Posted on 05/04/2006 12:32:26 PM PDT by Interesting Times
On April 29th, 2006, America's Truth Forum presented a symposium titled, The Underlying Roots Of Terrorism: Terrorism's Threat to World Peace & National Security at the Doubletree Hotel Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. These are notes taken at the event by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler.
Jeff Epstein, President of America’s Truth Forum, began by thanking the veterans in the room and noting the work of Frank Salvato, editor of The New Media Journal, who runs America’s Truth Forum web site and produces the group’s Terrorism Update Newsletter.
Epstein said that the Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has interviewed Osama Bin Laden twice after 9/11 – the only such interviews. 12-15 days ago, Mir told ATF that Bin Laden was about to release a tape on Al-Jazeera. That occurred earlier this week, despite Congressman Curt Weldon’s recent claim that OBL is dead. At a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday ATF announced Mir’s report that OBL claims to have nuclear weapons forward deployed in the U.S., and is waiting for a US/Israeli attack on Iran to order their use. Weapons are tactical nukes. Epstein said that much of Pakistan and Afghanistan is currently under Al Qaeda control. Mir is said to be “depressed” about the likelihood of possible nuclear strikes on the U.S.
Per UPI journalist Richard Sales, the Israelis captured a Pakistani 3 or 4 years ago attempting to get into Israel with a “dirty bomb.” In his next article, Sales said the weapon was actually tactical nuke with a plutonium core in the 3-10 kiloton range. Epstein said the CIA, Mossad, and sources inside the KGB have confirmed this information.
Epstein said not to trust the MSM for information on this threat. Since 9/11 there have been over 4,000 terrorist attacks around the world by Muslims. Economic and political jihad. The source of the problem is the Qur’an. The civilized world is at war with Islam.
Brigitte Gabriel spoke of her childhood living as a Christian in Lebanon. She said, “In Lebanon, we had open borders. We had multiculturalism. We believed in diversity… but the Muslims had different plans.” Once they became the majority, they declared jihad on Christians. Her family, which had been quite well off, had to live in a lightless cellar, coming out at night to get water. “The Muslims consider us infidel. That’s why they want to kill us.” Media wrongly reported the conflict as a civil war. “Only Israel understood the evil we were fighting.” She moved there at age 20 and became a journalist. 35 hostages have been beheaded in Iraq since Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg, but the media rarely reports it. “The Arabs are fed poison against the infidel with their mothers’ milk.” The same thing is happening in the mosques in the U.S.
Sample literature provided to U.S. mosques by Saudi sources: instructs them to hate Americans for our religion, to oppose us in every way, and tells them that democracy is responsible for all the wars in the 20th century. That it is the duty of every Muslim to impose Islamic government. The Hamas Charter says that the Masons, Lions’ Clubs, etc., are spy organizations to be destroyed. Lists Hamas locations around U.S. (dozens).
Dr. Babu Suseelan provided a Hindu perspective on Islam. Said that the Qur’an indoctrinates violence and has for centuries. What kind of religion is this, that cuts your throat while saying “Allahu Akbar?” Describes Islam as a “closed paradigm” from the 7th century. Notes that the free world defeated communism by breaking its closed paradigm. Says the Islamic leaders use drugs as a means of control. No fear, no remorse, no guilt, no empathy for victims. ‘They blame their victims.” They are not misguided; they are interpreting the Qur’an correctly. Waste of money to spend it supporting “democracy.” There is no freedom and no democracy under Islam. Democracy is the will of the majority. Islam is the will of Allah. We must help them escape from their system. “Tolerance of intolerance is a pathology.” Concerned about a possible nuclear Pak / Iran / China bloc. Advocates banning or modifying the Qur’an (unhappy sounds from audience). Wants to stop immigration from all Muslim countries and prevent the conversion of prisoners to Islam. Says Louis Farrakhan is recruiting criminals in U.S. prisons using Saudi money. More at www.iaifusa.org.
Dr. Andrew Bostom is the author of The Legacy of Jihad, a compendium of writings, both modern and ancient, on the uniquely Islamic institution of jihad. Describes jihad and dhimmitude. Jihad: waging war against unbelievers. Dhimmitude: the Qur’an states that infidels must pay poll tax or be put to the sword. Ongoing annual payments are required to defer jihad. Dhimmis must submit to Islamic law, wear an identifying patch and exhibit subservient behavior. Jihad and dhimmitude are institutionalized as permanent features of Sharia law. (TZ note: this provides justification for economic warfare against the West). Inherent corruption. Baksheesh – bribery – is being used to corrupt U.S. and European politicians. Corruption is systemic.
