‘targets’ for destruction and murder in the Los Angeles, Tucson, and Denver areas, including surveillance-type photographs, maps with hand-drawn overlays, notes, etc., concerning these targets. In addition, references to Buckley Air National Guard Base, Rocky Mountain Arsenal, the Air Force Academy, and electrical facilities in Colorado, and Warren Air Force Base, and two Wyoming National Guard armories in Wyoming were found. A somewhat detailed description of a firebombing attack on what is believed to have been the Hare Krishna Temple in Denver was also discovered. An attack, as described in these writings, did, in fact, take place in Denver in August 1984, causing an estimated $200,000 in damage. Investigation by Denver authorities at that time revealed that a Hare Krishna Temple in Philadelphia, where FUQRA activity also had been noted, was firebombed in a similar fashion.

Among the many documents found in the Colorado Springs’ storage locker were numerous blank birth certificates; blank social security cards; several sets of Colorado drivers’ licenses, each containing a picture of the same individual, but each with a different identity; and many underground press publications concerning the assembly of phony identification -- to be reproduced in a manner to “withstand even close government scrutiny”.

Finally, the search disclosed a number of workers’ compensation claims, which ultimately led to a full-scale fraud investigation being conducted by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment in coordination with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorist Task Force.

This investigation revealed that Colorado Springs FUQRA members had defrauded the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment of approximately $350,000 dollars between September 1984 and January 1992. The mobility and multiple addresses and identities of the various FUQRA members posed a significant challenge to early detection and normal prevention of the fraud. As a result of the two-year investigation, five FUQRA members were indicted by the statewide grand jury in September 1992 on racketeering charges involving theft, mail fraud, and forgery. Six months after the indictments, further racketeering charges, including theft of rental property, conspiracy to commit murder and arson (the Denver Hare Krishna Temple), were also filed against the five individuals and a sixth person -- all FUQRA members. Some of the fraudulently obtained workers’ compensation funds were traced directly to payments for a parcel of land near Buena Vista used by the group as a residence compound and training site.

One of the FUQRA defendants convicted is James D. Williams. After his conviction in 1993 for conspiracy to commit first degree murder, racketeering, and forgery, Williams fled and remained a fugitive until being apprehended in Virginia in August 2000. He was returned to Colorado and sentenced this past March to 69 years in prison. From at least the middle 1980’s through 1990, Williams was a leader of a Colorado FUQRA.

The conviction for conspiracy to commit first degree murder referred to a comprehensive written plan for the murder of a Tucson, Arizona Muslim cleric, Rashad Khalifa. Khalifa was murdered in January 1990 in a manner that was remarkably similar to the written plan.

It is believed the activities of UL FUQRA across the nation continue. Just recently the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (BATF) arrested one of the former Colorado defendants and FUQRA member, Vincente Rafael Pierre, in Virginia on alleged ammunition violations. In California, a FUQRA member was arrested on the suspected murder of a Fresno County Deputy Sheriff this last August. In addition, FUQRA operates something called the Quranic Open University in Los Angeles, which has received over $1.5 million dollars over the course of the last two years in charter school funding. This entity is also located in New York City and Philadelphia. There are believed to be active UL FUQRA training compounds still existing in New York, Michigan, South Carolina, California, and perhaps other states.

FUQRA or its members have been investigated for alleged terrorist acts including murder and arson in New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto, Denver, Los Angeles and Tucson. UL FUQRA is suspected of more than thirteen firebombings and, at least, as many murders within the United States”

8. This Library of Congress site provides a brief summary for a report on Jamaat ul-Fuqra:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/hispanic/terrorism/pakistan.html

Jamaat ul-Fuqra

(http://www.ict.org.il/inter%5Fter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=16)

The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), located in Herzlia, Israel, provides a profile for the terrorist organization, Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which is based in Pakistan. The Islamic sect commits acts of violence against those that they view as enemies of Islam. The ICT discusses the history and terrorist activities of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.”

9. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service, of the Department of Justice, provides this 93 page report on Jamaat ul Fuqra and Sheikh Gilani (spelled Jilani here):
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/209520.pdf

Annotation: Using a case study of the investigation and prosecution of members of a terrorist group (Jamaat Ul Fuqra) in Colorado, this research report identifies the types of white-collar crimes used by the group for funding + mechanisms and identity deception and suggests how lessons learned from white-collar crime investigations can provide guidance for State and local police and prosecutors who may investigate terrorist groups.

