Hussam Ayloush Official Blog

The video that got me banned from the "ArabCalendar" group. Who fears the truth?

2012-01-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

In response to an email sent by an Arab American to theArabCalendar about the recent rally held by Assad and his supporters inDamascus in which it was claimed that about a million supporters were inattendance, I sent an email with a video link showing the exact image of the whole rally whichcould not have included more than a couple thousand people. The video was shot and leaked by an eyewitness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QsXgLiepHk

Obviously, to those who do not believe in the importance of thetruth and freedom of speech, the message was deemed unacceptable. The "ArabCalendar" group’s pro-Assad moderator censored the email and removed me from entire thegroup list.

It is in response to this widespread culture of control and censorship thatthe Arab Spring has started in the Arab World and it is for that reason it is being opposed by afew who share such dictatorial mindset.

The purpose of sending the video link was to educatethose who are being misinformed by Assad’s propaganda machine, including his shamefulsupporters here in the US. Such misinformation cannot continueforever.

Truth, democracy and freedom are going to prevail in the Arab World and withinthe Arab community, very soon.

Below is the actual email

------------------------

From: Hussam Ayloush
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 9:36 AM
To: 'ArabCalendar@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: Re: Pres. Assad & his people

In response to Ghassan’s email about Assad addressing amillion Syrian supporter.

Pres. Assad& his people

Posted by: "Ghassan H.Elias" ibn3akkar@yahoo.com

Wed Jan 11, 20121:23 pm (PST)

الرئيسالأسد يلتقي السوريين في ساحة الأمويين ..وعائلته كانت بين الجماهير
الصورةتتكلم
11/01/2012
شوكوماكو- خاص
قالالرئيس الأسد مخاطبا مئات أكثر من مليون شخص احتشدوا في ساحة الأمويين دعمالمسيرة الاصلاح التي يقودها .
أردتان اكون معكم الأن لأنني انتمي لهذا الشارع وعلى من يريد ان يخاطب الشارع عليه أنينزل الى الشارع ويخاطب الشارع من الشارع،

See for yourself the real“million” of Butcher Assad’s supporters.

فضيحة المسيرة المؤيدة الحاشدةالمليونية في ساحة الأمويين والمجرم بشار الأسد يلقي كلمته 11 1 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QsXgLiepHk

Shame on anyone who still supports this despicable murderousdespot.

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ArabCalendarinstantaneously links 1,602 Arab Americans & friends. Membership is FREEbut POSTING IS RESTRICTED to ONLY the SUBSCRIBERS of The Independent Monitornewspaper. To join ArabCalendar, click http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArabCalendaror contact Sami Mashney at 714-612-0157 or Trust@MashneyLaw.com. To subscribeto The Independent Monitor, write to Info@TIMonitor.com or click here: http://www.TheIndependentMonitor.com/products-page/

Time to challenge political hypocrisy about and in the M.E.

2011-12-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

Iraqi rulers: You are political hypocrites if you oppose Baath's repression in Iraq, but support it in Syria.

Arab Nationalists and leftists: You are political hypocrites if you oppose brutal repression by Israel, but defend it in Syria.

Iranian and Hizbollah leaders: You are political hypocrites if you support freedom and justice in Bahrain, but oppose it in Syria.

Fellow Sunnis: You are political hypocrites if you support freedom and justice in Syria, but oppose it in Bahrain.

Fellow Westerners: You are political hypocrites if you support freedom and democracy in Libya, but fund occupation and apartheid by Israel.

Fellow Muslims: We are political hypocrites if we speak against Islamophobia, but not sufficiently challenge our own fanatics.

Lowe's faces backlash over pulling ads from 'All-American Muslim'

2011-12-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

Lowe's faces backlash over pulling ads from 'All-American Muslim'

By Shan Li, Los Angeles Times

December 13, 2011

Home improvement giant Lowe's Cos. continues to come under heavy criticism from activists, some politicians and customers after pulling its ads from a reality TV show featuring Muslim Americans.

The North Carolina company decided to stop advertising on the show "All-American Muslim," on Discovery Communications Inc.'s TLC channel, after complaints by the Florida Family Assn., a conservative Christian group that lobbies companies to promote "traditional, biblical values."

The association praised the move, but the decision sparked immediate backlash. State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) called the move "bigoted, shameful, and un-American." A petition on SignOn.org that calls on companies to keep advertising on the show has gathered more than 13,000 signatures. Activist and actress Mia Farrow joined the battle in a Twitter post and urged a boycott of Lowe's.

In its defense, Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company had a "long-standing commitment" to diversity and pulled the ads only after the show became "a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives." Other companies had also removed their ads from the show, she wrote in an email.

"All-American Muslim," which premiered last month, follows the day-to-day lives of five Muslim American families in Dearborn, Mich., a suburb of Detroit with a large Muslim population. Cast members talk about how their faith affects their actions and choices.

The conservative Christian group, based in Tampa, Fla., called the show "propaganda" that "hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." The organization began an email campaign urging companies to yank their advertising off the show. The group did not respond to an email Monday requesting comment on the reaction to its effort.

Laurie Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the Discovery Network and TLC Network, declined to comment on whether any companies besides Lowe's had pulled their ads. "We stand behind the show 'All-American Muslim,' and we're happy the show has strong advertising support," she wrote in an email.

In a letter, Lieu, the state senator, urged Lowe's to reverse its decision and apologize to Muslim Americans.

"The show is basically about Americans who happen to be Muslim," Lieu said in an interview. "For Lowe's to say that the show is dangerous, or agree that it's dangerous or somehow showing anything other than American Muslims as normal, is quite outrageous."

Lieu said he would consider urging a boycott and drafting a legislative resolution denouncing the company's actions. He said he would give Lowe's until Friday to respond.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim American elected to Congress, issued a statement condemning Lowe's for deciding to "uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of the 1st Amendment."

At a Lowe's store in Burbank, some customers expressed opposition to the retailer's actions.

"It's pretty ridiculous," said Nate Childress, 28, of North Hollywood. "The show has a great concept, and it's showing a different view of Muslims than what's constantly blasted at us in the U.S."

Childress said that even if the company had a "knee-jerk reaction" to the conservative group, that doesn't excuse its actions. "That just frustrates me, that a company would actually be afraid to advertise on a show about Muslims that aren't terrorists," he said.

Bob Clendenin of Burbank echoed that sentiment. "It just sounds like bigotry," said the 47-year-old actor. "When a company takes a stand like that, that just makes me angry."

He said he would boycott the chain until Lowe's reinstated its ads and apologized.

The broader Muslim American community is also considering taking action, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Muslim community leaders and interfaith groups were meeting to discuss boycotts, petitions, rallies and other forms of protest against Lowe's, he said.

"Hate groups are entitled to their bigotry — that is the beauty of America, people have the right to their own opinions," Ayloush said. "However, when a large corporation takes their side or caves in to the requests of hate groups, that is of concern."

Ayloush wondered what the public reaction would have been if a company had yanked its ads from certain now-classic programs.

"Imagine if Lowe's had decided many years ago to pull out its ads from shows like 'The Cosby Show' or 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' or 'Seinfeld' because they were deemed to portray African Americans and Jews as normal people," he said. "The American public would have been outraged by any corporation who did that."

shan.li@latimes.com

Newt Gingrich may be able to occupy Palestine, but Israel can't

2011-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Haaretz, 12/13/2011
By Bradley Burston

Mr. Speaker, if for the sake of Jesus and the Resurrection, you want the territories to stay occupied forever, you and your Christian Zionist allies will have to do some homework before Inauguration Day.

From his grave, Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish responds to Newt Gingrich's anti-Palestinian bigotry

2011-12-11T13:04:00.001-08:00

Long before Newt Gingrich made his repeated bigoted statements that the Palestinian people are an "invented" people, renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote two poems challenging this hateful genocidal rhetoric against the Palestinian people, their identity, their heritage, and their future.

Newt Gingrich is not the first nor is going to be the last person to engage in such Nazi-like revisionism that attempts to deny a people their existence, past, and dignity. As if robbing a people of their homes, land, freedom, and rights is not sufficiently immoral, Newt Gingrich and those who share his views want to intensify it with an assault on their past and memories.

Mahmoud Darwish responded to the similar racist Israeli campaigns to erase the Palestinian identity and culture through his poems. The world lost this genius on Saturday, August 9, 2008. His poetry remains celebrated around the world by all those who value human rights and support justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.

Read and/listen to the two poems below and you will understand the pain, hope, perseverence, and aspirations of the great real and un-invented people called the Palestinians.

Passport - By: Mahmoud Darwish
 
(Song performed by renowned Lebanese singer Marcel Khalife)

They did not recognize me in the shadows
That suck away my color in this Passport
And to them my wound was an exhibit
For a tourist Who loves to collect photographs
They did not recognize me,
Ah . . . Don’t leave 
The palm of my hand without the sun
Because the trees recognize me
Don’t leave me pale like the moon!

All the birds that followed my palm
To the door of the distant airport
All the wheatfields
All the prisons
All the white tombstones
All the barbed Boundaries
All the waving handkerchiefs
All the eyes
were with me,
But they dropped them from my passport

Stripped of my name and identity?
On soil I nourished with my own hands?
Today Job (The Prophet) cried out
Filling the sky:
Don’t make and example of me again!
Oh, gentlemen, Prophets,
Don’t ask the trees for their names
Don’t ask the valleys who their mother is
From my forehead bursts the sward of light
And from my hand springs the water of the river
All the hearts of the people are my identity
So take away my passport!

_______________________________________________

Identity Card - By: Mahmoud Darwish

 (Arabic and English read by Souhad Zendah  - English begins at: 3:55)

Record! I am an Arab
And my identity card is number fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the ninth is coming after a summer
Will you be angry?

Record!
I am an Arab
Employed with fellow workers at a quarry
I have eight children
I get them bread
Garments and books
from the rocks..
I do not supplicate charity at your doors
Nor do I belittle myself at the footsteps of your chamber
So will you be angry?

Record!
I am an Arab
I have a name without a title
Patient in a country
Where people are enraged
My roots
Were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the opening of the eras
Before the pines, and the olive trees
And before the grass grew

My father.. descends from the family of the plow
Not from a privileged class
And my grandfather..was a farmer
Neither well-bred, nor well-born!
Teaches me the pride of the sun
Before teaching me how to read
And my house is like a watchman's hut
Made of branches and cane
Are you satisfied with my status?
I have a name without a title!

Record!
I am an Arab
You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors
And the land which I cultivated
Along with my children
And you left nothing for us
Except for these rocks..
So will the State take them
As it has been said?!

Therefore!
Record on the top of the first page:
I do not hate people
Nor do I encroach
But if I become hungry
The usurper's flesh will be my food
Beware..
Beware..
Of my hunger
And my anger!

Jon Stewart: Introducing a New Jewish Holiday (video)

2011-12-09T12:17:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Matzorian Candidate

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Thursday December 8, 2011

The Matzorian Candidate

At the Republican Jewish Coalition forum, Jews commemorate the miracle of incredibly religious Christian presidential candidates fighting over who loves Jews more.

Wadah Khanfar: Those who support democracy must welcome the rise of political Islam

2011-11-28T17:07:00.000-08:00

guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 27 November 2011
Read Full Article

Ennahda, the Islamic party in Tunisia, won 41% of the seats of the Tunisian constitutional assembly last month, causing consternation in the west. But Ennahda will not be an exception on the Arab scene. Last Friday the Islamic Justice and Development Party took the biggest share of the vote in Morocco and will lead the new coalition government for the first time in history. And tomorrow Egypt's elections begin, with the Muslim Brotherhood predicted to become the largest party. There may be more to come. Should free and fair elections be held in Yemen, once the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh falls, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, also Islamic, will win by a significant majority. This pattern will repeat itself whenever the democratic process takes its course.

In the west, this phenomenon has led to a debate about the "problem" of the rise of political Islam. In the Arab world, too, there has been mounting tension between Islamists and secularists, who feel anxious about Islamic groups. Many voices warn that the Arab spring will lead to an Islamic winter, and that the Islamists, though claiming to support democracy, will soon turn against it. In the west, stereotypical images that took root in the aftermath of 9/11 have come to the fore again. In the Arab world, a secular anti-democracy camp has emerged in both Tunisia and Egypt whose pretext for opposing democratisation is that the Islamists are likely to be the victors.

But the uproar that has accompanied the Islamists' gains is unhelpful; a calm and well-informed debate about the rise of political Islam is long overdue.

First, we must define our terms. "Islamist" is used in the Muslim world to describe Muslims who participate in the public sphere, using Islam as a basis. It is understood that this participation is not at odds with democracy. In the west, however, the term routinely describes those who use violence as a means and an end – thus Jihadist Salafism, exemplified by al-Qaida, is called "Islamist" in the west, despite the fact that it rejects democratic political participation (Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaida, criticised Hamas when it decided to take part in the elections for the Palestinian legislative council, and has repeatedly criticised the Muslim Brotherhood for opposing the use of violence).

This disconnect in the understanding of the term in the west and in the Muslim world was often exploited by despotic Arab regimes to suppress Islamic movements with democratic political programmes. It is time we were clear...

Second, we must understand the history of the region. In western discourse Islamists are seen as newcomers to politics, gullible zealots who are motivated by a radical ideology and lack experience. In fact, they have played a major role in the Arab political scene since the 1920s. Islamic movements have often been in opposition, but since the 1940s they have participated in parliamentary elections, entered alliances with secular, nationalist and socialist groups, and participated in several governments – in Sudan, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria. They have also forged alliances with non-Islamic regimes, like the Nimeiri regime in Sudan in 1977...

Perhaps one of the most influential experiences has been that of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, which won the elections in 2002. It has been a source of inspiration for many Islamic movements. Although the AKP does not describe itself as Islamic, its 10 years of political experience have led to a model that many Islamists regard as successful. The model has three important characteristics: a general Islamic frame of reference; a multi-party democracy; and significant economic growth...

The Islamic movement's approach to the west has also been balanced, despite the fact that western countries supported despotic Arab regimes. Islamists know the importance of international communication in an economically and politically interconnected world.

Now there is a unique opportunity for the west: to demonstrate that it will no longer support despotic regimes by supporting instead the democratic process in the Arab world, by refusing to intervene in favour of one party against another and by accepting the results of the democratic process, even when it is not the result they would have chosen. Democracy is the only option for bringing stability, security and tolerance to the region, and it is the dearest thing to the hearts of Arabs, who will not forgive any attempts to derail it...

The region has suffered a lot as a result of attempts to exclude Islamists and deny them a role in the public sphere. Undoubtedly, Islamists' participation in governance will give rise to a number of challenges, both within the Islamic ranks and with regard to relations with other local and international forces. Islamists should be careful not to fall into the trap of feeling overconfident: they must accommodate other trends, even if it means making painful concessions. Our societies need political consensus, and the participation of all political groups, regardless of their electoral weight. It is this interplay between Islamists and others that will both guarantee the maturation of the Arab democratic transition and lead to an Arab political consensus and stability that has been missing for decades.

Are Muslims allowed rights? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

2011-11-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

Are Muslims allowed rights? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Khutbah: A Muslim Response to Conspiracy Theories

2011-11-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Who is behind the Arab Spring? Who is behind Islamophobia?
Who helps dictators stay in power? Who is plotting all the world's conspiracies?

And how shall we respond to all those conspiracy theories?

Well, I tried to deal with much of that in this Khutbah/sermon.

"A Muslim Response to Conspiracy Theories" by Br. Hussam Ayloush from Islamic Institute of Orange Cty on Vimeo.

And the winner for the least desired US government job is...

2011-11-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Victoria Nuland, US State Department Spokesperson.

Watch her video below as she comments on the US decision to cut off funds to UNESCO after the vote to admit Palestine as a member state. Watch how a reporter slams and embarrasses Ms. Nuland with his questions and how she sounded clearly unconvinced with her own answers. I really do not envy her for that job. Ms. Nuland, you have my sympathy.

Having to do the bidding for an unjust and an immoral position on behalf of a foreign state, I vote her job as the least desired job in the US government.

Libya's Pharaoh Has Fallen

2011-10-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

All praises are due to Almighty God. The psychotic dictator of Libya who has repressed and terrorized the Libyan people for 41 years has met his just fate.Qadhafi is the longest serving Arab dictator and one of the most brutal ones.

I congratulate the Libyan and all freedom loving people on this great victory.

In the Holy Qur'an, Allah (God Almighty) says: And do not ever assume that Allah is unaware of what the unjust do; But He gives them respite up to a day in which the eyes will become fixed, staring. [Ibrahim 14:42]

As the Libyan people turn a page on the brutal era of Qadhafi, I pray and I am confident that the Libyan people will succeed in establishing a democratic state that respects the rights and aspirations of all its people. Libya's revolution has an opportunity to set a new standard for democracy and human rights in the Arab World. People living under dictatorships, especially around the Arab World, are praying for Libya's stability, success and leadership.