Robert Spencer has studied Islam for more than 20 years, and is Director of Jihadwatch.org. Author of several books on Islam, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Raises the issue of moderate Muslim -- what is a moderate Muslim? Where do we find one? Notes that after 9/11 we were told that most Muslims shared our values and deplored the killing. Media hasn’t had much success finding examples of that viewpoint to present to the public. Mentions Kamal Nawash of Free Muslims Against Terror as a rare example. Says the best definition of a moderate Muslim is one who is not setting off a bomb – at the moment! Media suggests that the Council on American Islamic Relations is a “moderate” group. Five leaders of CAIR are now in jail. How is it they were unable to distinguish between moderates and radicals?
Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR wants to the U.S. become Muslim “through peaceful means.” He shares the same goal as Osama Bin Laden – just differs in means of implementing it. Both want hegemony of Islamic law and subjugation of non-Muslims through discrimination in the U.S. -- Sharia law. CAIR gives sensitivity training to FBI and other law enforcement agencies on how to deal with Muslims. LEOs should be watching CAIR, not learning from them.
The options available to infidels -- conversion, subjugation or war -- are rooted in the words of the Qur’an. Regarding the statement that Islam is a ‘religion of peace’: “It is abundantly clear that the opposite is true.” Doctrine and theology not only of warfare, but also of deception, in order to facilitate the spread of Islam. Aims at hiding the real goals and nature of Islam. Qur’an calls Jews “apes” and “pigs” and says they are “accursed of God.” Nobody knows this.
On the riots over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. Asks, “Why the outrage?” Hasn’t Bin Laden given a greater outrage to Islam than the cartoonists if he is really “hijacking Islam?” The opposite is true. Why should they protest what they all believe?
Are all Muslims terrorists? No – there is a wide range of practices in all religions.
“Moderate Muslims” have no way to make a case for peaceful coexistence on equal terms with non-Muslims, based on the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. Muslim “extremists” are the ones who reject jihad and the subjugation of infidels.
These truths can’t be spoken in the MSM and are denied by our government and law enforcement agencies. Jihad wars are therefore reported as ethnic conflicts.
When there are free elections in Muslim countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine – the proponents of Islamic law always win. Afghani constitution incorporated Islamic law.
You can’t have a free society in which people of different faiths can live together and allow Islamic law. We cannot allow Sharia law in the constitution of Iraq. To do otherwise is suicidal for the West, starting in Europe. Sharia law is the enemy.
Whalid Shoebat is a former PLO terrorist who converted to Christianity after extensive religious study in the U.S. He now realizes that everything he was taught about Jews and the West was a lie, and is working to enlighten his former enemies about Islam.
Jihad has nothing to do with the “occupation of Palestine” but with the nature of Islam. Shoebat once told a BBC correspondent who pressed the point, by way of explanation, “when I was a Muslim fundamentalist, I wouldn’t have minded whacking your head off your shoulders.”
Says that for his mother, marrying into Islam was like entering the Hotel California: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” Islamic males may marry Christian and Jewish women, but if an Islamic woman marries a Christian or Jew, “honor killing” by her relatives is permitted.
Asks how many attendees have heard of the Damour massacre (of hundreds of Lebanese Christians by Palestinian terrorists under Arafat in 1976). We live in a crazy world – the terrorist Arafat got billions of dollars and the Nobel Peace Prize. Out of 55 Muslim states, not one is signatory to the Hague Convention. Do Indians blow themselves up “as a result of poverty?” “We were recruited in the mosques.”
The Israelis shoot first and ask questions later, but America even helps its enemies. We forced Israel to allow Arabs to vote – so they elect Hamas. “Democracy has spoken in the Middle East.” The Kuwaitis, saved by the U.S. in the first Gulf war, are not grateful; they now fund Hamas.
Never trust Muslim spokesmen. Find out what they say to their own people in their own language. What makes America different it its Judeo-Christian heritage. “You shall not bear false witness.” Lose this, and everything else comes apart.
As they parade in the streets of Ramallah carrying body parts of those killed by PLO terrorists, the people chant, “We knock on the doors of Heaven with the skulls of Jews.”