Abstract: The Fuqra group was first organized in Pakistan by Sheikh Mubarik Al Jilani Hasmi, who also established a United States Fuqra organization in 1980. Most members of the U.S. Fuqra are African-Americans who have adopted extremist beliefs and live in communal environments or “Jamaats.” In August 1989, the discovery of a storage locker by the Colorado Springs police marked the beginning of an investigation that focused on fraudulent claims for worker’s compensation, a white-collar crime that is the focus of this report. Linked to the fraudulent worker’s compensation claims were other white-collar crimes, notably identification fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. Proceeds from these crimes were used to plan violent terrorist acts. This research obtained information on these cases through interviews and document analysis. This report describes the Colorado investigation in a module format. The first module describes the organization and activity of Fuqra, followed by a module on the investigation of properties that included a vehicle search, a storage locker search, and the search of a Fuqra compound. The third module details investigations of four fraudulent worker’s compensation claims, and the fourth module addresses the group’s cash flow from fraud to the purchase of property. Legal strategies are profiled in a fifth module, and the sixth module discusses lessons learned and best practices. 13 tables, 4 charts, and 3 supplementary appendixes

Main Term(s): Domestic Preparedness

Index Term(s): White collar crimes; Organized crime investigation; Fraud; Revolutionary or terrorist groups; Prosecution; Organized crime; Insurance fraud; Terrorist tactics; Investigative techniques; Money laundering; NIJ final report; Colorado

Jamaat ul-Fuqra in Georgia — From the Air

A Gates of Vienna/Christian Action Network Exclusive

Note: Any of the small images shown below that cause your mouse pointer to display the “link” icon may be clicked to show a larger version of the same image.


The Christian Action Network recently made another aerial run over a Jamaat ul-Fuqra compound, this time the one near Commerce, Georgia. Martin Mawyer, the president of CAN, has kindly made the resulting photos available to Gates of Vienna.

The compound on Madinah Road actually has a Royston address, and is about halfway between Commerce and Royston, to the northeast of Atlanta.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra — the terrorist organization whose cover group is known as the Muslims of America — means “community of the impoverished” in Arabic. When you look at the dwellings in the Commerce compound, it seems that the organization is trying to live up to its name.

Most of the residences are trailers and double-wides, some of them decrepit and badly in need of repair. Squalor of this level is not unknown in the rural South, but the Commerce compound definitely ranks near the lower end of the socio-economic scale.
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There is a small farm complex that probably predates the MOA acquisition of the property. It seems to be engaged in some kind of animal husbandry — cows? horses? Presumably not pigs.

The pasture and larger trees standing in the open indicate that the farm has been there for a while. The rest of the buildings and trailers are more obviously recent additions, set back in the woods along the narrow red-clay access roads that snake through the complex.

There is one exception to the general poverty-stricken appearance of the place. I mentally named this building “the Fortress” as I went through these photos, but in fact have no idea what its function is. A community center? A mosque? The house of a JF bigwig? It’s a strange-looking building, very different from anything else on the property. In his initial pass over the area, Martin’s photos clearly show three cars parked on the concrete apron just above the entrance to the underground garages. By the time the airplane had made a complete circle over the area and returned to the same spot above the Fortress, the cars had disappeared. You can follow the sequence of successive shots at right — according to Martin, the elapsed time between the first photo of the sequence and the last was les than four minutes. That was an insufficient amount of time for the cars to have driven away, and, in any case, Martin’s team saw no cars moving up the driveway. The only possible explanation is that during the brief period of time involved, all three cars were driven into the two garages underneath the building. In fact, in the third photo of the sequence, the end of the red car is just visible beyond the southeast corner in the turnaround area. It has been moved, and is presumably in the process of turning around before entering the garage. In the last three photos of the sequence, none of the three cars is still visible. Notably odd features of the building are the rounded corners and the various levels of flat roof edged by parapets. Notice the triangular tower sticking up above the rest of the structure, with its narrow slit windows facing southwest and southeast. With the exception of the tower, the different sections of the roof have beveled areas that slope up from a flat surface almost to the level of the surrounding parapet. You’ll observe that these triangular slopes are all facing northeast and northwest — that is, towards the driveway and the open lawn. None is facing the woods to the south. It’s possible that these bevels have some unremarkable function that is not immediately evident. Maybe they are designed to funnel rainwater in a certain direction so that it can be gathered into a drain and collected in cisterns. But my paranoid nature envisions these as positions for riflemen, who could lie prone and expose very little silhouette to an assault down the driveway or through the open area to the north. We know that the Muslims of America see themselves as victims of the next Waco, so this could be a part of their preparation for it. An argument against this explanation is the fact that there is no evident means of access to the uppermost of the flat rooftop areas. So perhaps there is another explanation for these beveled corners — readers with architectural knowledge are invited to contribute suggestions.

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The impoverishment of the Impoverished does not seem to extend to motor vehicles. There are plenty of cars and trucks visible throughout the compound, and not just at the large building.

The double-wide shown at right has at least ten vehicles parked around or in front of it. Most of them were turned around when parked so that they are facing back up the driveway. Just for convenience? Or for a quick getaway?

There are a couple of hood-tarps in evidence on vehicles. It could be that the car’s hood is missing, and the engine is being worked on. Or maybe the car’s owner is trying to protect the engine and battery against those harsh Georgia winters.


