Saturday, August 09, 2008

Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Troubles

Does Barack Obama have his own problem with Islam?

There seems to be at least the perception of a problem :

According to a recent Newsweek poll, 12 percent of Americans believe that Barack Obama is a practicing Muslim.

That’s one out of eight. No wonder the O-man is so desperate to keep hijab-wearing women out of his photos!

Dymphna and I have sworn off posting about The Messiah Barack Obama until after the conventions, but sometimes exceptions must be made. In this case, it’s because of the intersection between The One and the news media of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. According to Fact International:

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said that the resignation of a recently-appointed Muslim community liaison for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is symptomatic of a nationwide effort by Islamophobes who seek to deny Muslims access to the political process.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it is “ironic” that Chicago attorney Mazen Asbahi resigned following Internet attacks on his ties to the mainstream Muslim community, an attribute that would seem to be a requirement for his position.

“Muslim-bashers play a ‘six degrees of separation’ game of guilt by association with any Muslim who dares to engage in positive social or political activism,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR’s Chicago chapter. “As Americans, we should not allow intolerant and agenda-driven extremists to succeed in their tactics of exclusion based on smears and mischaracterizations of leaders or institutions at the forefront of civic engagement.”

[…]

Rehab also noted Muslims’ concern over recent congressional hearings at which Islamophobic speakers, including the controversial self-described “terrorism expert” Steven Emerson, urged government officials to avoid dealing with mainstream American Muslim groups, but failed to name any credible alternatives.

Boy, this article really hit all the hot buttons of Islamophobophobia: six degrees, Muslim-bashers, smears, intolerance, Steve Emerson, and that nasty old Islamophobia — which, by the way, is scheduled to be wiped out in the OIC’s ten-year plan.

So who’s Mazen Asbahi? What’s all the fuss about?

If you look at the different news stories about Mr. Asbahi’s resignation, you’ll get different accounts of the affair. Let’s start with The Washington Post:
- - - - - - - - -
Mazen Asbahi, a Chicago lawyer who had been appointed to help Obama reach out to Muslims, stepped down on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported late last night.

The paper had inquired about his relationship with Jamal Said, who served on a board with Asbahi in 2000 that is a subsidiary of the North American Islamic Trust, which holds titles to mosques, Islamic centers, schools, and other real estate around the country. Said had been named in an investigation of alleged Hamas fund-raisers, which ended in a mistrial last year, the paper reported. [emphasis added]

So far we’ve got an association with a guy named Jamal Said and the North American Islamic Trust — one of the innumerable Saudi-funded charities in the USA — and an alleged association with Hamas.

For a slightly different point of view, here’s WoldNet Daily:

Mazen Asbahi became the campaign’s coordinator of outreach to Muslims on July 26, but earlier this week a report by the Internet newsletter Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report was surfaced by the Wall Street Journal that linked Asbahi to Jamal Said, a man thought by the U.S. Department of Justice to be involved in racketeering and fundraising for the Palestinian terror organization Hamas.

A pair of Detroit Free Press articles this week also revealed Asbahi spent part of the day of his appointment at a fundraiser at the home of Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, president of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. [emphasis added]

Now we can add CAIR and another name, Jukaku Tayeb, to the list.

But to stitch it all together, here’s some information from the Crime Blog of The Dallas Morning News:

…Said is one of 200-plus unindicted co-conspirators named by prosecutors in the HLF [Holy Land Foundation] case. In particular, Said was a member “of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee“ which, as the government argued last year’s trial, was formed in the 1980s and coordinated support for Hamas here.

The trust board on which Asbahi and Said served in 2000 is itself controlled by the North American Islamic Trust — also on the HLF unindicted co-conspirators list.

[…]

Said is the imam at the Bridgeview Mosque in Illinois near Chicago. The mosque has been the center of controversy for its fundamentalist bent for years, and is itself central to the HLF story.

Bridgeview is the same mosque where a man named Muhammad Salah was once a leader. He is credited with tipping off investigators to HLF’s Hamas ties after he spilled the beans to Israeli agents who detained him in 1993. The Israelis, of course, tipped off their American counterparts. [emphasis added]

Now we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. What the WaPo referred to delicately as an “investigation… which ended in a mistrial last year” was in fact the Holy Land Foundation trial, an enormous and mismanaged attempted prosecution against the Muslim Brotherhood “charities” that act as funding conduits in the United States for terrorist entities. CAIR, itself closely tied to the Ikhwan, spent huge amounts of time and money to interfere with the HLF case and prevent a successful prosecution.