The problem is the rise of terrorist state-nations. Islamic fundamentalism is a cancer, and we have to stop it.
Dr. Paul Williams is a journalist and former consultant to the FBI who is the author of Al Queda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse, and a newly released book, The Dunces of Doomsday.
“The enemy consists of at least 50 Million terrorists. The enemy is not fringe elements of Islam – the enemy IS Islam.” OBL purchased highly enriched uranium from Praetoria in 1992. The cancelled check of that transaction is available. In 1998, German authorities arrested Mamdouh Salim, an OBL associate, and charged him with trying to obtain HE uranium from the former Soviet Union. OBL purchased at least 20 suitcase nukes from former Soviet Military. OBL has also acquired at least 28 kilos of HE uranium.
Says that Eliza Butler, former head of MI-5 in Britain reported that in 2000 2 British agents in Afghanistan saw nuclear weapons under construction. Says U.S. troops found a canister of cesium after the Taliban fell, and a manual titled, “The Super Bomb” -- a plan for of the most sophisticated plutonium devices ever made public.
In Oct. 2001, a Pakistani terror agent was arrested trying to enter Israel with a backpack device. Jeff Epstein has confirmation from U.S, British and Israeli intelligence services that it was not a “radiological device” but a 10-kiloton tactical nuke. According to the journalist Hamid Mir, Bin Laden tested nuclear devices in 2000. America’s Truth Forum broke this story at the National Press Club on Friday (April 28), but the MSM ignored it, despite the fact that Mir was the source for Williams’ interview in WorldNetDaily that accurately predicted a new OBL tape and terror attacks in Northern Africa.
Hamid Mir: “If I was right about that tape, tell these people in Washington, for God’s sake, Osama Bin Laden has deployed nuclear weapons and they are on your soil.”
Says that Time and The Nation have both reported that nuclear devices developed by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan had been forwarded to the Central American organized crime group MS-13 for deployment in the U.S. OBL visited South America in 1996 and planted Al Qaeda cells.
Williams says that he was a regular guest on Fox News a couple of years ago, but then a Saudi invested heavily in the network, and Fox quit inviting him and “sold out.”
Q: Motivation of Mir, OBL in putting this out – possible disinformation? A: There is proof OBL has nukes. V.P. Cheney said in a campaign speech (in 2004?) that a nuclear attack from AQ is “imminent.”
Q: Can you comment on recent Chirac statement on retaliating after nuclear attacks? A: AQ is primarily at war with the U.S., not Europe. OBL received a fatwa from clerics in Saudi: “You are entitled to use nuclear weapons against the U.S because 10 million Americans must die.”
Q: Has this information been provided to agencies of the U.S. gvt.? Response? A: Bureaucratic disinterest.
Q: Comment on Dr. A.Q. Khan? A: Real culprit was the Pakistani AOC that developed the weapons. These scientists met with AQ on a regular basis.
Laura Mansfield, author and counter-terror analyst, uses her Arabic language skills and in-depth knowledge of Islamic culture and history to investigate jihadis. She says there is heavy recruitment going on in U.S. mosques and elementary schools, and played an audio tape from a Seattle mosque recorded in 2005, urging support of the Fallujah “resistance.” There is also a widespread mandate to promote “tolerance’ of Islam in public elementary schools. Mosques are offering free childcare, and have outreach programs that target Hispanics. Jihadis are on MySpace.com – in fact, one of the top 100 songs on MySpace advocates Sharia law in the U.S. (it sounds like a knockoff the “Stray Cat Strut”). Her information is that “lily whites” will be used as tools of the U.S. jihad.
Web site: LauraMansfield.com
Joe Kaufman writes for FrontPage Magazine and is chairman of Americans Against Hate. He also hosts the Politics of Terrorism radio show.
America’s Links to Overseas Terror – In January 2004 the Senate Finance Committee launched an investigation into 25 Muslim charities and organizations, asking the IRS for their records as part of an investigation into possible links to NGO’s and terrorists. Many were subsequently closed down. Unfortunately, major “mainstream” U.S. Muslim organizations outside the scope of this investigation are connected to the “Muslim Brotherhood” founded by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928. He drew connections between the MB and Al-Jamiya Al Islamia (1973), which became violent in 1987, founding Hamas to launch the Intifada. Al Qaeda came from Hamas. The PLO is controlled by Hamas in Damascus (not Gaza). Another MB-affiliated group, the Islamic Association of Palestine (1981-2005) is connected to CAIR. CAIR was created to defend the Blind Shiekh against charges that he orchestrated the bombing of the WTC in 1993. He listed several CAIR principals who have been convicted or deported.