Ayloush Rebukes Calif. Councilman Who Named Dog 'Muhammad'

2011-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director CAIR L.A.:
Orange County Register, 10/14/2011

Regarding “Of blogs and dogs: Councilman’s message to San Juan.” [Oct. 4] Councilman Derek Reeve needs to take responsibility for his own reckless acts rather than baseless blaming the mayor, his fellow council members or CAIR for his recurring problems, whether they are about allegations of plagiarism or insults levied at Muslims around the world, including his constituents. Being a leader used to mean being ethical, civil and uniting. I hope that standard has not been entirely lost.

We all cherish and protect freedom of speech. But do we not also value dignity and maturity? It should not be too much to ask that our elected officials not be gratuitously vulgar and disrespectful toward others. It is commendable that Councilman Reeve is teaching his children about the importance of free speech, but how about also teaching them something about civility and respect? Was it respectful for Reeve to name his dog after the prophet of Islam, Muhammad? Fortunately, most children have other role models who can teach them the values Reeve seems unable to demonstrate.

A good lesson that Reeve could demonstrate to his children and the residents of San Juan Capistrano is that we all make mistakes, and that a good leader recognizes and acknowledges his mistakes, takes measures to correct them and apologizes to those harmed by them. Is that too much to hope for?

For more details on this incident, please read:

Bill O'Reilly Pins the Head of SJC Councilman Reeve for Naming Family Dog Muhammad
OC Weekly Article
Bigotry or Free Speech in San Juan Capistrano?
Councilman Derek Reeve Criticized For Muhammad Remark (Huffington Post)

Dead Poets Society Lied: What the Movies Don't Teach You About Student Resistance (on Irvine11)

2011-09-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

John Hrabe
Huffington Post
9/25/2011

...In February 2010, members of UC Irvine's Muslim Student Association systematically interrupted a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. On September 23, an Orange County jury found ten of the students guilty of misdemeanor charges and sentenced them to three years of informal probation...

To be clear, I'm not defending the content of the protests, nor do I support the students' outbursts. Freedom of speech doesn't include a heckler's veto, and the students could have protested the ambassador in more constructive ways...

But, Dr. Smith also wisely points out that the heckler's veto wasn't the only First Amendment question in this case. There was also the issue of whether Muslim students were singled out and selectively prosecuted because of their views.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the District Attorney selectively prosecuted," said Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Greater Los Angeles Area, "because the students were Muslim, the speaker was an Israeli diplomat, and the verbal protests centered on Israel's long history of war crimes."

It strains credulity to think that the politics of the speakers didn't affect the decision to prosecute. Had this been a raucous student council meeting about the cost of tuition, the case would have ended in a campus administrative hearing. You'd be laughed out of any prosecutor's office if you tried to turn it into a criminal case. Most hecklers not only avoid prosecution, but get a bigger platform because of their disruptions. Anyone remember Rep. Joe Wilson and Joe the Plumber?

In Orange County, Muslim Americans have other reasons to believe that there's a double standard for free speech. Earlier this year, Villa Park City Councilwoman Deborah Pauly protested an Islamic charity event and exclaimed, "I know quite a few Marines who will be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise." Just this month, San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Derek Reeve said at a council meeting that he named his dog Muhammad to intentional provoke Muslim Americans and make a statement about free speech. These incidents explain why Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, described the verdict as keeping an "open wound" in the community.

If you protect the offensive, anti-Islamic rhetoric of Orange Curtain councilmembers, you have to protect the rights of the UC Irvine Muslim Student Association. As Ayloush put it, "No topic should be off limits and no public official or country should be above criticism."

When controversial speakers are prosecuted under ridiculous "disturbing the peace" statutes, it sets up a forced choice for freedom. Every speaker must live in fear of prosecution, or worse, only the dissenting speakers get quashed. Either scenario is unacceptable because both outcomes lead to less speech.

Our natural reaction to contrasting views should always be to speak out ourselves, not shut our opponents up. Muslim students get the same First Amendment protections as Israeli ambassadors. I'm entitled to my review of Dead Poets Society; and Roger Ebert has a right to his -- even if he's wrong.

Read Full article

New Evidence of Anti-Islam Bias Underscores Deep Challenges for FBI’s Reform Pledge

2011-09-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

Danger Room
By Spencer Ackerman
September 23, 2011

Following months of denials, the FBI is now promising a “comprehensive review of all training and reference materials” after Danger Room revealed a series of Bureau presentations that tarred average Muslims as “radical” and “violent.”

But untangling the Islamophobic thread woven into the FBI’s counterterrorism training culture won’t be easy. In addition to inflammatory seminars which likened Islam to the Death Star and Mohammed to a “cult leader,” Danger Room has obtained more material showing just how wide the anti-Islam meme has spread throughout the Bureau.

The FBI library at Quantico currently stacks books from authors who claim that “Islam and democracy are totally incompatible.” The Bureau’s private intranet recently featured presentations that claimed to demonstrate the “inherently violent nature of Islam,” according to multiple sources. Earlier this year, the Bureau’s Washington Field Office welcomed a speaker who claimed Islamic law prevents Muslims from being truly loyal Americans. And as recently as last week, the online orientation material for the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces included claims that Sunni Islam seeks “domination of the world,” according to a law enforcement source...

some voiced worries that the presentation sent an implicit message to agents that they should be targeting Muslims in the name of stopping terrorism. And in the past few years, the FBI has accelerated its monitoring of mosques, community centers, businesses and other organizations run by Muslims. Several observers suspect that the persistence of training materials that casts Islam in a threatening light helps explain the increased surveillance. Others — including many counterterrorism professionals within the FBI who say they are disgusted by the bigoted material they’ve received — fear that the presentations will drive a wedge between the Bureau and the U.S. Muslim communities whose assistance it needs to prevent terrorism...

Khutbah: "The Best Jihad: Challenging Injustice"

2011-09-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

My Khutba/sermon commenting on the Irvine11 verdict, recent FBI abuses, Palestinian state bid at the UN, execution of Troy Davis, Islamophobic comments by OC councilmembers, and our need to respond to injustice.

Khutba was delivered on September 23, 2011 at the Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim.

Khutbah: "The Best Jihad: Challenging Injustice" by Br. Hussam Ayloush. from Islamic Institute of Orange Cty on Vimeo.

Dangerous Lessons in Islamophobia at the FBI (MUST READ)

2011-09-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Posted by Julian Sanchez on Cato at Liberty
Sep. 16, 2011
...

One presentation makes it quite explicit that, in the analyst’s view, the problem is not Islamic “extremism,” but the inherent propensity for violence of Muslims as such:

There may not be a “radical” threat as much as it is simply a normal assertion of the orthodox ideology.
The strategic themes animating these Islamic values are not fringe; they are mainstream.
The individual applying these values and practices may likely be simply a pious and devout adherent: i.e., a true believer as opposed to a “radical.”

In other words, FBI agents are effectively told that Osama bin Laden was correct, and that a sincere Muslim who understands and practices his faith correctly will naturally be a terrorist. It would be offensive in any context for the government to sponsor this kind of smear session against the enormous peaceful majority of its Muslim citizens, but it’s downright dangerous in light of the vast expansion of FBI surveillance authorities over the past decade...

Read Full Article

FBI Trainer Says Forget ‘Irrelevant’ al-Qaida, Target Islam (video)

2011-09-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Published on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 by Wired.com / Danger Room

by Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman

The FBI has publicly declared that its counterterrorism training seminars linking “mainstream” Muslims to terrorists was a “one time only” affair that began and ended in April 2011. But two months later, the Bureau employee who delivered those controversial briefings gave a similar lecture to a gathering of dozens of law enforcement officials at an FBI-sponsored public-private partnership in New York City.
And during that June presentation, the FBI’s William Gawthrop told his audience that the fight against al-Qaida is a “waste,” compared to the threat presented by the ideology of Islam itself.

Since Danger Room published the contents of Gawthrop’s April lecture, top Senators and representatives from Arab- and Muslim-American groups have blasted the FBI for the training documents, which compare Mohammed to a “cult leader.”...

The best strategy for undermining militants, Gawthrop suggested, is to go after Islam itself. To undermine the validity of key Islamic scriptures and key Muslim leaders.

Watch video

New Documents Reveal FBI’s Islamophobic Counterterrorism Training

2011-09-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

By Eli Clifton on Sep 15, 2011

Counterterrorism agents at the FBI’s training center in Quantico, Virginia are being taught that “devout” Muslims are more likely to be “violent” and that American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers, according to training materials acquired by Wired’s Spencer Ackerman. (In fact, mosques have been found to be a deterrent to the spread of terrorism.)

An FBI spokesperson told Ackerman that the slides were no longer in use but dates on the slides would suggest that they were used at least until March 21.

The documents offer a violent interpretation of Islam in which “Any war against non-believers is justified” and a “moderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as the unalterable word of Allah.” A particularly blunt slide shows a comparison of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, depicting how they have moderated their “militancy considerations” over time:

The information in the slides is clearly Islamophobic and completely ignores the fact that Islamic extremism, while a national security concern worthy of sober discussion, is a limited problem within the United States and hardly a frequent phenomenon in Muslim communities. A recent Duke terrorism study showed that since 9/11, the U.S. has experienced only 33 deaths from Muslim terrorism while 150,000 murders have occurred during the same time.

Several of the slide presentations are the work of an FBI intelligence analyst named William Gawthrop who, in 2006, before he joined the Bureau, gave an interview to WorldNetDaily, in which he said “Muhammad’s mindset is a source for terrorism.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that the FBI has given a stage to noted Islamophobes. In July, Ackerman identified that an FBI terrorism presentation recommended anti-Muslim blogger Robert Spencer’s book, “The Truth About Mohammed: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion.”

READ FULL STORY

Ayloush commenting on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (NBC Los Angeles)

2011-09-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Fighting the Muslim Backlash

After 9/11, Muslim leaders found themselves trying to explain their faith and the campaign continues today.

By Vikki Vargas; Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - NBC Los Angeles

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

Best way to thank America's workers...

2011-09-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

The best way to thank America's workers who honorably serve us every day is to ensure they receive fair pay and benefits.

Support groups that are advocating for worker justice.
Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ)
CLUE-LA

Ayloush Condemns Noose Hanging at OC Labor Federation Office

2011-09-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

Source: JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

(ANAHEIM, CA, 9/2/11) - The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today re-iterated its solidarity with America's workers and those who advocate for their rights amid reports of a noose being found at the OC Labor Federation office in Orange.

The noose was found hanging at the entrance to the office earlier today.

The federation represents 90-plus unions and is currently in labor negotiations on behalf of workers for better living wages and working conditions.

CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush condemned the incident and stressed American Muslim community's solidarity with America's workers.

"We are appalled that there are those in society who seek to intimidate, drive fear, and act with malice toward the backbone of our country through reprehensible actions.

"American Muslims stand on the side of workers across the U.S. in their pursuit of fair and balanced working agreements. We further urge anyone with information to come forward and assist law enforcement in apprehending the perpetrator(s)."

Ayloush yesterday joined a CLUE-OC organized delegation in which OC Labor Federation and advocates met with grocery chain Ralphs in support of the grocery workers' rights.

SEE:
Noose dangling from roof at union office

A Video Tribute to the Arab Spring

2011-08-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

One of the most rewarding recent moments of the ongoing struggle for freedom, justice and dignity was the liberation of Libya by its people. The images from Tripoli, like the earlier ones from Tunisia and Egypt, are a triumphant reminder that the Arab Spring is not just for Syrians -- it's for all oppressed peoples anywhere in the world. In this spirit, we have created a short video tribute to the Arab Spring.

Music: "Watani Ana" by Malek Jandali (used with artists' permission)

This is a presentation from the Syrian American Council (SAC), a 501c3 not-for-profit that promotes human rights, civil liberties, and democracy for Syria.

Website: http://sacouncil.com

Sikh man claims to be FBI informant, deported over cough medicine

2011-08-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Desi claims to be FBI informant, deported over cough medicine

Bernice Yeung Aug 19, 2011
First Post

In a saga that sounds straight out of a TV crime show, an alleged FBI informant and convenience store clerk named Arvinder Singh sits in an Iowa jail awaiting imminent deportation to India over the sale of cold medicine.

Singh had originally immigrated to the US on a business visa, but he is now being sent back to India because he pled guilty in 2002 to selling a large quantity of cough medicine containing ephedrine, which can be used to manufacture methamphetamine.

In the years since he immigrated, Singh got married, obtained a green card, and ran a convenience store until he triggered an investigation by immigration authorities that led to deportation proceedings that began in December 2010. Singh has been detained in an Iowa jail for more than six months...

What makes Singh’s deportation case stand out is his claim that he served as a confidential informant to the US government and aided in stateside counterterrorism efforts.

Singh is sikh, and after he was arrested, he was allegedly approached by federal agents. “It was right after 9/11 and he was approached and they said, ‘We are looking for people who look like you in the War against Terror,’” according to attorney Said. “They created this persona for him, gave him checkbooks and checking accounts and they said, ‘Go to these mosques and claim to be Muslim, and pray, and give them money so we can trace the money.”

READ FULL STORY
http://www.firstpost.com/world/desi-claims-to-be-fbi-informant-deported-over-cough-medicine-64098.html

Locked Up Abroad—for the FBI

2011-08-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

MotherJones
—By Nick Baumann
September/October 2011 Issue

Inside the feds' secret program to have American citizens detained and interrogated by foreign governments.

Learn more about the FBI's version of the rendition program.

A MUST READ
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/proxy-detention-gulet-mohamed
---

The Informants

2011-08-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

Mother Jones
September/October Issue
—By Trevor Aaronson

The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them?

The bureau now maintains a roster of 15,000 spies, some paid as much as $100,000 per case, many of them tasked with infiltrating Muslim communities in the United States.

A MUST READ
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/fbi-terrorist-informants

Terror Probes Have FBI's Informant Numbers Soaring (NPR)

2011-08-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

August 21, 2011

In today's post 9/11 America, there are 15,000 informants working with the FBI. That's nearly three times as many as there were 25 years ago.

Over the years, when there has been a surge in the number of informants the FBI recruits and uses, there's a specific target in the FBI's sights — first organized crime, then drug smuggling, and now counterterrorism.
James Cromitie, center, is led by police officers from a federal building in New York, Thursday, May 21, 2009, after being arrested on charges related to a bombing plot in the Bronx. The arrest of Cromitie and three other Muslim ex-convicts in the alleged homegrown terror plot is renewing fears about the spread of Islamic extremism in the nation's prisons. (AP Photo/Robert Mecea)
Enlarge Robert Mecea/ASSOCIATED PRESS

And while the FBI uses many informants the traditional way — pointing the finger at wrongdoers — a new review of post-9/11 prosecutions reveals the increasing presence of informants in terrorism investigations.

"The informants play larger roles where they acted almost as agent provocateurs, where they provided not only the opportunity for the person to commit this act of terror, but also the means," Mother Jones contributor Trevor Aaronson tells NPR's Laura Sullivan. "Providing them with the plan, with the so-called weapons that were needed to ultimately create the act of terror that these people are them prosecuted for," Aaronson says.

Mother Jones partnered with the University of California-Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program where Trevor Aaronson is an investigative fellow. Aaronson writes about the FBI's informant boom in the current issue of the magazine.

And how are the FBI agents finding so many informants willing to infiltrate mosques and Muslim communities? Sometimes, the money is alluring Aaronson says. In other cases, the money has nothing to do with it at all.

"A big reason, especially within the Muslim community and in counterterrorism investigations is that the FBI is able to use immigration against people," Aaronson says. "If you are going to recruit an informant and you realize that he has an immigration violation, often times the FBI will be able to use that as a form of leverage to say 'well if you work with us, we'll work with the immigration authorities to make sure you're not deported'."

Prevention Or Entrapment

For some critics, this use of coercion by the FBI to recruit informants is questionable. According to Aaronson's article, the FBI denies it blackmails informants, but does acknowledge that the bureau has prevented helpful informants from being deported.

But the larger problem for those opposed the FBI using informants to plan terrorism stings is whether the informants play an overactive role in convincing people to commit acts of terrorism.

"That's exactly the question is whether any of these people would be able to commit this plot or construct this plot on their own," Aaronson tells Sullivan. "The truth is when we looked closely at a lot of these cases the people who are leading these so-called plots or so called terrorist cells are not exactly the smartest people." In addition, informants seek out subjects that tend to be very poor, economically desperate and in some cases have a very elementary understanding of Islam, Aaronson says. "The informant is able to take advantage of that."

And then comes the question of entrapment. "I think in many of these cases nothing would have happened were it not for the FBI going in and making a plot possible," Aaronson says. "But I think it's important to understand that the legal definition of entrapment and what you and I would see as entrapment are very different. There hasn't been a case yet that's met the legal definition of entrapment."

The Syrian Revolution for Freedom - (The best english video)

2011-08-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Influenced by the Arab Spring and over four decades of Assad family repression, on March 15, 2011, Syrians launched peaceful pro-freedom protests against the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Assad. The protests soon turned into a nationwide nonviolent revolution for freedom, justice and dignity. This 7-minute documentary offers the necessary background and overview to understand the Syrian Revolution for Freedom. Watch the video, share it, and support the Syrian people’s struggle for freedom.