So there are a lot fewer than six degrees of separation between Mazen Asbahi and the Muslim Brotherhood. No wonder the new revelations made the Obama campaign nervous.

Unfortunately for American Muslims, there will never be very many degrees of separation between a member of virtually any mosque congregation and radical terrorist groups. That’s because the Saudis and the NAIT control most mosque assets in the United States, train the imams, print the Korans, distribute all the apes-and-pigs promotional materials, educate the students, and lobby Congress. There’s never more than a thin gauze between any practicing Muslim and the enemies of the United States.

But that’s a fact that everyone, including both political parties and the government, would rather not talk about.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

An interesting and sobering side note on the affair can be found in this Fox News story:

Mazen Asbahi, the campaign’s volunteer national coordinator for Muslim American affairs, said he was quitting to prevent creating an appearance problem for Obama.

“In 2000, I agreed to serve as a member of the board of trustees of the Dow Jones Islamic Index Fund. I served on that board for only a few weeks before resigning as soon as I became aware of public allegations against another member of the board,” Asbahi wrote in an e-mail to the campaign that was released Wednesday. [emphasis added]

The Dow Jones Islamic Index Fund.

In other words, the fund is part of Wall Street’s respectable and officially-sanctioned sharia finance.

I know a lot of people don’t object to sharia finance — “Who cares if Muslims are stupid enough to pay extortionate rates to borrow money?”

But sharia is of a piece. When the finance portion enters a community, it brings along with it the dietary rules, the segregation of the sexes, the chopping off of hands, the execution of apostates, and all the other lovely customs we’ve come to associate with Islamic law.

In a way, all the fuss about Obama is just a sideshow. The real scandal isn’t about what Barack Hussein Obama will do once he becomes President of the United States.

The real scandal is what has been done under the current administration, as well as in the previous four presidential administrations.

Sharia has come to Wall Street. Our government refuses to enforce our borders. School children in Texas pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag. Federal courts overturn popularly mandated laws to sanction illegal aliens.

And our leaders refuse to name the enemy.

Barack Hussein Obama is just the icing on the cake.


Hat tip: TB.

13 comments:

History Snark said...

I'm now reading "The Obama Nation", and The Messiah might have even bigger problems with Islamic crime. His friend Tony Rezco apparently is friends with an Iraqi gentleman who, some years back, was apparently the bagman for Saddam in the Oil for Food scandal.

But thus far, not a lot of public discourse on that. Surprise surprise.

Κοινότητα Εκάλης said...

we all know that Americans are idiots and poorly educated. 10% believes that obama is muslim and 30% thinks that kosovo is in middle east.

americans and their puppet president in georgia got a good lesson from vladimir, which is important for anyone who thinks that can mess with us. next destination is kosovo. the next american president must someone who is down to earth like obama, not another neo-con lunatic who cant find russia in the map.

dienw said...

we all know that Americans are idiots and poorly educated. 10% believes that obama is muslim and 30% thinks that kosovo is in middle east. (sic)

Sir. Some advice: when you make such charges, do so in a rational and articulate manner.

Who's "we" Kimosabe?

If "Americans are idiots and poorly educated" then how did Obamessiah escape American education?

Baron Bodissey said...

Mr. Politics --

we all know that Americans are idiots and poorly educated.

You're fortunate here; we have a tolerant policy towards comments we disagree with. Even though you are being gratuitously insulting towards Americans (violating rule #1), I'll let it slide.

Yes, "we all know" how ignorant Americans are. But...

In the last few years I've been dealing directly with a lot of Europeans, and I'm amazed at the level of ignorance that can be found among them. The educational system in Europe must have declined significantly since I lived in England back in the '60s.

One of the interesting things I've noticed is that many Europeans seem to get their ideas about the United States almost entirely from television and the movies. The ones who come here to visit touch down briefly in one of major metropolitan areas like NYC or LA -- which won't alleviate their European ignorance one whit, since these are the places where the media stereotypes are created and maintained -- and then fly back home to talk about how fat and ignotant Americans are.

The truth may be a little different from what you assert, but, of course, there's no way to change the mind of someone who is set in his opinions.

With the exception of Fjordman, the three most well-educated people I have ever met are Americans. And I know some extremely well-educated Europeans.

It's not wise to subscribe to gross stereotypes. You would do well to educate yourself a bit more thoroughly.

no2liberals said...

gun totin,
For those who have bothered to look, Nadmi Auchi is not a new name, but I am glad to know he is mentioned in the book, and perhaps illuminate some of the ignorant media types, if they bother to read something not flattering of B-HO.
Another name of one of B-HO's associates is Al Abunimah. He's one of the founders of Electronic Intifada, and Gateway Pundit has had a lot of coverage on B-HO's radical islamic involvements.

no2liberals said...