Some 30% of mosques in the U.S. are controlled by the Islamic Society of North America. Here’s how they function:
1) The Muslim Student Association creates an off-campus Islamic Center. 2) The ISNA offers the Islamic Center a new mosque, with the condition that it must accept an ISNA imam from overseas. 3) Central funding is provided from Saudi Arabia.
No mosque in the U.S. has ever been shut down, not even the ones directly associated with terrorism.
Web site: AmericansAgainstHate.com.
Dr. Bruce Tefft was a founding member of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center in 1985, and has more than 30 years experience in foreign affairs, intelligence, security operations and counter-terrorism. He has trained more than 12,000 LEOs and first responders, and has served as NYPD’s counter-terrorism and intelligence advisor since 9/11.
Islam is an ideology, not a religion. Its reason for existing is to destroy and replace Judaism and Christianity, which it regards as failed religions. Jews were God’s chosen religion - fell out of favor and God sent Christ. 500 years later – God sends Mohammed because He is dissatisfied with Christians. The best defense against Islam is education.
Rosters captured from AQ training camps in Afghanistan show that some 77,000 – 120,000 terrorists were trained there. So far, about 3,000 AQ have been killed or captured. “We’re not winning this war.” Political correctness is a problem: the EU doesn’t allow the use of “Islam” and “terror” in the same sentence. Terrorism is not an enemy it is a method. One cannot make war on a method.
Bin Laden’s personal fortune is $300 million. Each of the 17 children in OBL’s family inherited the same $300 million. So far, the West has frozen about $150 million in terrorist funds. AQ yearly budget is about $13 million.
On 9/11/2002 nearly all Muslims worldwide celebrated 9/11. Every act of international terrorism since The Third Global Jihad began (in 1979 in Tehran) has had a direct or indirect Iranian connection. Since 1995 an annual conference has been held in Tehran to discuss terror tactics and strategy. There has also been a decline in internecine violence between Sunnis and Shiites during this time (truce). Iran has been hosting OBL’s son, favorite wife and grandson in Iran since 2005. Dr. Teft believes OBL is also in Iran.
There are over 50 jihadist groups with more than 200,000 troops, all aligned with AQ. 5,000 – 15,000 hard core. Roper poll said 40-45% of all Muslims support OBL.
40% of Qur’an is gibberish. The rest is contradictory. Religious elements taken largely from OT and Jewish scripts & existing pagan practices. Political aspects cobbled together as expedient to Mohammed’s personal requirements – Mohammed’s “Mein Kampf.” The text is non-chronological. The “peaceful relationship” stuff is early. As Mohammed gained power, that went away. By the end of the Qur’an infidels must “convert or die.” Of 114 chapters in the Qur’an, 26 deal with jihad, “holy war” or fighting. Mohammed himself was a pedophile who ordered the murder of at least 25 people. He also had 900 prisoners beheaded and their heads piled before him.
It is the duty of all Muslims to accept the Qur’an as the literal word of God. Not “inspired by God” as many believe of the Bible, but the actual words of God. Qur’an divides the world into the “House of Islam” and the “House of War.” Adherents believe that we are minions of Satan.
In 200 years, Islam conquered more territory than the Roman Empire did in 2,000. There are 1.3 – 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide – about the same as the number of Christians.
Saudis: $10 billion per year into mosques around the world since 1995.
A 179 page manual found in a Manchester, England jihadi training center describes best methods of killing, torture, poison, etc. All formulas and techniques are correct.
Dr. Tefft believes that three major waves of attacks were planned on the U.S.: 1) 9/11, 2) a biological or chemical attack, and 3) a nuclear attack. He says there are indications that the jihadis may be reconsidering step #2, and working to go directly to a nuclear strike. Zawahiri stated that a “nuclear attack is the only way to kill Americans.”
Dr. Harvey Kushner, author of Holy War on the Home Front, is a noted author, lecturer, professor and internationally recognized authority on terrorism. He provides training to numerous government agencies, including the FBI, FAA, INS, and Customs, and is a frequent guest on major TV networks.