Did U.S. trade freedom for security after 9/11? (AFP)

2011-08-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver Sun
Agence France-Presse, August 15, 2011

CHICAGO - Sweeping new policing powers, the tacit acceptance of torture and a backlash against Muslims that has grown fiercer 10 years after the September 11 attacks have made the United States a less free and open society.

The erosion of fundamental American values along with massive — and what some see as disproportionate — expenditures on homeland security and two wars have allowed al-Qaida to accomplish at least some of its goals.

Most Americans don't seem to mind.

A majority of them consistently tell pollsters they are willing to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safer and only about a quarter say torturing terror suspects is never justified.

"The reason that I think a number of people haven't responded as aggressively to things like warrantless wiretapping is because they think it won't happen to them," said Andrea Prasow, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch's U.S. program.

"History shows that's not true. Once government has a power they won't give it back."

Congress is currently considering legislation that would allow indefinite detention without trial — something that used to be as unimaginable as a U.S. president saying "damn right" to waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation."

"That's not where the U.S. was 10 years ago. It was a leader - not perfect - but a leader in promoting human rights," Prasow told AFP.

"Terrorists seek to change a nation or a people, and that has happened."

The response has not been proportional to the threat, said Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union.

There have only been a handful of successful attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11, the most devastating of which was the 2009 attack on Fort Hood in Texas by an army psychiatrist that left 14 dead and 29 wounded.

That pales in comparison to the toll from drunk driving, which is involved in a third of the more than 30,000 traffic deaths every year.

"We're talking about a threat that will always exist, but doesn't threaten our existence," Wizner said.

"And yet we treat it as if it's equivalent to world war."

The war on terror granted law enforcement unprecedented power to monitor the email, phone calls, financial transactions, library records and Internet browsing of citizens and foreigners alike and store them in massive databases.

Some of those "data sweeps" have reportedly gathered everything from hotel records on more than 300,000 travelers to Las Vegas to the names of anyone who took scuba diving lessons in the San Diego area.

Nowhere has the intrusion of security into daily life been more obvious than in airports — the al-Qaida target of choice — where a controversial new pat-down policy made a minor hero of a man recorded telling a screener "don't touch my junk" last year.

Increased surveillance was both inevitable and necessary in the face of ongoing threats, said Ron Marks, a former CIA official now at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute.

"We're not going to go back to before 9/11. The genie is out of the bottle," he said.

"We're going to have to be more intrusive. The question is the degree of intrusiveness and what is the oversight of that."

There is "tremendous sensitivity" among federal investigators over the handling of data gathered in intelligence sweeps, Marks said.

"I'm more concerned about public perceptions than what law enforcement do," he said, pointing to a "loss of flexibility" in tolerating divergent opinions and a deep mistrust of Muslims and Arabs.

Many Republican politicians have both fueled and exploited that mistrust as a "campaign strategy," said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The most glaring example is the hysteria drummed up ahead of November's mid-term elections over an Islamic cultural center being built near Ground Zero in New York. Legislation banning Shariah law has also been introduced in over a dozen states.

"Our political discourse has become openly Islamophobic and it is accepted and not challenged by a large percentage of the population," Walid said.

"It's scary to think where this is going."

The burden of America's near decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has also been "borne very unevenly," said Catherine Lutz, an anthropologist at Brown University who co-directs the Cost of War project.

Former president George W. Bush implemented massive tax cuts, leaving future generations to pay for much of the nearly $4 trillion cost of the war on terror.

The elimination of the draft means that the burden of multiple and lengthy deployments has been left to 2.2 million volunteers who largely come from rural areas and lower-income families.

That makes it easy for the remaining 300 million Americans to forget that the nation is at war, especially given that just four per cent of news stories are about Iraq or Afghanistan.

"That's not necessarily a measure of what most Americans are consuming on television," Lutz noted. "That's the news.. (Most are) watching Jersey Shore and Bachelorette. So the circus continues."

© Copyright (c) AFP

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/trade+freedom+security+after/5258713/story.html#ixzz1VDVJbmTT

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/trade+freedom+security+after/5258713/story.html#ixzz1VDUt2aEJ

Meet the FBI's new arsenal in recruiting informants: Operation Flex for Sex

2011-08-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

The recent embarrassing fiasco by the FBI in Irvine reveals more than just a violation of the sanctity of peaceful mosques or an attempt to entrap law-abiding young Muslims into extremist and violent acts. The exposed "Operation Flex" indicates that the local FBI official overseeing the agent provocateur authorized the use of sexual encounters with Muslim women to shame them into becoming informants, as charged by the former agent provocateur Monteilh.

This is a serious charge by Monteilh and, sadly, the Obama administration decided to deny the American public access to the truth about what happened.

The real name for this operation should have been: "Operation Flex for Sex"

----

Want to Sue the FBI for Spying on Your Mosque? Sorry, That's Secret.

Obama, once a critic of the state secrets doctrine, has invoked it repeatedly. But critics say his latest use of Bush's favorite get-out-of-court-free card is different.

—By Hamed Aleaziz
Mon Aug. 8, 2011

The state secrets privilege—perhaps the most powerful weapon in the government's legal arsenal—has a complicated history. For years, Democrats, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, accused the Bush administration of overusing of the privilege, which allows the government to quash cases that involve national security before a court even hears evidence. Then, after Obama took office, his Justice Department used this get-out-of-court-free card repeatedly.

Last week, the DOJ invoked the state secrets privilege yet again. But this case, civil liberties groups say, is different.

Most of the post-9/11 cases that the government has killed with the state secrets privilege have either involved foreign-born terrorist suspects or the government's actions abroad. The case the Obama administration tried to quash last week doesn't explicitly involve either. The case in question, which was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), focuses squarely on domestic intelligence-gathering targeting Americans—namely the FBI's allegedly widespread use of informants and surveillance against Muslim Americans.

The FBI's involvement in the case—and the fact that it involves Americans—makes it stand out among the other state secrets cases, says Ameena Qazi, CAIR's deputy executive director. "We're surprised at the government's shocking move in invoking the state secrets doctrine in this case of all cases," Qazi says. Since this case "involves domestic intelligence-gathering on US soil against Americans," she explains, "it's an unprecedented move to our knowledge."

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The case, Fazaga v. FBI, stems from the purported actions of Craig Monteilh, a 49-year-old convicted criminal who claims that he spent 15 months in 2006 and 2007 infiltrating mosques in Orange County, California, as part of an undercover FBI investigation known as "Operation Flex." The Fazaga case, which the ACLU and CAIR filed in February 2011, claims that the FBI utilized Monteilh to "collect personal information on hundreds and perhaps thousands of innocent Muslim Americans in Southern California." The ACLU says that the FBI investigation "violated the Constitution's fundamental guarantee of government neutrality toward all religions." For evidence, the two groups point to a somewhat problematic source: Monteilh.

According to Monteilh, Operation Flex did indeed involve the indiscriminate monitoring of the Southern California Muslim community with the goal of apprehending terrorists. Monteilh claims to have gone by the name Farouq al-Aziz and posed as a French Syrian man pushing a radical Islamist view on mosque-goers in Irvine, California. And after months of Monteilh's spying, Southern California Muslims did in fact call the FBI to alert them of a possible terrorist: Monteilh. The whole episode was a bit of an embarrassment for the FBI, and received national press attention after 2007, when Monteilh was imprisoned for grand theft and started talking to the press.

To CAIR's Qazi, the fact that Operation Flex allegedly took place in the United States and targeted Americans makes Fazaga v. FBI different from previous state secrets cases. "If the government were to prevail on their invocation of the state secrets doctrine it would essentially make such FBI actions non-reviewable by the courts and render any redress by our clients or by any other Americans for such activities ineffective," she says. "That's really the concerning part of what their use of the state secrets doctrine implies."

Robert Chesney, a law professor and national security law expert at University of Texas-Austin, disagrees with Qazi's assessment. "At the end of the day, the FBI is part of the intelligence community as well—it's not necessarily thought of as any different than the NSA," Chesney said. "Is the effort to prevent a bombing only national-security-related if the perpetrators have an international connection? I wouldn't hold my breath on a court accepting that logic."

Just because an international connection hasn't emerged so far in this case doesn't mean one isn't there, Chesney explains. "It certainly could be the case that the very secret at issue here has to do with a possible foreign nexus," he says.

Monteilh, for his part, claims he knows what the government might be trying to hide. Monteilh—who, for what it's worth, is a convicted felon—now says that the FBI broached the subject of his traveling abroad to act on the intelligence he gathered during Operation Flex. In one instance, Monteilh says, the FBI asked him whether he'd be interested in traveling to Pakistan to assassinate a terrorist target. Monteilh also claims that a CIA representative reviewed his progress in Arabic and Islamic training every month.

Monteilh also claims that during his time as an informant, the FBI also involved him in an elaborate plan to present himself as a single, Muslim man seeking introductions to potential wives in Orange County and record his meetings with the women. Monteilh claims that before the relationships turned sexual, he approached the FBI agents on the case: "I said look guys, as you hear the recordings, if it goes to a level where there's a potential sexual encounter what do you want me to do?" According to Monteilh, the agents said to go ahead with the sexual interactions in cases where good information existed. After learning more about the women's potential "terrorist" connections abroad through Monteilh, the FBI would confront the women with recordings of their sexual encounters with Monteilh, intending to frighten them into giving the bureau actionable intelligence. "They told me that we're going to use the [Islamic] culture against the Muslim community," Monteilh says.

Monteilh's claims aren't the kind of thing that anyone would believe without further proof of the kind that could be obtained in a courtroom. But if the Justice Department gets its way, that kind of proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. "In asserting the state secrets privilege they have sealed the gaps of the entire Department of Justice on Operation Flex," Monteilh says. "There's one gap they can't touch—which is me."

For the alleged victims of Operation Flex, that probably seems like cold comfort.

Hamed Aleaziz is an editorial intern at Mother Jones.

Norwegian Muslish Gunman's Islam-Esque Atrocity (Colbert Nation)

2011-07-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Just because Norway's confessed murderer is a blond, blue-eyed, Norwegian-born, anti-Muslim crusader doesn't mean he's not a swarthy, ululating madman. (05:09)

Three important lessons from the Norway terrorist attack

2011-07-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Image from the attack in Oslo, Norway

My heart is filled with sorrow for the innocent people who recently fell victim to hatred and anger in Norway. I pray for them and their families.

The terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik provide us with three important lessons -- lessons that can help us prevent many future tragedies.

The lessons are:

Anders Behring Breivik

1- Terrorism has no religion or religious identity. Terrorists come in all colors, religions, nationalities, and ideologies. Terrorists and criminals commit crimes despite their religious teachings and not because of those teachings.

2- Unchecked hate speech can easily lead to violence. Islamophobes, anti-Semites, anti-immigrants, and all types of bigots should be challenged and exposed. Hate mongers such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Walid Shoebat -- all cited approvingly by Breivik in his manifesto -- are very dangerous because their ideas inspire and incubate right-wing terrorism. It is crucial that government agencies such as the FBI and DHS stop employing these discredited, agenda-driven individuals to train our nation's law enforcement and security agents.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer whose writings were favored by Breivik

3- Law enforcement should use behavioral profiling and not religious or racial profiling. Racial or religious profiling would fail to prevent terrorists like Breivik because law enforcement agencies are not profiling all White, Christian, blond-haired and blue-eyed males, and rightly so.

Blaming Muslims - yet again (Aljazeera)

2011-07-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

D. Parvaz
23 Jul 2011
Aljazeera

With at least 92 people dead and several injured, the brutality of Friday's attacks in Norway left the country reeling.

But who to blame for the bomb blast that tore through Oslo's government district and the shooting spree that left scores of teenagers dead at a youth summer camp in nearby Utoya?

Moments after the explosion that, as of Saturday night, left seven dead, pundits and analysts alike had assigned blame to al-Qaeda or an al-Qaeda-like group (a close approximation will do, one can suppose).

There were also reports of a group calling the Helpers of the Global Jihad either claiming responsibility for the attack or lending it support to whoever carried it out. The group retracted its rather vague statement on Saturday.

Norwegian police, meanwhile, concluded fairly early on that the attacks weren't the work of a foreign terrorist group. They have 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik in custody - he is believed to be the gunman who opened fire on the teenagers attending a youth camp organised by the Labour Party.

It's also been reported that Breivik bought six tonnes of fertiliser in May from a farm supply firm, which seems to take a page right out of another non-Muslim terrorist's handbook: Timothy McVeigh, who along with Terry Nichols, blew up the Alfred P Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 with a truckload of fertiliser, killing 168 and injuring 450.

Still, despite the initial lack of evidence shortly after the attack - and a growing stack of evidence pointing to the contrary later - some continued to look for a "jihadist" connection in the Norway attacks. Some looked for a link between the attacks and the anger that erupted after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.

Local Muslims: 'Deep sorrow'

This hits the Muslim community in Norway in two different ways - first, their sense of security is threatened as much as any other Norwegian. On top of that, they are automatically blamed for arguably the darkest days in Norway's recent history.

The local Muslim community was quick to respond.

The Islamic Council of Norway immediately issued a statement of condemnation, saying that any attack on Norway was an attack on the homeland of its members, while imams and other Muslim community members visited with various Christian groups and church leaders in an effort to not only offer condolences, but to improve lines of communication.

"We are in deep sorrow with the Norwegian community," Muhammed Tayyib, the coordinator of The Islamic Cultural Centre Norway, told Al Jazeera.
A wry Tweet responding to Breivik's far-right connection

Tayyib said that even though most of the Muslim community are immigrants, that they are "part of the democratic system and support the freedom of expression. We are reacting [to the attacks] as Norwegians, not as outsiders".

Tayyib said that the mosque at the cultural centre, which is in the heart of Oslo and not far from the bomb blast, remained open to all on Saturday.

He said many non-Muslims had come in on Saturday to talk about the attacks or just to get to know the Muslim community better.

Rizwan Ahmad, the general secretary at the cultural centre, said that reports of backlash against Muslims in Oslo left the younger members of the cultural centre feeling vulnerable. Two women wearing hijabs, he said, were harassed on the street while a Pakistani man was beaten on a bus.

But Ahmad said that the Muslim community remains in solidarity with the greater Norwegian community.

"We don't say anything about (the attacker) being Muslim or not Muslim. It's still a tragedy," he said of the attacks.

Dleen Dhoski, coordinator of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Oslo in Blindern, said that the concern wasn't about who was to blame.

"Our main concern wasn't [whether] it was a specific group that performed this horrible action, but we were shocked and concerned about the wellbeing of those who got affected by the attack," said Dhoski, who said she felt that Norwegian media was fairly neutral in its reporting.

"And [we were] even more shocked that something like this could be happening in our safe homeland ... This was an attack on peace and democracy in Norway, so I don't believe it has an effect only on the Muslim communities, but the entire nation," said Dhoski.

She said the Muslim community was focused on helping those most affected: "So the main priority right now for us all is showing our support towards the victims, and just try to contribute as much we can to make sure that Norway stays as it always has been."

The group continues its public outreach, she said, attending debates and dialogues with non-Muslim groups while keeping an open line with the media.

Far-right connection

Of course, it wasn't just the pundits and security analysts who were looking no further than the Muslim world to blame for the attacks.

The far-right - which has shown itself to be focused on with blaming Muslims for all European ills - was doing the same. Notably, the Nordisk group (a nationalistic, anti-immigration activist group described as having "Nazi-like beliefs) was busy blaming Muslims for the attacks on its forum.

Posters complained that the "uncontrolled immigration from Muslim countries" was to blame and that the attacks were "expected" and that, "terror will not decrease when the desert rats surge across Europe".

The group did not respond to an interview request on Saturday.

While Nordisk is certainly a somewhat fringe element, Norway, like many other European countires, where anti-immigrant groups have gained significant ground in recent elections, is swinging further to the right. Its Progress Party has been getting stronger, with some elements in the party seeking tougher immigration laws. In 2009, it called for the deportation of parents whose children wear the hijab to school.

The posters on the forum seemed unaware that Breivik is reportedly a member of their group. Norway's police confirmed that Breivik identified himself as a "Christian fundamentalist", while local media reported that he had posted anti-Muslim rhetoric online on several occasions.

Indeed, Breivik, it has been reported, was also rather taken with at least one member of the far right, Pamela Geller, a noted anti-Islam activist who fought against the construction of an Islamic community centre near the site of the former World Trade Center towers in New York.

Geller, who in May blogged that Muslims were responsible for "all rapes in the past five years" in Norway linked Friday's attacks to a "jihad".

Ali Esbati, an economist at the Manifest Center for Social Analysis, says the negative perception of Muslims in Europe has become a "convergence point" among right-wing groups, who spread the viewpoint of Muslims as an "occupying force and threat to Western society".