Or maybe the tarp is there to conceal the front license plate from casual inspection if a county deputy comes down the road on a professional visit. Would he be required to show a warrant if he wanted to look at the rear license plate?

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After going through all the photos, I was left with a handful of mysterious objects or structures. These were things that were big enough to be interesting, but which I couldn’t identify. I’m sure that each has an innocuous explanation; it just wasn’t one that I could think of.

The first one is a superstructure at the far end of the gable of the roof of the barn, as seen in the “farm” picture above. The thing appears to have two wheels, and sits astride the crest of the roof at the very end. My best guess is that it is some kind of winch or hoist to bring hay bales etc. up into the barn loft, but I’ve never seen one quite like it. The next strange object is a rack or frame leaning against a tree way back in the woods away from any of the buildings. A tanning frame for animal hides? That doesn’t look like a hide on it. A piece of roof with some shingles attached? It’s a mystery to me. I’m hoping the distributed intelligence of our readers will supply the answer. It’s probably something quite commonplace, to be found everywhere in the hinterlands of Georgia. The other mysteries are these three tall buildings. Each is set back in the woods away from the roads and cars, with no cleared area around it. None seems to have an electric line leading to it. The footprint for each one is small, but all three buildings extend to second-story level. The first one looks vaguely like a smokehouse, but lacks the roof vents. Notice the peculiar paint job on the end. The second is ungabled, with a canted roof. The third seems to have a window on the second floor, with a door underneath it. A machine shop? A carpenter’s workroom? A meditation retreat? All guesses are welcome.

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As I mentioned yesterday, members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra have defended their organization in letters to the editor of a local newspaper in Charlotte County, Virginia:

We are not terrorists, nor do we or shall we ever subscribe to terrorism. We are American citizens born and raised in the United States, respectful to God and the Constitution of the founding Fathers of this country. Many of us are Veterans ourselves, honorably discharged, by the various entities of the United States Armed Forces. Some of us currently have relatives serving in the Armed Forces overseas in Iraq.

These are fine sentiments. But contrast them with the words of the letter-writer’s own leader and spiritual guide:

In a videotape obtained by The Washington Times, Sheik Gilani calls on American Muslims to help him form an “international organization.”

“We have reached out and prepared them to defend themselves in a highly specialized training in guerrilla warfare,” he says, referring to two camouflage-clad black men flanking him. “Life is becoming more hard for Muslims. Therefore, every man and woman will learn to defend himself or herself.”

Another JF member also wrote to the paper:

The provocative tactics instigated by some members of CAN resemble events that led to the sad memories of Ruby Ridge and Waco. We are hopeful and pray that this venom of hatred never finds it’s [sic] way to Charlotte County, Virginia.

It seems obvious to me that the Madinah Road compound near Commerce is preparing for another Waco. Waco is now the gold standard for confrontations between private armed groups and the government. Any scrutiny of a group’s behavior “invites another Waco”.

Unfortunately for all of us, Janet Reno did for legitimate law enforcement what Joe McCarthy did for legitimate anti-communism. Thanks to Janet Reno, federal authorities are going to tread very, very softly with any group like Jamaat ul-Fuqra, particularly when a racial angle is involved. Law enforcement at the national, state, and local levels will bend over backwards to give the Muslims of America the benefit of the doubt, and then some.

So no new Waco is coming down Madinah Road to the Fortress. It’s not going to happen.

And the comparison of Jamaat ul-Fuqra with the Branch Davidians is spurious. David Koresh’s people did not operate compounds all over the country and in Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, “villages” in which they stockpiled automatic weapons and gave weapons-training courses to young men recruited from prison. The Branch Davidians did not fire-bomb Hindu temples nor murder members who failed to follow the proper doctrine. They never engaged in massive welfare fraud as a fund-raising measure, nor did they repatriate their ill-gotten gains to a terrorist in Pakistan.

These are apples and oranges.

But my purpose here is not to stimulate some government action vis-à-vis Jamaat ul-Fuqra. I don’t think the government can help us, anyway. We’re on our own.

My goal is to present information, as much as possible. Let the light shine on the Muslims of America — if they are peaceful and harmless devotees of their Sheikh, they will surely welcome the attention.

They have been accustomed to gliding through the shadows, unnoticed by the vast majority of Americans. We want them to move out into the light.

Let’s exchange incognito for in flagrante delicto.


Update: A reader emailed me to ask if the mystery on the roof of the barn might in fact be on the ground beyond the barn. I said that I didn’t think so, because it appeared to overlap the roof of the barn and throw a shadow there.

Well, I was wrong. I scoured through the aerial photos and found another shot taken from a very slightly different angle, and you can clearly see the piece of equipment on the ground in the barnyard. The roof of the barn is damaged, with some tin missing and the joists poking out, so that an optical illusion is created making the wheeled device look like it’s on the roof.

I still don’t know what it is, but at least it’s on the ground, where it belongs.