Nadmi=Nadhmi

Afonso Henriques said...

Free Guy,
I support Russia, and am the most pro Russian guy over here I also recognise America has many faults but you are being simply stupid.

Yes Americans are not that bright, but, giving that only 5% of Russians can speak English, today's language, and giving the fact that you are doing it... I'd worry more about the Russian 5% elite before grasping about American bestiality...

Zenster said...

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said that the resignation of a recently-appointed Muslim community liaison for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is symptomatic of a nationwide effort by Islamophobes who seek to deny Muslims access to the political process.

They say that like it's a bad thing. Muslims most certainly DO NOT have any place in America's political process. As songdongnigh so capably noted about MINOs (Muslims In Name Only)in yesterday's "The Problem of Islam":

All the intellectualizations in the world will not change the fact that at some point, a catalyst will cause a general muslim uprising against the West. The question then becomes: Who will all those "moderate", "secular" and "non practicing" muslims now enmeshed in every facet of government and civil society side with? You only get one guess.

There have already been too many cases of SJS (Sudden Jihad Syndrome) as it is. We have seen Muslim soldiers fragging their comrades and Muslim interpreters violating national security. Basta ya!

“As Americans, we should not allow intolerant and agenda-driven extremists to succeed in their tactics of exclusion ...

Ever immune to the least scintilla of irony, Ahmed Rehab may as well be describing Muslims in America. Given half a chance, indigenous American citizens would be excluded from a shari'a ruled society within our borders.

Finally—and most curious of all—is how Muslims cheerfully ignore B-HO's professed Christianity, even as they themselves perceive him to be Muslim. Having grown up within Islamic culture, B-HO must certainly be aware of how many Muslims view his allegedly flawless recitation of the shahada as making him a de facto Muslim. This being the case, shouldn't they be doubly enraged that B-HO is both an apostate and convert to blasphemous Christianity? Aren't Muslims supposed to slap a death fatwa on B-HO's @ss like a cheap bumpersticker?

Or has B-HO amply convinced them that his appeasement of Islam will know no bounds? As songdongnigh said, "You only get one guess."

Κοινότητα Εκάλης said...

surely.USA.has.many.bright.minds.

however.it.wasnt.europe.that.voted.for.a.
president."that.was.told.from.god.to.bomb
iraq".neo-cons.have.the.same.iq.with.islamists.

Obama.will.change.lot.of.things.and.neo-cons
are.trying.to.reduce.his.popularity.It.is.time.for.USA.to.move.forward.with.barack.obama.

P.S.sorry.for.my.writing.my.keyboard.has.broke.down.and.i.am.on.holidays.
P.S.if.you.go.to.france.or.Italy.u'll.notice.that.none.speaks.english

no2liberals said...

Politics.and.free.thinking.,
I detect the irony in your name, even if you don't.
You do know, that you are making a false assertion that B-HO will be elected, don't you?
In the case of B-HO, he of the "first rate Arabic accent" while chanting the opening lines of the adhan, I am reminded of something Napoleon said.
"Never interfere with your enemy, when he is making mistakes."
Using "move forward" and "Obama" in the same sentence, is a contradiction in terms.

Henrik R Clausen said...

we all know that Americans are idiots and poorly educated.

Ehm, your Insult-o-Matic seems to be in need of adjustment. This kind of language doesn't go down well here.

The next american president must someone who is down to earth like obama

Que?

Obama is being played like a new saviour while showing no talent for saving anything whatsoever, he's just a bit high on 'likeability'. In my opinion, he doesn't have the talent or knowledge to fix *anything* worth mentioning.

not another neo-con lunatic who cant find russia in the map.

While Bush isn't exactly the greatest of American presidents, may I suggest studying the virtues of rhetoric, and in particular the rottenness of 'Ad hominem attacks', before making such blanket derogative statement.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Baron posted: The educational system in Europe must have declined significantly since I lived in England back in the '60s.

YES. In England very much so.

X said...

I'm... sorry, we have an educational system now? I thought they were very expensive daycare centres!

Much of the continent has a better education system than we do. Especially scandanavian countries.. despite some of the more obvious problems.

I was lucky enough to go to a school that still believed in actually educating rather than "encouraging growth" or what have you. They did as much of the national curriculum as necessary to pass inspections and then actually educated around it. The local colleges were always competing for our students, who always tended to be smart and highly accomplished learners, and this was a school that could some years barely afford books. No state funding, you see... thank god for that.