"The wider problem is that it's not even radical Islam that's seen as a threat - it's the idea that all of Islam or Muslims are a threat," said Esbati.

"So these (right-wing) radicals find a wider acceptance in mainstream politics."

He's not surprised by the knee-jerk response of Muslims being blamed for the attacks, as he says, discourse is not driven by facts or statistics. Rather, it is driven by perception - and right now, terrorism's face isn't of the radical right or of separatist groups in Europe (which, together, constitute the greatest terorrism threat to Europe) . This has lead to the proliferation of what Esbati calls fundamentally "racist" ideas towards Muslims.

"The tone in public discourse … has become much harsher, it's been a gradual process," said Esbati.

"It's the normalisation of ideas that were far more marginalised in the past."

The 'madman' angle

Still, the question remains: When what was targeted was a government building and a youth camp put on by a political party - one that calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state - why would a Muslim be a more likely suspect than, say, a far-right terrorist?

Essentially, the answer simply seems to be this: It's been nearly a decade since the September 11 attacks, which, it seems, have had the effect of making Muslims the terrorist fall-guy in the Western world.

"It was obvious that everyone would assume that it was a Muslim," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"All the Islamophobes on the internet jumped all over it."

He said that, even as of Saturday night, US media reports in the US were claiming "Islam this and al-Qaeda that."

But then, said Hooper, there's the "madman" angle, referring to the Norwegian official who said that the attacks were "not Islamic-terror related" and therefore "a madman's work."

"Unless it has been committed by a Muslim, it's not terrorism. If a non-Muslim commits an act of terrorism, they don't call him a terrorist. They say he was 'a madman,'" said Hooper.

Even though Breivik has been identified as a Christian, Hooper says he's sure his actions will not be affiliated with his faith - nor should they be. It's important, he says, to realise that an act of terrorism carried out by an individual, no matter what religion or creed, not be associated with the entire population following that faith.

This, of course, is not the case for Muslims in the current climate, and so Hooper says the focus should be on outreach. Muslims in Norway must continue to build coalitions and to work to "marginalise extremists of all faiths", he said.

"Everything always comes down to education."

Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S. (NY Times)

2011-07-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

(Kudos to the New York Times (and Mr. Scott Shane) for its first-class and intelligent reporting on this topic. Another reason why you should subscribe to the newspaper)

By SCOTT SHANE
New York Times
7/25/2011

The man accused of the killing spree in Norway was deeply influenced by a small group of American bloggers and writers who have warned for years about the threat from Islam, lacing his 1,500-page manifesto with quotations from them, as well as copying multiple passages from the tract of the Unabomber.

In the document he posted online, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of bombing government buildings and killing scores of young people at a Labor Party camp, showed that he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam.

His manifesto, which denounced Norwegian politicians as failing to defend the country from Islamic influence, quoted Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, and cited other Western writers who shared his view that Muslim immigrants pose a grave danger to Western culture...

In the United States, critics have asserted that the intense spotlight on the threat from Islamic militants has unfairly vilified Muslim Americans while dangerously playing down the threat of attacks from other domestic radicals. The author of a 2009 Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism withdrawn by the department after criticism from conservatives repeated on Sunday his claim that the department had tilted too heavily toward the threat from Islamic militants...

The revelations about Mr. Breivik’s American influences exploded on the blogs over the weekend, putting Mr. Spencer and other self-described “counterjihad” activists on the defensive, as their critics suggested that their portrayal of Islam as a threat to the West indirectly fostered the crimes in Norway...

Marc Sageman, a former C.I.A. officer and a consultant on terrorism, said it would be unfair to attribute Mr. Breivik’s violence to the writers who helped shape his world view. But at the same time, he said the counterjihad writers do argue that the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam “is the infrastructure from which Al Qaeda emerged. Well, they and their writings are the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged.”...

Mr. Breivik frequently cited another blog, Atlas Shrugs, and recommended the Gates of Vienna among Web sites. Pamela Geller, an outspoken critic of Islam who runs Atlas Shrugs, wrote on her blog Sunday that any assertion that she or other antijihad writers bore any responsibility for Mr. Breivik’s actions was “ridiculous.”...

In 2009, when the Department of Homeland Security produced a report, “Rightwing Extremism,” suggesting that the recession and the election of an African-American president might increase the threat from white supremacists, conservatives in Congress strongly objected. Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, quickly withdrew the report and apologized for what she said were its flaws.

Daryl Johnson, the Department of Homeland Security analyst who was the primary author of the report, said in an interview that after he left the department in 2010, the number of analysts assigned to non-Islamic militancy of all kinds was reduced to two from six. Mr. Johnson, who now runs a private research firm on the domestic terrorist threat, DTAnalytics, said about 30 analysts worked on Islamic radicalism when he was there.

The killings in Norway “could easily happen here,” he said. The Hutaree, an extremist Christian militia in Michigan accused last year of plotting to kill police officers and planting bombs at their funerals, had an arsenal of weapons larger than all the Muslim plotters charged in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks combined, he said...

John D. Cohen, principal deputy counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security, said Ms. Napolitano, who visited Oklahoma City last year for the 15th anniversary of the bombing there, had often spoken of the need to assess the risk of violence without regard to politics or religion.

“What happened in Norway,” Mr. Cohen said, “is a dramatic reminder that in trying to prevent attacks, we cannot focus on a single ideology.”

Michael Savage blames Muslims for the Norway attack and rants his bigotry at Muslims

2011-07-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Listen to these few minutes to better understand Islamophobia and those who fuel it with hate talk and lies.

The most enlightened 6 minutes on YouTube. You must watch

2011-06-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Thom Hartmann: The 10 DAY manhunt for a known terrorist ignored by media

Who are American Muslims? (video)

2011-06-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

We are American, We are You, We are CAIR

Rep. Mike Honda: Muslim hearings recall my life in internment camp

2011-06-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Read the commentary below and you will understand why Rep. Honda has been one of my favorite members of Congress. When it comes to civil rights, he gets it, he feels it, and he does something about it. What an inspiring leader.

---

(CNN) -- Who would have thought that my early childhood experience in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II would offer such useful insight, 65 years later, in determining the direction America is headed? In reflecting on this week's second round of Muslim radicalization hearings, planned by New York Rep. Peter King, I feel as if a mirror is being held up to my life, giving value to lessons learned as a child.

Make no mistake. Growing up in internment Camp Amache in Colorado was no joy ride -- just look at the pictures. We were treated like cattle in those camps. Never mind that we were born in America. Never mind that we were patriotic Americans and law-abiding citizens. Never mind that we were constructively contributing to the American economy. Despite all this, hundreds of thousands of Americans suddenly became the enemy at the height of the war, with no cause, no crime, and no constitutional protection.

We look back, as a nation, and we know this was wrong. We look back and know that this was a result of "race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership." We look back and know that an entire ethnicity was said to be, and ultimately considered, the enemy. We know that internment happened because few in Washington were brave enough to say "no."

We know all this, and yet our country is now, within my lifetime, repeating the same mistakes from our past. The interned 4-year-old in me is crying out for a course correction so that we do not do to others what we did unjustly to countless Japanese-Americans.

This time, instead of creating an ethnic enemy, Rep. King is creating a religious enemy. Because of prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of Republican leadership, King is targeting the entire Muslim-American community. Similar to my experience, they are become increasingly marginalized and isolated by our policies.

Never mind that many were born in America and have no allegiance to their ancestors' native homeland. Never mind that they are patriotic Americans and law-abiding citizens. Never mind that they are constructively contributing to the American economy. Regardless of all this, millions of Americans have become the new enemy, with no cause and no crime.

There is no question that a congressional hearing, which targets an entire religion, is morally and strategically wrong-headed. First, it is un-American. This is not the America that I know and have helped build as a lifelong public servant. The America that I know has always provided refuge for those fleeing persecution, from early settlers to recent refugees. The America that I know does not hate and discriminate based on race, religion or creed.

Second, it is counterproductive. King is undermining his own objective. In hosting these hearings, King, as chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, has declared, erroneously, that the Muslim-American community does not partner actively enough to prevent acts of violence -- or in the case of prisons, extremism. Despite the offensive and fallacious nature of King's concern, given extensive evidence that contradicts his claim, the Homeland Security chairman's strategy makes future partnerships unpalatable.

In one fell swoop of his discriminatory brush, King, in his apparent attempt to root out radicalization, marginalizes an entire American minority group, making enemies of them all. To add insult to injury, King has quipped (again, speciously) that America has too many mosques and that extremists run 80 percent of them. We can only hope that Rep. King does not completely undermine all the goodwill established across this country between Muslim Americans and law enforcement officials. You can be certain that few will want to work with King going forward.

Don't get me wrong. I support the Homeland Security Committee examining "radicalization" in this country, and in our prisons, provided it is a comprehensive review, not a discriminatory one that targets only one subgroup of America. I support the committee examining "violent extremism" in this country, including an examination of militias and the 30,000-plus gun-related deaths that happen each year. I support a committee chair that is keen to keep our homeland secure.

This is not the case with King. These hearings do little to keep our country secure and do plenty to increase prejudice, discrimination and hate. I thought we learned a lesson or two from my internment camp experience in Colorado. I hope I am not proven wrong.

My Fellow American

2011-06-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a good project that is worthy of your attention.

My Fellow American

My Fellow American is an online film and social media project that calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. It asks people of other backgrounds to pledge, and share a real life story about a Muslim friend, neighbor, or colleague that they admire. Using the power of social media, My Fellow American seeks to change the narrative – from Muslims as the other, to Muslims as our fellow Americans.

Most Americans have never met an American Muslim. Many only know Muslims through the way they are portrayed in the media. American Muslims are so often vilified as “the other” that it is possible not to recognize that most were born in the U.S. Or that those who immigrated here came seeking the same freedoms and opportunities that have always attracted people to America.

Muslims are our fellow Americans, who today face threats to their civil rights and even their personal safety because of the fearful and often hateful rhetoric that would not be tolerated were it uttered about any other minority group.

www.myfellowamerican.us

Islamic Banking, a Market with U.S. Potential, Hampered by Politics (American Banker)

2011-06-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 10, 2011

By Robert Barba

Islamic finance is growing, but politics, and perhaps prejudice, might be hamstringing this business in the United States.

In the past few years bills have been introduced in at least 20 states to forbid courts from invoking foreign laws in rulings. Proponents have touted the bills as a way to prevent Sharia, a code derived from Islamic law, from becoming the law of the land — a risk that many attorneys say is nonexistent. Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee have passed "Sharia ban" laws, which critics call a way of scoring political points by exploiting anti-Muslim sentiment.

It is unclear whether those laws would directly affect the growth of Islamic finance, which follows the tenets of Sharia law, such as a ban on paying interest. But at the very least, the political climate for Muslims is certainly not fostering a welcoming environment for what experts call an emerging market.

"The U.S. is behind. There is a strong and rapidly growing Muslim population," said Steven Watts, a partner with KPMG's financial services consulting practice in Toronto. "The holdup seems to be largely political, but it is to the detriment of the U.S."...

The United States began to lag in Islamic finance after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she said.

"Europe and other parts of the world decided to increase funding to study Islamic finance. Generally, the governments wanted to actively watch it and said they were going to be more involved and interested," Hunt-Ahmed said. "In the U.S., funding got cut and the sector became marginalized."...

Watts said there are more opportunities, namely "ethical" investments that avoid putting money in gambling or alcohol and could appeal to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

However, Sharia-compliant mortgages (which are permissible under Islamic law because they are structured as lease-back or co-ownership arrangements) are a great entrance to the Islamic finance world, he said...

"Passing laws to ban Sharia when we have American soldiers in two Muslim countries and bases all across Europe where there are large minority Muslim populations is an ill-considered idea," Ranzini said. "The people that are hyped up about this issue are just very uninformed."...

Read Full Article

Hamza El Khatib story on CNN's AC360 5/30/2011

2011-05-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Showing 'the face of Islam'

2011-05-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Huntington Beach Independent
(A Los Angeles Times community newspaper)

By Mona Shadia, mona.shadia@latimes.com
May 11, 2011

Before the Huntington Beach City Council meets every other week, someone walks up to the podium to lead a prayer after the flag salute.

Prayers in public meetings often end with a phrase like "in Jesus' name," which reflects the country's dominant faith.

But on the day following the announcement of the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, a woman in a long, flowing, sky-blue dress and a blue scarf covering her hair walked to the podium. With her head down, she led the prayer.

Maria Khani, a representative of the Islamic faith on the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council, didn't lead the prayer on that Monday evening as a result of the news about the killing of an extremist who used her faith to commit terrorist acts that changed the world almost 10 years ago.

In fact, it wasn't Khani's first time leading the prayer at the council meeting.

At first glance, it seemed like a coincidence. But thinking about it, Khani said it was an act of God, who usually works in mysterious ways.

"I said, 'Wow! God wanted me to do the invocation,'" Khani, a Huntington Beach resident, said. "I was thinking to myself on Sunday when the incident happened, and I said, 'Maybe God has a plan. Maybe he wants a Muslim to be in a city hall doing an invocation.'"

Fighting for a voice

Since 9/11, Muslims have been blamed for and associated with actions that they say do not represent their faith. Many have spoken in opposition to Bin Laden and his followers through various media outlets, held community prayers and even prayed at Capitol Hill in solidarity with 9/11 victims' families.

But it always seemed as if their voice was not loud enough or simply not given enough attention, said the Rev. Peggy Price of the Center for Spiritual Living in Seal Beach.

Price, a Huntington Beach resident, is one of the founders of the Interfaith Council.

"Moderate Muslims, most of Muslims, were hijacked on 9/11, but then continued to be hijacked by the media," she said.

Price spoke of the many press conferences and events she attended with Muslims speaking against acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, and the disappointment she felt when the story didn't make the media or only got a few paragraphs in the back of a newspaper.

Khani's presence that night was a subtle reminder to all Americans.

"I'm one of them," she said. "I'm part of this community. I'm part of this society. Nobody forced me to be here. When I took my citizenship and took the oath, I believed in every word I said, and I still do and I'm living by my words."

A push for diversity

It is also what Surf City is all about: including everyone.

While outsiders might know Huntington Beach for its bustling downtown and high surf, deep within lies a diverse community, one that has suffered from high-profile hate crimes but also rejoices in overcoming differences.

Several crimes, including the brutal beating and targeting of gay men and people of color in the city in the mid-1990s, led former Mayors Ralph Bauer, Shirley Dettloff and others to create the Human Relations Task Force.

The Interfaith Council also came from that effort. Its mission is to represent various faiths in the community and build tolerance and respect among people, Price said.

The city approached the Interfaith Council with the task of selecting people of various faiths to lead the invocation before each meeting.

"It was to help set the tone," Price said. "Sometimes the meetings can get very contentious. We try to select people from different religious beliefs so the city can see the diversity that's here."

While it's permissible to use the words "God" or "spirit," those who lead the prayer at City Hall are asked to not use names that are exclusive to specific religions, like Jesus or Allah, although Allah is Arabic for God.

Keeping the prayer inclusive keeps the city within the right guidelines of the Constitution, which prohibits governments from promoting one religion over another, Price said.

It also shows tolerance for one another, said Mayor Joe Carchio.

"I think we set that example," Carchio said. "I think Huntington Beach is pretty tolerant of religion."

'The face of Islam'

While some continue to look at Muslims with suspicion, Khani's prayer at the council meeting is an example of the real story that is being written about Muslims in America today, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"It's a story of Muslims being accepted and recognized as part and parcel of our diverse American religious and social fabric," Ayloush said. "In America, for the most part, the face of Islam is the Muslim teacher, the Muslim doctor, the Muslim member of Congress, the Muslim student, the Muslim neighbor and the Muslim friend. And Bin Laden and his group are becoming and were becoming what they are: mostly an irrelevant, extremist and rejected phenomenon."

As she prayed, Khani, a full-time mom who volunteers with many organizations throughout Orange County, hoped her prayer would mark a new, more peaceful era.

"I was thinking about the words I was saying," she said. "I was thinking that God put me in this place for a reason to say the invocation. We hope this will bring a new beginning, a great beginning."

63 Years of Nakba (short video)

2011-05-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am also sick of the world's apathy, but remain committed to be part of the solution to bring justice and peace.

Robert Scheer's Column: A Monster of Our Own Creation

2011-05-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Posted on May 4, 2011

By Robert Scheer
www.truthdig.com

He was our kind of guy until he wasn’t, an ally during the Cold War until he no longer served our purposes. The problem with Osama bin Laden was not that he was a fanatical holy warrior; we liked his kind just fine as long as the infidels he targeted were not us but Russians and the secular Afghans in power in Kabul whom the Soviets backed.

But when bin Laden turned against us, he morphed into a figure of evil incarnate, and now three decades after we first decided to use him and other imported Muslim zealots for our Cold War purposes, we feel cleansed by his death of any responsibility for his carnage. We may make mistakes but we are never in the wrong. USA! USA!

Kind of like when the CIA assigned the Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro and the Mafiosi turned out to have their own agenda, or when Pentagon experts anointed the Catholic nutcase Ngo Dinh Diem as the George Washington of predominately Buddhist South Vietnam before they felt the need to execute him. A similar fate was suffered by Saddam Hussein, whose infamous Baghdad handshake with Donald Rumsfeld stamped him as our agent in the war to defeat the ayatollahs of Iran.

Awkward, I know, to point out that bin Laden was another of those monsters of our creation, one of those Muslim “freedom fighters” that President Ronald Reagan celebrated for having responded to the CIA’s call to kill the Soviets in Afghanistan. That holy crusade against infidels was financed by Saudi Arabia and armed with U.S. weapons to oppose a secular Afghan government with Soviet backing but before Soviet troops had crossed the border. In short, it was an ill-fated and unjustifiable intervention by the U.S. into another nation’s internal affairs.

Don’t trust me on this one. Just read the 1996 memoir by former Carter administration security official and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a book touted by its publisher as exposing “Carter’s never-before-revealed covert support to Afghan mujahedeen—six months before the Soviets invaded.” This dismissal of the claimed Cold War excuse for the backing of the mujahedeen was acknowledged by President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who, when asked by the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur if he regretted “having given arms and advice to future terrorists,” answered that he did not: “What is most important to the history of the world? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”

That was said three years before some of those “stirred-up Muslims” like bin Laden and the alleged 9/11 plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—whom bin Laden financed, and whom he first met in Afghanistan when both were U.S.-backed fighters—launched their deadly attacks on the United States. The cost of the American response to that assault has spiraled upward for a decade. A defense budget that the first President Bush had attempted to cut drastically because the Cold War was over was pushed to its highest peacetime level by the second President Bush and now with three wars under way equals the military expenditures of all of the world’s other nations combined.

But while Libya and Iraq have oil to exploit, what will be the argument for continuing the interminable war in Afghanistan now that bin Laden is gone? White House national security experts had already conceded that there were fewer than a hundred scattered al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan, and that these were incapable of mounting anti-U.S. attacks. Clearly, what remains of al-Qaida is no longer based in Afghanistan, as the location of bin Laden’s hiding place, in a military hub in Pakistan, demonstrated. Nor is there any indication that the Taliban we are fighting in Afghanistan are anything but homegrown fighters with motives and leadership far removed from the designs of the late bin Laden.

It is time to concede that the mess that is Afghanistan is a result of our cynical uses of those people and their land for purposes that have nothing to do with their needs or aspirations. Even if bin Laden had been killed in some forlorn cave in Afghanistan, it would not have made the case that he was using that country as a base. But the fact that he was in an area amply populated by the very Pakistani military and intelligence forces that we have armed, and that should have been able to easily nab him, gives the lie to the claim that Afghanistan is vital territory to be secured in what two administrations have now chosen to define as the war on terrorism.

CAIR Welcomes Elimination of Osama Bin Laden Threat

2011-05-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Group reiterates President Obama's message that U.S. is not at war with Islam.

(May 01, 2011 - ANAHEIM, CA) A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today welcomed the announcement of the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a threat to America and the world.

In a statement issued following President Obama’s announcement of bin Laden’s death, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) said:

“We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel. As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide. We also reiterate President Obama’s clear statement tonight that the United States is not at war with Islam.”

CAIR coordinated one of the first joint American Muslim statements condemning the 9/11 terror attacks, issued just hours after they occurred.

To read about CAIR’s anti-terror initiatives, go to:
http://www.cair.com/AmericanMuslims/AntiTerrorism.aspx

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

- END -

Bin Laden's death a fresh start, Muslims hope

2011-05-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 2, 2011

By LORA HINES and DUG BEGLEY
The Press-Enterprise

The death of Osama bin Laden offers American Muslims a chance to further distance themselves from terrorists and live peaceably after years of misunderstanding about their religion, Southern California imams and mosque leaders hope.

For the last 10 years, bin Laden's actions have been denounced by many Muslims, claiming he was not a Muslim leader and did not represent Islam. Now, with bin Laden gone, the country can move on, said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, and "start acting in a way to being more conciliatory...

Qazi, whose organization is the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, and other leaders said bin Laden's death brings partial justice, because those who were killed in the September 2001 attacks cannot be brought back to life.

"I pray for the victims of 9/11 and their families and all of those who have lost their lives the last 10 years," Siddiqi said. He also is former president of the national Islamic Society of North America.

Despite bin Laden's death, the fight will continue against al-Qaida and other extremist groups, said Imam Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini, founder and religious director of the Islamis Educational Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa.

That ongoing fight will always put Muslims in an occasionally uncomfortable spot, some said. But education and a change in rhetoric can improve relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

"Whoever takes his place, I hope he does not become seen as a Muslim leader, but as an extremist," Ayloush said.

Daily Show: At great personal risk, John Oliver witnesses Muslims praying in a church's all-purpose room (Funny)

2011-05-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

CAIR-MI Rep Defends Free Speech Rights, even for Pastor Terry Jones

2011-04-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

"If Terry Jones becomes unpopular and not allowed to speak about his views publicly, then one day it might be the imam of the mosque. One day it might be myself who someone's trying to censure from speaking freely about their beliefs," said Dawud Walid, who heads the Council on American Islamic Relations.

He's a staunch opponent of Jones and his hateful speech against Muslims and says the prosecutor and court may have had good intentions, but by trying to silence Jones, they've turned up the volume instead.

"Terry Jones has gone from being painted as a racist and bigot to a First Amendment martyr and someone who's standing up for American principles, and this is the problem of the whole issue now," Walid said.

How it Became Acceptable to Publicly Reveal Bias Against Muslims in America

2011-04-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

Mathew J. Creighton and Amaney A. Jamal
Huffington Post
4/14/2011

Before gauging whether you are in line with most of America in your opinion about Muslim immigrants, here are two things you should know: Firstly, Americans are no more opposed to granting citizenship to Muslim immigrants than Christian immigrants. Secondly, despite no real difference in opinion, Americans are significantly more open about their opposition to a Muslim becoming a citizen. In other words, what is unique is not the extent to which opposition exists, but the extent to which it is out in the open.

About a year ago, in the spring of 2010, with funding from the National Science Foundation's Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences program, we decided to see if Americans really felt differently about the incorporation of Muslims into American citizenry. Because the U.S. has a long tradition of religious tolerance, we worried that Americans might feel uncomfortable expressing an intolerant view toward a specific religious group. To get around this, we randomly assigned the 2,366 participants in our study to three groups. One group we asked directly whether they supported or opposed giving legal Muslim or Christian immigrants citizenship...

Read Full Article

Khutbah/Sermon: Understanding and Defending "The Shariah" - by: Hussam Ayloush

2011-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

What is Shariah and what are its foundations and purposes?

Why is Shariah attacked? Who is behind those attacks?

Can a good Muslim who follows the Shariah also be a good American?

Is the Shariah opposed or a threat to the US Constitution?

Find out. (English part begins after 3 minutes into talk)

Khutbah: Understanding and Defending "The Shariah" by Br. Hussam Ayloush from Islamic Institute of Orange Cty on Vimeo.

Ayloush: Condemn hateful rhetoric against Muslims (OC Register)

2011-04-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

April 05, 2011|
Orange County Register
By HUSSAM AYLOUSH

Let me clear a few misconceptions about the American Muslim community, generally used as a cover to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment:

1. American Muslims support the exercise of First Amendment by individuals or groups to protest speakers, voice concerns, dissent, and even spew hatred. We support the same constitutional right to challenge bigotry and its enablers, particularly if the enablers are public officials who are sworn to protect the Constitution yet engage in promoting bigotry against an entire faith or ethnic community.

2. American Muslims categorically condemn any and all acts of violence against civilians – a principled stance rooted in our Islamic faith. Only a week ago, the Register quoted me on this subject. Moreover, American Muslims have zero tolerance for bigotry against any group of people based on religion, ethnicity, or national origin. Therefore, any attempt to paint American Muslims as otherwise is abhorrent. Now, here is a summary of events that unfolded at the Feb. 13 ICNA Relief charity dinner:

A group of right-wing activists and groups mobilized a wide grassroots effort to protest two speakers – a legitimate activity – at the charity dinner. The charity dinner was held to raise money for women's shelters and to fight homelessness.

CAIR-LA did not organize the charity dinner, but being a civil rights organization sent observers to document possible anti-Muslim bigotry and hate at the protest rally.

The "peaceful protest," as described by Rabbi David Eliezrie, was not so peaceful. Starting a couple hours before the charity dinner, the speakers whipped up anti-Muslim sentiment among protesters with their comments. Karen Lugo, a California Civil Rights Commission advisory committee appointee, advocated discriminating against Muslims, saying: "When we have a group that is asking for special preferences and special treatment, it is not a matter of discrimination to say no when a group is less than one percent of our population."

Councilwoman Deborah Pauly said at the rally: "These who are assembling are enemies of America. They are your enemy. They are my enemy because they seek to destroy it." The councilwoman further said in her speech, to the applause of her audience, "I know quite a few Marines who will be happy to help these terrorists [pointing toward the location of the Muslim charity dinner] to an early meeting in paradise."

News articles reported Rabbi Eliezrie as a speaker at the rally. Does Rabbi Eliezrie, as a Jewish leader, not see the sad parallel between this dehumanizing rhetoric and that of 1930s Nazi Germany which later led to the horrors of the Holocaust?

In light of the above professed anti-Muslim rhetoric, is it any surprise that many of the protesters started yelling hateful slurs such as "Go home terrorist." "Muhammad is a pervert." "Muhammad is a child molester." "Go home and beat your wife. She needs a good beating," once Muslim families began showing up to the charity event? Some protesters even blew shofars, declaring a battle against Muslims.

Public officials and protesters have a right to protest any speaker, but it is not acceptable for them to use such protest as a pretext to launch and incite a hateful attack on an entire religion and its followers, and support violence and discrimination against them.

Instead of insulting Americans' intelligence by attempting to re-write the history of the "peaceful protest" and blaming CAIR-LA's video – which we completely stand by – for exposing the hate fest, Rabbi Eliezrie and rally speakers should have the moral integrity to take responsibility for their role in enabling this despicable incident against peaceful families and children. They have a responsibility to condemn the hateful rhetoric at every stage in the rally and apologize to the American Muslim community and Orange County residents for the pain and embarrassment they have caused.

Let us begin a process of healing by becoming agents of unity and peace rather than engaging in McCarthyesque tactics to demonize and marginalize American Muslims.

An Islamic Call to Action in Support of America’s Workers

2011-03-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

"We are One" Campaign for Workers' Rights begins April 1.
By Hussam Ayloush
---
National Board Member, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ)
Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA)
---

A phrase often repeated in the Qu’ran is “those who believe and do righteous good deeds.” This phrase usually describes a great reward for those who demonstrate their faith by engaging in righteous good deeds.

As people of faith, it is our responsibility to put our faith into action whenever injustice is being perpetuated. Today, I want to share with you a campaign that deserves our attention and response.
In Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Maine, New York, New Jersey, and Florida, the fundamental right of workers – public sector workers in particular—to organize is being questioned and threatened by right-wing ideologues and political leaders. While many Americans are feeling the pinch in our pocketbooks, it is at this very critical moment that we must reaffirm the rights and protect the wellbeing of hard-working public sector employees and middle-class families. We all rely on those honest and dedicated workers, such as teachers, police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, and public health workers, to provide us with essential services. Today, they are relying on us to ensure a dignified living for themselves and their families.

Treating workers justly and protecting their rights is supported by the teachings of Islam and other faiths. Islamic teachings regarding the rights and responsibilities of the worker and employer toward each other have been outlined with utmost precision. If we work for our living, whether as an employee or as an employer, it is our duty to understand and safeguard the rights of workers wherever they may be.

Of these principles, the right of workers to unionize and organize for their mutual interests is paramount. As we are watching our brothers and sisters (of all faiths) standing up for their fundamental right to have a say in their future in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and many other places, right here in our own country we have workers facing dire situations where they are being forced to choose between feeding their families and having just working conditions. This is a choice no American should ever have to make.

As people of faith, the burden is on us to act. During the week of April 1-4, the faith communities are being asked to stand alongside civil rights organizations, labor unions, and people from coast to coast under the banner We Are One to advocate for working families. To some this might be an easy decision; for others it could be a wakeup call to stand with those workers often not thought of because their contributions are often missed or taken for granted.

So what can we do? I recommend that all imams designate the Friday sermon (Khutba), on April 1 (April 8 is fine too), to this important topic and what the Muslim community can do to support the rights of workers. I also propose the Muslim community hold teach-ins at their local Islamic centers and mosques to educate congregants, as well as friends of other faiths, about the current situation faced by so many American workers. Furthermore, I encourage the community to mobilize support by honoring those in our communities we often overlook: our teachers, who are responsible for providing the tools and guidance necessary for the navigation of a world of learning and infinite possibilities.

Let us live by the Islamic ethics of compassion, justice, and honesty. Let us be part of the political, economic, and social struggle to defend workers’ rights to fair living wages, healthcare, a safe work environment, the right to organize, and the right to enjoy religious freedom. Let us be a living embodiment of the faith we profess.

And, while we continue to advance a cause we believe is just, based on principle, let us not forget about our most valuable asset, prayer. God says in the Qu’ran ““When My servants ask about Me, I am indeed close to them. I listen to the prayer of every supplicant, when he calls on Me. Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me, so that they may walk in the right way” (Qur’an 2:186).

I pray that Allah (God) purify our hearts from greed, anger, and apathy. And I pray that all Americans unite in appreciating our workers and supporting justice and a respectable life for them.

In support of recent US military involvement: Let’s Stand against Gadhafi, We owe it to Libyans

2011-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Bvy: Hussam Ayloush

[Hussam Ayloush is the Executive Director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA). Article represents my personal views and not necessarily those of CAIR]

-----

Published in:
Pasadena Star-News, Whittier Daily news, San Gabriel Vally Tribune

Over the years, I have strongly opposed war and in particular recent U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. However, I commend and fully support President Obama’s decision to engage our military in a limited role to help enforce the no-fly zone and protect the civilian populations in Libya. Nevertheless, I still oppose any deployment of U.S. ground troops.

For the record, I am not an absolute pacifist. I do believe that military action is permissible – and sometimes necessary – as a last resort under the doctrine of just war, such as in cases of defending one’s country from foreign military aggression or the prevention of atrocities against innocent people, even if requires military action in another country.
The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan on one hand, and Libya on the other are different, and not comparable.

In Iraq, our invasion was a unilateral, immoral and illegal action taken on the basis of false pretenses – basically Bush and his cronies lied to the American people and to the world about the weapons of mass destruction and Iraq’s association with al-Qaeda.

In Afghanistan, what started as a legitimate effort to track down and bring to justice Al-Qaeda militants who proudly took responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our soil became a full-fledged invasion and occupation of a country and its people – an occupation that continues to bleed our resources, moral credibility, and any chance of a realistic victory in isolating the violent extremists. Obama has yet to introduce a new political and military strategy that will help us break out of the mess that Bush put us in.

Now, back to Libya.

Like many Americans, I am generally against our government spending any of our dwindling tax money on senseless wars at a time when our schools, homeowners, workers, and seniors are financially suffering. It is also important to recognize, though, that our current role in Libya is not a charitable favor to Libyans. It is a debt we owe them for our role and that of our allies in supporting the dictatorship of Gadhafi over many years in order to advance our economic and political interests via this oil-rich country (and I’m not even talking about the documented U.S. role in supporting Colonel Gadhafi’s coup in 1969).

For decades, European allies, especially Germany and Italy, established strong economic ties with the Gadhafi family and its regime. In 2003, soon after the Libyan government accepted responsibility for its role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and agreed to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and long- range missile programs, the U.S. joined the U.K., Germany and Italy in readmitting Colonel Gadhafi into the community of respected world leaders.

There is no doubt that Western governments were aware all along of his ongoing dismal human rights record (including extra-judicial executions and torture), repressive autocracy, and corruption. Gadhafi’s bloody dictatorship was tolerated or ignored because we needed a share in Libya’s oil, his lucrative arms purchases, his cooperation in helping prevent illegal African migration to Europe through the Mediterranean, and his support for Bush’s “war on terrorism,” a role which mostly translated into a green light for Middle Eastern regimes to engage in torture and elimination of political opponents.

Our sins in Libya are similar to the ones we have been committing in most Arab countries. Today is our chance to undo many years of siding with the brutal dictators of the Middle East. It is our chance – rather, our moral responsibility – to side with the people and their legitimate aspirations for freedom, dignity, and justice.

After decades of supporting puppet and agent regimes that did our bidding in the world under the guise of protecting stability, or the immoral excuse of serving our national political and economic interests at the expense of other people’s lives and freedom, it is America’s historic moment to support the Arab world’s revolution against autocracy, repression, and economic injustice.

A new world order is possible: a world in which America leads by moral example, in which we recognize that the word “all” in “all men [and women] are created equal” and “liberty and justice for all,” really means all people and not just all Americans.

Italy' President Silvio Berlusconi and Colonel Muammar Gadhafi.

With Former British prime Minister Tony Blair

Hey, if Berlusconi can do it, why not Blair!

With French President Nicolas Sarkozy

With U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Gadhafi's son Muatassim

With world leaders

Muslim leader censures radical (OC Register)

2011-03-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

March 22, 2011|By FRANK MICKADEIT
The Orange County Register

I'm happy to report that less than a half-hour after I hit the "send" button on yesterday's column, I received from an Southern California Muslim leader the following condemnation of statements by a radical Muslim leader:

"CAIR and the Muslim community unequivocally reject what appears in the 2006 video to be the speaker's support for targeting Israeli buses and cafes. The targeting of civilians is a crime that can never be justified, no matter what just cause it claims to serve."

The condemnation was from Hussam Ayloush , executive director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations for the Greater Los Angeles Area, and he was referring to a video that depicts Muslim leader Amir Abdel Malik-Ali at a UCI rally telling Muslim students that because Jews in Israel are willing to be martyrs, they must be willing to be martyrs, too. "They (Jews) know this is a new day. ... What do we do? Might be another 9/11."

If the Muslim community wants the Villa Park City Council to censure Councilwoman Deborah Pauly for her statements at a February protest rally, I'd asked Ayloush, shouldn't the Muslim community condemn its own leaders for hate speech?

Pauly had told the crowd in Yorba Linda: "Let me tell you what's going on over there right now – make no bones about it – that is pure, unadulterated evil. ... I know quite a few Marines who would be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise."

She says she was speaking about Malik-Ali and another controversial speaker at an Islamic Circle of North America fundraiser – not about Muslim families in attendance.

Ayloush still believes Pauly and other speakers were "demonizing American Muslims and supporting violence and discrimination against them under the pretext of protesting controversial speakers. The result of that incitement was protesters forming into a mob, yelling insults and threats against Muslims families, including children."

I agree her words might have encouraged shameful behavior by anti-Muslim bigots after she had left the stage. Whether or not she meant her outrage to apply only to the two speakers, it was reckless to say what she did.

Pauly, for her part, condemns the anti-Muslim hecklers. "It is unfortunate that a splinter group arrived at dusk as the ICNA fundraiser began. I did not even realize they had stayed into the evening until I saw that edited tape myself. I had already gone home. I strongly condemn the actions of that group, particularly yelling at women and children."

So we have mutual condemnation of hate-speech. But saying so for public consumption is one thing. Getting each side to believe and trust the other is harder to achieve.

Contact: 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

CAIR-LA Executive Director Addresses Villa Park City Council

2011-03-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

Video: Californians Protest Hate Speech Against Muslims (Press TV)

2011-03-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Muslim supporters protest Villa Park councilwoman (OC Register)

2011-03-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

By FRANK SHYONG
Orange County Register
March 22, 2011

VILLA PARK – About 500 demonstrators from various groups marched and chanted slogans against or in support of Councilwoman Deborah Pauly in front of Villa Park City Hall on Tuesday evening.

The majority of demonstrators were Muslim supporters who organized in response to a speech by Pauly last month at a Yorba Linda rally. About 50 people showed up Tuesday night to support Pauly.

Syed Yusuf of Anaheim joins hundreds of protestors outside Villa Park City Hall to protest councilmember Deborah Pauly's anti-islam comments.

LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS »

The two groups faced off on the walkway in front of City Hall before the council meeting shouting at one another through bullhorns and displaying signs with phrases such as, "I'm a Muslim not a terrorist," and "Deborah Pauly is a patriot."

The protesters also chanted at and over each other: "Deborah Pauly, I'm your neighbor. Why are you such a hater," "No Sharia law," and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the racism's got to go."

The protest was largely peaceful, but the exchanges among the demonstrators were heated. A pro-Muslim supporter shouted at someone "You don't even know what you're fighting for, you racist pig." The Pauly supporter retorted: "You're a disgrace."...

The demonstrations are a response to a speech Pauly gave at a rally during an Islamic Circle of North America fundraiser Feb. 13, which many have interpreted as anti-Muslim. Her remarks are prominent in a YouTube video created by the Council on American-Islam Relations.

Many of the demonstrators on both sides were at the Feb. 13 protest.

Demonstrators said they're angry that Pauly hasn't apologized, and some demanded an official reprimand. But Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR California, said the main purpose of the rally was to show Pauly that Muslims are supported by the community.

"It would be nice if she apologized for her unbefitting behavior ... but what's more important is what happens after," said Ayloush, referring to a general community reconciliation he hoped would occur...

Giovanni K. Milan, an Arab Christian and Villa Park resident, said that Pauly's comments were narrow-minded and asked for an apology.

"When did the U..S become a Christian society? We are a secular society," said Milan, but his comments were met with laughter by the meeting attendees who appeared to disagree.

"I think we'll look back on this a long time from now and be embarrassed," Milan said.

KPFK report: Rally to Stop Islamophobia

2011-03-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Ernesto Arce
3/24/2011
KPFK News

CLICK TO LISTEN

Hundreds of people took part in what organizers called a rally to stop Islamophobia in a small Orange County city last night.

Many Southern California Muslims are angered by a statement made by Villa Park City Council member Deborah Pauly.

The lawmaker was recorded at a protest outside of a Muslim charity event at the Yorba Linda Community Center last month.

The subsequent YouTube video went viral and led to last night’s rally outside of the Villa Park City Council chambers.

Arab-American, Muslim and other community members demanded Pauly’s resignation while a few dozen vastly outnumbered counter-protestors cheered her on.

One Pauly supporter cited the council member’s free speech right to speak her mind and said her comments were taken out of context.

But Muslims say the comment from a public servant called for their murder. They say it points to a troubling rise in hate speech and bigotry which cannot be tolerated.

Pacifica’s Ernesto Arce files this report from Orange County.

April 4th Day of Action to support America's workers

2011-03-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Check out this great video for the April 4th Day of Action.
Support America's workers against corporate greed.

Why We Fight: Join us April 4th! from UFCW on Vimeo.

In states across the country, politicians are attempting to roll back the steps forward workers have made in their fight for economic justice and the American Dream. Regardless of whether those politicians are motivated by favors to super-rich corporate donors or are out to exact political revenge, workers have to stick together to stop the attack on the middle class.

On April 4, 2011, we plan to join the rest of the labor movement and our allies in a mass mobilization to make a public and workplace show of support for union rights for all workers. Join us!

Jewish prayer ritual alarms Alaska Airlines crew

2011-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

I sympathize with these Jewish travelers. I had to pray on airplanes on several occasions (especially on long trips and when prayer times would have been missed). I am sure some travelers might have felt nervous around me.

What do you do when you have to pray during travel?

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LOS ANGELES | Sun Mar 13, 2011

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An orthodox Jewish prayer observance by three passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines flight on Sunday alarmed flight attendants unfamiliar with the ritual, prompting them to lock down the cockpit and issue a security alert, officials said.

Alaska Flight 241 from Mexico City to Los Angeles International Airport landed safety at LAX and was met by fire crews, foam trucks, FBI agents, Transportation Security Administration personnel and police dispatched as a precaution.

The three men, all Mexican nationals, were escorted off the plane by police and questioned by the FBI before being released to make connecting flights to other countries, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. No charges were filed, she said.

The three passengers had startled members of the cabin crew with what was interpreted as suspicious behavior shortly after takeoff, airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said.

"The three passengers were praying aloud in Hebrew and were wearing what appeared to be leather straps on their foreheads and arms," she said. "This appeared to be a security threat, and the pilots locked down the flight deck and followed standard security procedures."

It turned out the passengers were engaged in the wearing of tefillin -- small, black prayer boxes containing scripture that devout Jews bind to their foreheads and arms with black leather straps in a daily ritual accompanied by special prayers.

Asked about the authorities' reaction to the alert, Eimiller said: "We're obligated, of course, to respond when the flight calls us to clear up concerns."

(Reporting by Steve Gorman. Editing by Peter Bohan)

The Daily Show on the King's Hearing

2011-03-11T19:41:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Colbert Report on the King's Hearing (video)

2011-03-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Daily Show: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sharia?

2011-03-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

3/8/2011

Peter King may have ties to the IRA, but he believes that Muslim Americans should be investigated for failing to denounce terrorist organizations.

(CAIR-LA video on the Yorba Linda anti-Muslim hate shown)

The Daily Show - How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sharia?
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Rep. Allen West: The Enemy Is Islam

2011-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Rep. Allen West: The Enemy Is Islam

Stand Together: Rabbis Speak out against Islamophobia

2011-03-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

March 9, 2011
Rabbis for Human Rights
Posted by Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster

Ever since the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, hatred and discrimination against Muslim Americans has been growing. Over the past year, the rhetoric has only gotten louder and more violent. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects the freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly. These are also essential American values. Yet across the United States today, we see attempts to prevent the construction of mosques, laws outlawing Sharia law, and the vilification of our Muslim neighbors and friends as un-American.

Jewish historical experience remembers that not too long ago, we too were the victims of suspicion and hatred based on our religion and ethnicity. The actions of the few should not condemn the many, and every religion has its teachings both of violence and of peace. Jewish tradition demands that we remember the heart of the stranger, because we were strangers in the land of Egypt. If one minority can be singled out for congressional hearings or restrictions on places of worship, anyone can be.

These are not American values. These are not Jewish values. It is time to Stand Together and speak out against Islamophobia...

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On the RHR-NA blog are a series of videos from rabbis and rabbinical students explaining why Islamophobia is against Jewish values. We encourage you to watch them and to share them with your community. We also encourage you to create your own video and upload it to YouTube tagged “rabbisagainstislamophobia.” We want to hear from you in your own words why bigotry against Muslims is wrong.

Click here to watch the videos

Muslims, others rally ahead of hearings on Capitol Hill (Washington Post Photos)

2011-03-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

March 6, 2011
Washington Post - Photo Gallery

Protesters in New York rally ahead of congressional hearings to be led by Republican Rep. Peter King on "Islamic radicalization" in the United States.

View Photo Gallery
All photos were taken by Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

Please do not use photos without appropriate credits to photographer, Reuters, and Washington Post.

Mark Lukens, a pastor at Bethany Congregational Church, attends the rally. (Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters)

Mia Chaney, 7, closes her eyes to feel the rain on her face. (Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters)

A girl shows her message on her palm at the Times Square rally. (Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters)

Zienib Noori, 20, of Albany, N.Y., listens to a speaker at the "Today I Am a Muslim Too" rally in New York City. (Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters)

Rep. King asked to hold hearings on FBI’s illegal surveillance of Muslims

2011-03-08T19:27:00.001-08:00

Hussam Ayloush & Ameena Qazi
Jewish Journal
3/8/2011

As Representative Peter King (R-NY) launches congressional hearings on Muslims and radicalization this week, we wonder at the expenditure of time to examine an issue whose conclusion has long been self-evident: that American Muslims have worked tirelessly alongside fellow Americans to uphold and strengthen the time-honored values of religious freedom and equality and to protect our nation against all threats.

To that end, we have joined the U.S. Armed Forces, became police officers, and served as first responders. Muslims also forged stronger ties with law enforcement agencies and the FBI – partnerships rooted in trust and cooperation. For example, Southern California Muslims formed a joint partnership with the FBI called the Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee, and similarly partnered with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Orange County Sheriff’s departments, and other local law enforcement agencies.

For us, the reasons for improving relations with law enforcement, particularly the FBI, were clear – to reduce mistrust and suspicion of Muslims, and help Muslims understand how law enforcement works. This in turn led to increased cooperation and helped thwart terror plots, and fewer hate crimes and less religious discrimination of Muslims, all of which stem from unfamiliarity with the Muslim faith.

Despite this history, little congressional attention is given to the fact that the Muslim community’s good faith gestures toward cooperation and trust-building have been met with sweeping FBI fishing expeditions and covert surveillance of Muslim communities.

Relations between Muslims and the FBI grew shaky as more and more Muslim Americans reported being interrogated, and news stories simultaneously highlighted the FBI’s surveillance of Muslims’ lawful First Amendment activities. Even so, the then-FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles field office, Steve Tidwell, assured Irvine mosque-goers in 2006 that the FBI was not monitoring the community.

Then in 2007, a self-proclaimed Muslim convert started making rounds at Southland mosques, advocating terrorist sympathies. Muslim congregants immediately reported the man, Craig Monteilh, to law enforcement when his rhetoric turned violent. One mosque even filed for and received a restraining order against Monteilh. In 2009, an FBI agent’s court testimony confirmed that the FBI had indeed recruited Monteilh as a confidential informant.

Monteilh is but a small piece of a frightening trend of broad FBI surveillance of American Muslims that is unconstitutional, illegal, and counterproductive.

A confidential informant was sent to spy on law-abiding Muslim worshipers, without any suspicion of criminal activity. The only basis for the FBI’s suspicion was the congregants’ religion: Islam. At the behest of the FBI, Monteilh made friends with Muslims, particularly those more observant in their religious practices as well as young Muslim men. Electronic surveillance equipment was installed at several mosques to complement the informant’s surveillance efforts.

The informant, who recorded hundreds of hours of audio and video of individuals for the FBI, says his FBI handlers told him Islam itself was a threat to America.

Monteilh was further instructed to look for vulnerabilities that could be used against Muslims to blackmail them into becoming informants.

The illegal surveillance of Muslims and their houses of worship by a confidential informant, combined with national news reports of surveillance of Muslims and FBI guidelines that allow religion to be considered as a factor in investigations, all indicate some FBI agents’ apparent fixation on criminalizing Islam and its followers. If so, such practice flies in the face of the U. S. Constitution.

Sadly, some of our members have reported shying away from congregational worship, attending mosque programs or engaging in normal recreational activities like camping and hiking, out of fear that such activities may attract unnecessary law enforcement scrutiny. The community fabric is threatened as members have become suspicious of new congregants and converts, thinking they might be the next FBI informant.

Left with no other recourse to rectify the FBI’s wrongful monitoring of a besieged American community, CAIR has partnered with the ACLU of Southern California and the law firm of Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick, LLP, to knock on the doors of the highest authority in justice. We filed a class-action lawsuit two weeks ago, hoping the courts will help put an end to the FBI’s unconstitutional and discriminatory tactics against American Muslims.

As the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee did away with the FBI’s COINTELPRO program from the 1960s and 1970s, we hope that the courts will put a stop to the FBI’s unlawful surveillance of the American Muslim communities. Profiling undermines the Constitutional values meant to guard against religious discrimination, impedes legitimate intelligence-gathering, and wastes our precious tax-payer dollars our government should use to ensure our families’ safety from any foreign or domestic threats.

Perhaps Congressman King’s efforts will be better served by examining how the FBI’s unlawful tactics undermine our nation’s security and our Constitutional freedoms.

Hussam Ayloush is the executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of CAIR, the Council on America-Islamic Relations. Ameena Mirza Qazi is the deputy executive director and staff attorney for CAIR-LA.

Stand with the Irvine 11 Townhall meeting at IIOC, Anaheim

2011-03-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

Stand with the Irvine 11 Townhall Meeting at IIOC from Islamic Institute of Orange Cty on Vimeo.

Muslims suing FBI for spying on worshipers (Russian TV)

2011-03-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hate Comes to Orange County

2011-03-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today released a video of a rally organized by anti-Muslim bigots to protest a February fundraising event held by an American Muslim relief group for relief work and charity in the U.S.

A few hundred protesters showed up to the rally, which was sponsored by groups such as: “We Surround Them OC 912” (a local Tea Party group), Rabbi David Eliezrie of Chabad - Yorba Linda, North Orange County Conservative Coalition, ACT! for America, and Pamela Geller (whose group “Stop the Islamization of America” has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center).

Elected officials Congressmen Ed Royce and Gary Miller, and Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly also attended and spoke at the protest rally.

The event – held at Yorba Linda Community Center, a facility that has been frequented by Muslim families and businesses over the years – first became a target of anti-Muslim bigots over two of the fundraiser’s speakers, who were to speak on the importance of charity in Islam. Initial attempts of some groups to have the Yorba Linda Community Center and the Yorba Linda City Council cancel the fundraising event failed, followed by the protest.

In a statement, CAIR-LA said:

“We support the First Amendment right of protesters anywhere in America to voice their concerns, dissent, and even hatred. However, when our nation’s foundational values of inclusiveness, pluralism and equality are attacked by some in favor of calls for advocating hate and violence, then all Americans have a responsibility to challenge and expose such bigotry and those who enable it.

“As the video shows, the rhetoric of the protesters became increasingly venomous toward the families and children who came to attend the ICNA Relief fundraising dinner. Protesters shouted invective statements such as “Go home terrorist,” “Muhammad is a pervert, Muhammad is a child molester,” “Go home and beat your wife, she needs a good beating” at the event-goers.

“Even more disturbing was the participation and encouragement of elected officials in promoting the hateful protest rally. Villa Park Councilwoman, Deborah Pauly, while addressing the crowd at the rally, appeared to threaten Muslim event-goers. Congressman Ed Royce (R-40), in a troubling trend of disparaging Islam and its followers, added fuel to the fire by encouraging protesters to continue on with their hate-mongering. The attendance of Congressman Gary Miller (R-42) was a clear surprise, since he previously has engaged with all constituents, including Muslims, toward a better America.

“We strongly urge all elected officials in attendance to distance themselves from such an exhibition of hate and bigotry. We further ask residents and elected officials of Yorba Linda, Orange County and other parts of our nation to speak out against such hateful rhetoric and the continued Islamophobia that plagues our nation.”

CONTACT: CAIR-Greater Los Angeles Area, 714-776-1847, info@losangeles.cair.com

What type of person are you?

2011-02-27T23:09:00.000-08:00

11th century Islamic jurist, theologian, and thinker, Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali wrote:

"People are one of three types.

First kind is like nutritious food, needed at all times. Second kind is like medicine, needed some times. Third kind is like disease, needed at no time"

What type of person are you?

US citizen recalls 'humiliating' post-9/11 arrest by the FBI (AP)

2011-02-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

2/27/2011
Associated Press

In this photo taken Feb. 14, 2011, plaintiff Abdullah al-Kidd, right, and his attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Director of the Immigrants' Rights Project Lee Gelernt., (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Handcuffed and marched through Washington's Dulles International Airport in his Muslim clothing, the man with the long, dark beard could only imagine what people were thinking.

That scene unfolded in March 2003, a year and a half after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One of the four planes hijacked in 2001 took off from Dulles. "I could only assume that they thought I was a terrorist," Abdullah al-Kidd recalled in an interview with The Associated Press.

Al-Kidd called his airport arrest "one of the most, if not the most, humiliating experiences of my life."

The humiliation had only just begun.

Over the next 16 days he would be strip-searched repeatedly, left naked in a jail cell and shower for more than 90 minutes in view of other men and women, routinely transported in handcuffs and leg irons, and kept with people who had been convicted of violent crimes. On a long trip between jails, a federal marshal refused to unlock al-Kidd's chains so he could use the bathroom.

In the midst of al-Kidd's detention, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified to Congress about recent major successes against terrorism. No. 1 on Mueller's list was the capture of professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

No. 2 was the arrest of al-Kidd, a Kansas-born convert to Islam who was not charged with a crime — either then or later...

READ FULL ARTICLE

CAIR-LA, ACLU/SC Sue FBI for Illegal Surveillance of Southern Calif. Muslims

2011-02-24T15:23:00.001-08:00

Suit filed over broad surveillance of Muslims based solely on religion

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 2/23/11) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations of the Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA), the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC), and the law firm Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP today announced that they have filed a federal class action lawsuit against the FBI for infiltrating mainstream mosques in Southern California and targeting Muslim Americans for surveillance solely because of their religion.

For over 14 months between 2006 and 2007, FBI agents planted an informant in Orange County mosques who posed as a convert to Islam and through whom the FBI collected names, telephone numbers, e-mails, and other information on hundreds of California Muslims. Sheikh Yassir Fazaga, Ali Malik, and Yassir AbdelRahim - plaintiffs in the case-are three of the many individuals who came in contact with the bureau's informant.

SEE: Lawsuit Alleges FBI Violated Muslims' Freedom of Religion (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022206975.html

SEE: Local Muslims Outraged by alleged FBI Surveillance, Lawyers claim (LA Times)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/local-muslims-outrage-by-alleged-fbi-surveillance-lawyers-claim.html

According to the lawsuit, the FBI directed the informant, a convicted felon named Craig Monteilh, to gather as much information as possible on members of the Muslim community, and to focus on people who were more devout in their religious practice, irrespective of whether any particular individual was believed to be involved in criminal activity.

"The FBI gathered information on hundreds of innocent Americans simply because they worship at a mosque. It's hard to imagine a more blatant violation of the First Amendment's guarantees against religious discrimination," said Peter Bibring, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC).

The First Amendment guarantees that no person should be singled out for different treatment by the government because of his or her religion, which is exactly what the FBI did to the Muslim community, according to the suit.

Ameena Mirza Qazi, Deputy Executive Director and Staff Attorney for CAIR-LA, said: "Targeting American Muslims for surveillance not only destroys community cohesion, it erodes the trust between law enforcement and Muslim communities, which, in turn, undermines our national security interests. This broad investigation by the FBI that failed to produce even a single terrorism-related conviction was not based on suspicion of criminal activity, but rather on the targets being Muslim."

Montheilh's role as an FBI informant was not revealed until February 2009, first in court documents, in which the FBI and local law enforcement revealed his role, and then through his own statements which have been reported widely in the press.

Josh Piovia-Scott, an attorney with the law firm Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP said, "This practice is an abuse of the Constitution, and this case will force the FBI to destroy its illegally obtained information."
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief on behalf of all people targeted by the FBI agents and their informant, requiring the FBI to turn over or destroy all information collected through the discriminatory investigation, as well as damages for emotional distress for the three named plaintiffs.

There are approximately 120,000 Muslims in Orange County, a dynamic part of the Southern California Muslim community, which is home to the second largest population of Muslims in the United States.

- END -

Muslims sue FBI for alleged First Amendment violation (KPCC)

2011-02-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

Feb. 23, 2011 | Frank Stoltze | KPCC

Click to listen to radio/audio report

Civil rights groups on Wednesday said they’ve sued the FBI for allegedly violating the First Amendment by spying on Orange County Muslims inside mosques. KPCC’s Frank Stoltze says the case focuses on the activities of a paid informant for the federal law enforcement agency.

One plaintiff in the lawsuit is 26-year-old Ali Malek. He recalled his initial encounter with Craig Monteilh.

“I first met Monteilh when he testified to his faith in front of roughly 1,000 people at the mosque in Irvine,” said Malek. “It was a ceremony in which you become a Muslim.”

Malek said his imam asked him to teach the convert about his new religion. He said Monteilh had other interests.

“Constantly he would ask me about jihad and what I thought about it,” said Malek. “My reaction initially was, he is a new Muslim, he just became Muslim, perhaps has some misconstrued ideas and perceptions of the religion and I was more than happy to clarify those misconceptions.”

When Monteilh continued his questions about jihad and began showing up at the gym where he worked out, Malek became suspicious.

“I thought he was weird and so I just wanted to keep my distance,” Malek said. “And I wanted to give it some time to see how the situation developed. And then when the case came out, all the pieces of the puzzle came together.”

Monteilh, it turned out, was working for the FBI. The Associated Press reports that the former fitness instructor with a criminal past spied on Orange County mosques for the FBI for more than a year from 2006 to 2007, recording conversations and meetings with a device concealed on his key ring and a camera hidden in a shirt button.

“I can not conceive of any, any legitimate purpose the government would have to send an informant into our mosques, to gather indiscriminately information, destroying the sanctity of our sacred space,” said Ameena Mirza Qazi with the Council on American Islamic Relations.

In their class action lawsuit, the council and the American Civil Liberties Union accuse the FBI of targeting Muslims based on their religion.

In a statement, the FBI refused to comment on its investigation, and said the agency investigates individuals based on whether they may threaten national security – not based on their religion.

Monteilh faces fraud charges in a separate case, and he apparently no longer works for the agency.

The ACLU’s Peter Bibring said the FBI is slowly moving away from restrictions Congress placed on it following revelations in the 1970s that it had indiscriminately spied on innocent American citizens.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen the FBI steadily rolling back those protections, increasing their ability to initiate investigations without any indication of criminal activity,” said Bibring.

He says Muslims are a favorite post-Sept. 11, 2001 target. Imam Yassir Fazaga is with a therapist who works with the Orange County Islamic Foundation. He said he’s seen his clients become more paranoid about having personal conversations with him at a mosque.

“I can no longer discuss this with them at the mosque,” said Fazaga. “From now on I have to meet my clients in the park. I have to meet with them somewhere else where they would feel more comfortable than at the mosque.”

Malik, now an administrator for a San Francisco non-profit, said he too has become more suspicious.

“I feel that at times I am being followed,” he said. “I definitely feel that all my phone calls are tapped. I feel that my emails are filtered and tapped. I feel like I can’t have a loving conversation with my wife.

“My wife and I both feel that way. We feel like we can’t even keep the phone in the room on and have a loving conversation without assuming the FBI is monitoring that conversation. I feel like there’s probably FBI in this room right now.”

The class-action lawsuit seeks to stop the FBI from indiscriminately targeting Muslims and to force the agency to destroy any information collected that way. The three named plaintiffs also seek damages for emotional duress.

Muslims Say FBI Informant Dealt Drugs While Snooping on Sex

2011-02-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Courthouse News
2/24/2011

LOS ANGELES (CN) - In a federal class action, Muslims claim the FBI hired an "agent provocateur" to infiltrate mosques and "indiscriminately collect personal information on hundreds and perhaps thousands of innocent Muslim Americans in Southern California."

The class claims the agents had their snitch provide illegal drugs to Muslims and snoop on their sex lives, and that the fruitless "dragnet investigation" did not end until "members of the Muslim communities of Southern California reported the informant to the police because of his violent rhetoric, and ultimately obtained a restraining order against him."

Represented by the ACLU and Council on American-Islam Relations, the three named plaintiffs say the FBI's agent provocateur's "violent rhetoric" about "jihad and armed conflict" disrupted their religious practice.

The class claims the FBI has been profiling Muslim communities since Sept. 11, 2001, and requested interviews with hundreds of Muslims, "often by sending FBI agents to appear unannounced" to their homes or workplaces, to question them about religious practices.

This despite the fact that in 2006, the FBI's Assistant Director for the Los Angeles area, Stephen Tidwell, assured a Muslim group that the FBI would never send an undercover informant to spy on believers.

But in July 2006, FBI agents Kevin Armstrong and Paul Allen directed undercover informant Craig Monteilh to infiltrate the mosques in Southern California and paid him $6,000 to $11,000 per month create video and audio recordings of Muslim activities, the plaintiffs claim. They add that Monteilh was provided with "sophisticated audio and video recording devices."

Monteilh then publicly declared his Muslim faith during a prayer in front of hundreds of members of the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI), and immersed himself in the religion, the class says.

Monteilh went to 10 mosques in the area to interact with followers, and attended up to four mosques in one day. Armstrong and Allen ordered him to "gather as much information on as many people in the Muslim community as possible," the class claims...

Read Full Article

Muslim group sues FBI over surveillance at California mosques (Christian Science Monitor)

2011-02-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / February 23, 2011
Christian Science Monitor

In a case that could test law enforcement's ability to identify and monitor potential terrorists inside the United States, an Islamic organization has sued the FBI for the actions of a paid spy who infiltrated several Orange County mosques in California in the mid-2000s.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations allege in the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, that a paid informant named Keith Monteilh violated the First Amendment rights of hundreds of Muslim worshipers when he performed "indiscriminate surveillance" on "people who were more devout in their religious practice, irrespective of whether any particular individual was believed to be involved in criminal activity."

RELATED QUIZ: How much do you know about the US Constitution?

The FBI responded that it doesn't ask its informants or agents to target people for their religious affiliations, and maintains it has done a good job of balancing civil liberties with its ongoing antiterrorism work.

Nevertheless, the case threatens to erode already-tenuous relationships between law enforcement and the broader American Muslim community, which has the best potential to spot suspicious behavior in its midst. That ability – and willingness – was illustrated in this case.

Mr. Monteilh "became an agent provocateur," says Ibrahim Hooper, national CAIR spokesman. "He was the one suggesting all these kinds of bizarre activities to the extent that community itself turned him in."

The Monteilh affair was particularly galling to Los Angeles-area Muslims, since he was working in a mosque where an FBI official had promised no such surveillance would take place under his watch.

More broadly, targeting mosques and even fervent believers is a sure way for the FBI to alienate moderate, law-abiding Muslims, says Ameena Mirza Qazi, staff attorney of CAIR-Los Angeles.

"When Muslims perceive that they are viewed as a suspect community by law enforcement or the FBI, it really has a devastating effect on relations between law enforcement authorities and American Muslims," says CAIR's Mr. Hooper.

But the FBI can't ignore the role of mosques as potential hubs of terror activity, says Gabriel Schoenfeld, a national security expert at the Hudson Institute. Some of the organizers of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, for example, met at a mosque in New Jersey.

"Mosques can't be sanctuaries for criminals," says Dr. Schoenfeld, author of "Necessary Secrets: National Security, Media, and the Rule of Law."

"Even if the FBI did something wrong in this case, that would not eliminate the need for the agency to investigate places like mosques, where terror activities have been cooked up in the past. Does that cut against the First Amendment? Undoubtedly. But the First Amendment isn't a suicide pact. It has to be balanced against other provisions of the Constitution, like providing for the common defense," argues Schoenfeld.

The lawsuit contends that Monteilh's FBI handlers told him to collect e-mail address, phone numbers, and other pertinent information about Muslims, and "explicitly told Monteilh that Islam was a threat to America's national security."

Legal experts say the lawsuit could succeed if the ACLU proves that the FBI targeted Muslims for their religious beliefs. But resting an entire case on a paid informant – with a criminal record, in Monteilh's case – can be tricky. "Using informants is an unsavory business, and informants often lie,'' John Baker, a Louisiana State University law professor, tells the Washington Post. "How trustworthy is his information? No one knows.''

Schoenfeld adds that lawyers could also parse the allegation that the FBI asked Monteilh to look for worshippers who were particularly devout. "What does that mean?" he says. "Are they devout in trying to memorize the Koran, or are they devout in preaching a political brand of Islam? That could be legitimate for the the FBI to investigate."

"Nobody objects" to the FBI investigating "when there's actual probable cause," says Hooper, "but to just say, 'go into these various mosques and see what you can dig up' – and even suggest to people that they should engage in criminal activity – that is something that is way beyond the pale."

Conan O'Brien translates Gadhafi's recent speech (video)

2011-02-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

FBI Mosque Surveillance Damaged Trust in Government (Video)

2011-02-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

3 Things About Islam (A good video in response to a popular anti-Muslim hate video)

2011-02-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Omar Baddar produced this video in response to a popular video with the same title which spreads misconceptions about Islam in an effort to promote fear and suspicion of Muslims.

Time to dismantle and re-build this failed project called Arab League (and the UN too, since we are at it)

2011-02-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Arab League project has completely failed. It has to be announced dead.

The League should be dismantled and then reorganized on the basis of protecting democratic and human rights values. Since its inception, it has contributed to Arab division, failed to develop Arab societies (educationally, economically, or politically), and manged to become completely discredited and irrelevant to Arab people.

The League has failed to protect the Palestinians from decades-long Israeli occupation, aggression and brutality. It has failed to protect the Arab people from the repression of Arab leaders. It has failed to prevent the illegal and immoral US/Bush invasion of Iraq.

The League has only succeeded in protecting Arab dictators and their repressive regimes. The only successful conferences and meetings that the League conducted were the ones in which its member states' interior ministers met to coordinate efforts to suppress freedoms and democracy and exchange creative ideas on human rights violations and torture against dissenters. Other empty press releases and statements, conferences and meetings were mostly ignored by Arab masses. Some Arabs continued to watch such meetings for entertainment/comedy value such as Gaddafi's typical fashion show or usual spat between dictators on who to speak first or who cares for Palestine more.

Similarly, the UN should be dismantled and re-organized on a more democratic and equal basis now that its failure is clear too. For God's sake, why should France be a permanent member of the Security Council and not Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Pakistan or Germany. Why isn't a single African or Latin American country a permanent member of the Security Council? Are certain countries more equal than others? Real peace, justice and democracy in the world require that every country be an equal player and that the UN be free from the favoritism and self-serving politics played by rich and powerful countries at the expense of the rest of the world.

Debunking the myth of a Muslim demographic threat in the West

2011-02-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Debunking the myth of a Muslim demographic threat in the West
by John L. Esposito
The Malta Independent

The findings of ‘The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030’ should also challenge the public to reconsider its perception of Islam and Muslims.

Sceptics, particularly those in Europe and North America, have long sounded alarm bells regarding the growth of the Muslim population.

Such scare-mongerers claim that Islam is a demographic threat, warning of an impending ‘Eurabia,’ within a few decades. This picture, of a triumphant Islam over a Europe which has lost its Christian roots, has contributed to the growth of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim political parties and to their notable successes in European elections last year. In America, this fear began in the late 1990s with articles that warned “The Muslims are coming, the Muslims are coming!” and continued with the recent Park51 debate over a plan to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

This paranoia – based more on fear and misperception – fuels anti-Islam and anti-Muslim hysteria across Europe and North America, contributes to undermine our multi-cultural society.

Pew finds that the world’s Muslim population is expected to increase from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030. But what about an “Islamic wave” across Europe?

Muslims will remain a relatively small minority, but they will make a growing share of the total population. According to the study, Europe’s Muslim population is projected to grow from 44.1 million in 2010 to 58.2 million in 2030. The greatest rise is expected to be seen in Western and Northern Europe, where Muslims are expected to approach double-digit percentages. For example, in France, the population is expected to rise from 7.5% currently to 10.3%.

The Muslim share of the US population is projected to grow from 0.8% in 2010 to only 1.7% in 2030, meaning that Muslims will share the same population figures as Jews and Episcopalians. Interestingly, the US is projected to have the larger number of Muslims by 2030 than any European country, except Russia and France.

Pew’s findings demonstrate that fear of a European Muslim-takeover is largely the product of hysteria; France is not destined to become an “Islamic republic” by 2048.

Regrettably, these Pew findings and projections are less likely to circulate as widely or quickly as statistics and predictions about a Muslim takeover.

The result in America, a nation of immigrants, is that, according to Pew, Gallup, and others, roughly half of Americans see Islam as a violent religion. Many European countries with long traditions of tolerance like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands seem in retreat as right wing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim parties gain ground. Immigration and the cultural diversity that follows are strengths.

----
Prof. John L. Esposito, author of The Future of Islam, is University Professor of Religion & International Affairs at Georgetown University and founding director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding and is an Advisory Board member of the British Council’s Our Shared Future project and a UNAOC Global Expert. Sheila B. Lalwani, a Research Fellow at the Centre, contributed to the analysis

The Malta Independent is a partner newspaper with the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations and the project Global Expert Finder

www.globalexperts.org

Global Experts (www.theglobalexperts.org), a project of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

On every street of my country, the sound of freedom is calling - A tribute song to Egypt's heroes

2011-02-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

Remembering the martyrs of Egypt's revolution for freedom

2011-02-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Our prayers go to the martyrs of Egypt's revolution and their loved ones. They gave their lives in order for Egypt and Egyptians to live free and with dignity. Please pray for them.

May Allah (God) Almighty grant them a place in Paradise.

Egypt will rise; Mubarak must go! (poster)

2011-02-03T17:30:00.000-08:00

Below is a message from the designer of this poster, Nick Bygon. I met Nick in Riverside at a protest against neo-Nazis and he took a great picture of my daughter Marya and me holding signs at the protest. Nick is a talented photographer and and a committed activist.

---

Egypt Will Rise

First off, this image is free to use and distribute, as with all of my work, however, I want to make sure everyone knows that I used two photos for reference without obtaining proper permission.

The main image is from Reuters photojournalist Amr Abdallah Dalsh and the second one is from Reuters photojournalist Goran Tomasevic.

If any thanks are due, I would appreciate a message to both of them for their hard work and dedication. They have been laying their lives on the line to help document these historical moments, and it is with that same enthusiasm for memorializing those vital turning points towards total liberation that I have used their photographs, to create this illustration.

Here are links to their photos
totallycoolpix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/28012011_egypt...
totallycoolpix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/30012011_egypt...

I hope Reuters and Mr. Dalsh and Mr. Tomasevic will understand and allow for the free distribution of this graphic. I am not seeking any profits from this image, as all of my artwork (as seen on my flickr) is all licensed under Creative Commons, share and share alike.

-Nick

P.S. If anyone has any changes they would like to be done, please email me (as I am open for feedback). Additionally, if anyone is going to print these to freely distribute or to collect cost plus labor, I would be happy to email the AI file.

Mubarak must go!

Images from today's attack on the protesters by Mubarak's thugs and security forces

2011-02-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

An Egyptian Muslim cleric cries in front of on army tank in Tahrir, or Liberation square, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.

Anti-government demonstrators wounded during clashes with pro-government protesters wait to be seen at a makeshift medical triage station, near Tahrir square, the center of anti-government demonstrations, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. Thousands of supporters of President Hosni Mubarak clashed with anti-government protesters as Egypt's upheaval took a dangerous new turn.

An anti-government protester displays pictures of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and members of his cabinet during mass demonstrations in Alexandria

Photos by:
AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill & Lefteris Pitarakis
REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Mubarak Mu Problems - Colbert's take on the Egyptian uprising

2011-02-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Mubarak Mu Problems

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

Video Archive

More than a million protesters flood Egypt streets

2011-02-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

More than a million gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square as massive countrywide protests are held against President Mubarak

Ten anticipated impacts of the fall of the modern-day Pharaoh

2011-01-30T01:17:00.000-08:00

It would be hard to underestimate the importance and impact of the current popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The fall of Egypt's modern-day Pharaoh, Mubarak, and the establishment of a true democracy will likely shape that volatile part of the world more than anything since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

These events not only affect the entire Middle East, but will have a tremendous impact on US foreign policy as well. Decades of brutal dictators oppressing and controlling their people is coming to a forced end, and the United States’ long-standing support for these autocracies must end as well.

This change is historic because it is not driven by any specific ideology. It is not driven by nationalist, Islamic, socialist, or political motivations. It is truly a popular movement that is bringing together poor and rich, young and old, religious and non-religious, Muslim and Christian, and political and non-political. It is a movement of the masses, of people seeking freedom, rights, honor, dignity, self-determination, economic prosperity, and a recognition of their humanity.

The fall of the Egyptian government and its repressive policies would be a catalyst for many changes. Here are the top 10:

1- A stronger push for democracy, freedoms, and human rights among the people in the rest of the Arab world.

2- A self-reassessment and public challenge of the repressive practices of Arab dictators and puppet regimes. The prospect of reform is a wake-up call that it is possible to change the status quo and that the "Arab Street" is not in a coma.

3- A end to the inhumane siege on Gaza and its people.

4- A greater chance for peace when more pressure is exerted on Israel to give the Palestinians more of their rights.

5- A major blow to the US-Israel bloc of client-states and allies, leading to more popular and stable democracies. (Tunisia and Egypt were among its leading members).

6- A shift in the Palestinian Authority's current policy of shamelessly ceding the Palestinian people's moral, legal, and human rights under heavy pressure from Israel's closest Arab ally/protectorate, Egypt (US and Saudi pressure will surely remain).

7- A weakening of religious extremism and terrorism, which is greatly fueled by political repression by dictators such as Mubarak (as well as ongoing occupations in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan)

8- Improved social and economic justice for the people when corrupt and greedy government officials and their cronies lose their ability to embezzle and squander the resources of their countries.

9- An easing of the tension and polarization between the West and large Muslim populations in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, which is a result of the US and a few other Western nations imposing, supporting and funding brutal autocracies.

10- On a lighter note, this will also create new job opportunities as our intelligence agencies and State Department will have to go back to the drawing board to remap new US policies and strategies in dealing with a new democratic Arab and Muslim-majority countries and peoples.

Like all people, Egyptians have the right to live in freedom, pursue self-determination, and enjoy democracy and respect. The US needs to let go of our addiction to dictators and puppets who do our bidding in the world under the guise of protecting stability or the immoral excuse of serving our national interest at the expense of other people’s lives and freedom. The political map is changing... in Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Palestine, and many other places.

Shortly after he was elected, President Obama promised that he would support political reforms, freedom, democracy, justice, and human rights in the Middle East. Now he has a golden opportunity to put his words into action. So far, he has made it clear that he intends to do so with regard to the Egyptian uprising.

Jon Stewart: The Rule of the Nile

2011-01-29T14:51:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Rule of the Nile

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

New Terrorism Adviser Takes A 'Broad Tent' Approach

2011-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

by Dina Temple-Raston
NPR
1/24/2011

There's a pattern to recent terror attacks in the United States: Americans — either citizens or residents — have been behind them. In the past two years, dozens of American citizens and residents have been arrested on terrorism charges.

In some cases, the suspects were young Muslims traveling overseas to train for violent jihad. In others, they're accused of actually trying to launch attacks. Attorney General Eric Holder said homegrown terrorism is one of those things that keeps U.S. officials awake at night.

Now there is someone new at the National Security Council who won't be getting much sleep: He's a former Rhodes College professor named Quintan Wiktorowicz, and he's an expert on, among other things, how some people decide to become terrorists.

"A number of years ago, before he went into government, he did some of the most path-breaking work not only on who was susceptible to being radicalized, but most importantly, who was the most resistant to being radicalized," says Christine Fair, an expert on terrorism and radicalization at Georgetown University. "And the findings that he came up with based upon his work really shattered some of the stereotypes we have about Muslims and radicalization."

As part of his research, Wiktorowicz interviewed hundreds of Islamists in the United Kingdom. After compiling his interviews he came to the conclusion that — contrary to popular belief — very religious Muslims were in fact the people who ended up being the most resistant to radicalization.

Fair, who has done a great deal of work on radicalization in Pakistan, said Wiktorowicz's work stayed with her forever. "It really was revelatory for me," she says.

Revelatory because, as it turns out, Wiktorowicz found that it was people who did not have a good grounding in the religion who were the most likely to be attracted by radical Islam.

Peter Neumann is the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King's College, London. He got to know Wiktorowicz in London three years ago. Wiktorowicz was at the U.S. Embassy there, studying how the British dealt with radical Islamists and then finding ways to apply those lessons to the United States.

While in the U.K., Wiktorowicz reached out to a wide range of Muslim leaders — from moderates to extremists — and that set him apart from scholars who had preceded him, Neumann says. "He very successfully mobilized a broad coalition of very different people in London that all came together in order to oppose extremism and terrorism. No one else before has accomplished that."

It is also on this point that Wiktorowicz apparently ran into trouble. His coalition of Muslims was controversial because it included people some conservatives in Britain found too extreme. As Neumann sees it, that was part of the strategy: "Wiktorowicz's approach has quite deliberately been: 'I want the tent to be as broad as possible. ... As long as they are opposed to extremism and terrorism, I want everyone to be part of the coalition.' "

At the White House, Wiktorowicz's title will be senior director for global engagement at the National Security Council. He's seen by terrorism experts as bringing so much to his new job that he could fundamentally change the way the Obama administration deals with Muslims in America.

Right now, counterradicalization in the U.S. largely depends on law enforcement — on things like FBI outreach to Muslim communities. The sheer volume of homegrown terrorism cases in the U.S. over the past two years makes clear that isn't enough, Neumann says.

"One of the important things about counterradicalization is that about perhaps 10 percent of it is law enforcement and intelligence, 90 percent of it are things that have relatively little to do with that," he says. "Counterradicalization also has to include things like politicians visiting Muslim communities, messaging" and beefing up education about Islam among Muslims themselves, so they can better resist radical recruiters.

How Wiktorowitz will apply what he learned in Britain here is unclear. His first official day of work at the White House is Monday.

'Jewish-Muslim ties in Maghreb were good despite Nazis'

2011-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

By GIL SHEFLER
01/24/2011
Jerusalem Post

When Nazi Germany’s Afrika Korps invaded Tunisia in 1942, panic quickly spread among members of the local Jewish community, many of whom packed their belongings and fled to the countryside, fearing persecution.

Dr. Haim Saadon of the Hebrew University recalled, in an interview with the The Jerusalem Post last week, how his parents had to live in hiding until the French colony was liberated by the allies.

“They remember exactly how they left their houses and lived in a little village with Muslims in the country,” Saadon said.

“They had to pay for their accommodation but they were well treated there.”

Relatively good ties between Jews and Muslims in North Africa during World War II stand in stark contrast to the treatment of their coreligionists by gentiles in Europe at the same time and is the central theme of the English-language lecture Saadon is scheduled to deliver at the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem on Tuesday, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Whereas in Europe Jews were hunted down by locals – in Lithuania the Jewish community was almost annihilated by nationalist militias without the Nazis lifting a finger – the Jews of North Africa were for the most part left unharmed by Muslims.

“There was no violence towards Jews during the war from Muslims,” he said.

“Even between 1911 when Libya was occupied by the Italians, until 1943, there was a lot of tension between the Italians and the Jews, but the Jews were relatively on good terms with the Muslims...

Hussam Ayloush Official Blog

The video that got me banned from the "ArabCalendar" group. Who fears the truth?

Pres. Assad& his people

Posted by: "Ghassan H.Elias" ibn3akkar@yahoo.com

Wed Jan 11, 20121:23 pm (PST)

فضيحة المسيرة المؤيدة الحاشدةالمليونية في ساحة الأمويين والمجرم بشار الأسد يلقي كلمته 11 1 2012

Time to challenge political hypocrisy about and in the M.E.

Lowe's faces backlash over pulling ads from 'All-American Muslim'

Newt Gingrich may be able to occupy Palestine, but Israel can't

From his grave, Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish responds to Newt Gingrich's anti-Palestinian bigotry

Jon Stewart: Introducing a New Jewish Holiday (video)

Thursday December 8, 2011

The Matzorian Candidate

At the Republican Jewish Coalition forum, Jews commemorate the miracle of incredibly religious Christian presidential candidates fighting over who loves Jews more.

Wadah Khanfar: Those who support democracy must welcome the rise of political Islam

Are Muslims allowed rights? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Khutbah: A Muslim Response to Conspiracy Theories

And the winner for the least desired US government job is...

Libya's Pharaoh Has Fallen

Ayloush Rebukes Calif. Councilman Who Named Dog 'Muhammad'

Bill O'Reilly Pins the Head of SJC Councilman Reeve for Naming Family Dog MuhammadOC Weekly ArticleBigotry or Free Speech in San Juan Capistrano?Councilman Derek Reeve Criticized For Muhammad Remark (Huffington Post)

Dead Poets Society Lied: What the Movies Don't Teach You About Student Resistance (on Irvine11)

New Evidence of Anti-Islam Bias Underscores Deep Challenges for FBI’s Reform Pledge

Khutbah: "The Best Jihad: Challenging Injustice"

Dangerous Lessons in Islamophobia at the FBI (MUST READ)

FBI Trainer Says Forget ‘Irrelevant’ al-Qaida, Target Islam (video)

New Documents Reveal FBI’s Islamophobic Counterterrorism Training

Ayloush commenting on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (NBC Los Angeles)

Fighting the Muslim Backlash

After 9/11, Muslim leaders found themselves trying to explain their faith and the campaign continues today.

By Vikki Vargas; Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - NBC Los Angeles

Best way to thank America's workers...

Ayloush Condemns Noose Hanging at OC Labor Federation Office

A Video Tribute to the Arab Spring

Sikh man claims to be FBI informant, deported over cough medicine

Locked Up Abroad—for the FBI

The Informants

Terror Probes Have FBI's Informant Numbers Soaring (NPR)

The Syrian Revolution for Freedom - (The best english video)

Did U.S. trade freedom for security after 9/11? (AFP)

Meet the FBI's new arsenal in recruiting informants: Operation Flex for Sex

Norwegian Muslish Gunman's Islam-Esque Atrocity (Colbert Nation)

Three important lessons from the Norway terrorist attack

Blaming Muslims - yet again (Aljazeera)

Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S. (NY Times)

Michael Savage blames Muslims for the Norway attack and rants his bigotry at Muslims

The most enlightened 6 minutes on YouTube. You must watch

Thom Hartmann: The 10 DAY manhunt for a known terrorist ignored by media

Who are American Muslims? (video)

We are American, We are You, We are CAIR

Rep. Mike Honda: Muslim hearings recall my life in internment camp

My Fellow American

Islamic Banking, a Market with U.S. Potential, Hampered by Politics (American Banker)

Hamza El Khatib story on CNN's AC360 5/30/2011

Showing 'the face of Islam'

63 Years of Nakba (short video)

Robert Scheer's Column: A Monster of Our Own Creation

CAIR Welcomes Elimination of Osama Bin Laden Threat

Bin Laden's death a fresh start, Muslims hope

Daily Show: At great personal risk, John Oliver witnesses Muslims praying in a church's all-purpose room (Funny)

CAIR-MI Rep Defends Free Speech Rights, even for Pastor Terry Jones

How it Became Acceptable to Publicly Reveal Bias Against Muslims in America

Khutbah/Sermon: Understanding and Defending "The Shariah" - by: Hussam Ayloush

Ayloush: Condemn hateful rhetoric against Muslims (OC Register)

An Islamic Call to Action in Support of America’s Workers

In support of recent US military involvement: Let’s Stand against Gadhafi, We owe it to Libyans

Muslim leader censures radical (OC Register)

CAIR-LA Executive Director Addresses Villa Park City Council

Video: Californians Protest Hate Speech Against Muslims (Press TV)

Muslim supporters protest Villa Park councilwoman (OC Register)

KPFK report: Rally to Stop Islamophobia

April 4th Day of Action to support America's workers

Jewish prayer ritual alarms Alaska Airlines crew

The Daily Show on the King's Hearing

The Colbert Report on the King's Hearing (video)

Daily Show: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sharia?

Peter King may have ties to the IRA, but he believes that Muslim Americans should be investigated for failing to denounce terrorist organizations.

(CAIR-LA video on the Yorba Linda anti-Muslim hate shown)

Rep. Allen West: The Enemy Is Islam

Stand Together: Rabbis Speak out against Islamophobia

Bill O'Reilly Pins the Head of SJC Councilman Reeve for Naming Family Dog Muhammad
OC Weekly Article
Bigotry or Free Speech in San Juan Capistrano?
Councilman Derek Reeve Criticized For Muhammad Remark (Huffington Post)