Terrorism requires funding. The Saudis provide a considerable amount, but much is also raised right here – approximately $2 billion per year. Few LEOs are aware of this.
Khat is cultivated as a cash crop throughout the horn of Africa. It is illegal in the U.S. but legal in the U.K. Khat is usually chewed and creates a stimulant effect. Shelf life of the active ingredient, cathinone in fresh Khat is 48 hours. During that time it is a schedule one narcotic. Later, it degrades into a schedule 4 narcotic that is made into tea, etc. In Yemen 40 – 50% of personal income is for the use of khat.
Khat affects the heart, neurological system, digestive tract. Side effects can include irrational violence, hyperactivity, psychosis (see “Black Hawk Down). Distributed in the U.K by Somali males. Started coming into the U.S. via JFK in NY in the ‘90s. Now arrives at Logan, O’Hare, Dulles. Also mailed in overnight. Khat smugglers are mostly British, Portuguese, Dutch (don’t fit the M.E. profile). Legal Aid attorneys who defend them are linked to a law firm in Atlanta (wouldn’t say which one).
A spreadsheet of all known Khat smugglers shows this pattern: they’re offered about $1,000 to take two suitcases from Heathrow to the U.S. on Virgin Air, report to an assigned hotel and leave the bags. Currently about $1.5 - $2 million street value in khat is stopped each month at JFK alone. Believes they get about 10%-15% - the tip of a big iceberg. Since 2003 there have been 3082 incidents involving couriers at JFK and Newark totaling 74,000 pounds. Packages intercepted in 44 events at JFK add another 26,000 pounds.
Dr. Kushner estimates that between $1.5 and $2.5 billion in khat smuggling into the U.S. occurs per year. The first conviction, of four smugglers, was obtained last month.
Chemists are also working on manufacturing the active ingredient in khat in pill form. This would be an analogue to crack cocaine, but far cheaper at about $40-$60 per week.
David Horowitz is President of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (Frontpage Magazine) and a best-selling author and editor. Horowitz, a former radical leftist, has become a crusader against the corrosive effects of leftist thought on American culture. He is the author of Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left.
Comments on the new Zawahiri tape in which he describes the U.S. war in Iraq as a disaster and says the American war effort has been broken – sounds like a DNC press release. There is no greater factor shaping and deciding this war than the fifth column at home. Leftists want to replay their success against U.S. interests during the Vietnam War. Vietnam is also the model for Zawahiri and OBL -- we break the Americans’ will to fight by killing Americans. If you want to talk about a political coup de etat, Watergate was it. The first act of the Watergate class of Congress was to cut off military and political support for SE Asia. The result of our withdrawal: 2 ½ million killed. The American Left is proud of what they did. Every enemy of the U.S. understands this. Every enemy counts on it.
Every war is a psychological and political war. In Vietnam, a major factor was the successful attempt by John Kerry and others to define our troops as war criminals.
The link between the Western left and the Islamofascists was first formed in Palestine.
Modern Islamic jihad begin with Jimmy Carter’s presidency.
The NY Times is playing the same role as they did during Vietnam: Daniel Ellsburg’s release of the Pentagon Papers was a violation of the law. Same thing for Mary McCarthy’s leaks from the CIA. The purpose is to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the U.S. Joe Wilson’s lies about President Bush, taken up by Democrats such as John Edwards (16 words) provide an immense service to the terrorists.
It is counterintuitive that Islamic fundamentalists ally with the American Left when they hate gays, women – despise women. However, both groups look on America as the Great Satan – the worst imperialist power. Leftists see themselves as social redeemers. Chomsky: we must destroy the power of the U.S. Leftists fear Jerry Falwell more than Zawahiri – it’s not rational.
Radical Islam is the sickest culture we have ever encountered, and the American Left supports it. That’s why the Democratic Party cannot be trusted with national security.
AQ is waiting for the next presidential election… there’s no way that Islam could be the kind of threat it is if not for the Left in the U.S.
Why do Palestinian fascists have any U.S. support at all when their stated agenda is to kill the Jews? Arafat was under control of KGB agents in Albania. They told him to present the PLO as a national liberation movement, as was done with the communist takeover of South Vietnam.
Find a way to separate the liberals from the leftists, or we’re going to lose this war.
I.T.
A "we report, you decide" ping...
Rather thought provoking summation. Thanks. I found information on Khat quite interesting. Gota keep em drugged up to do crazy things. Build courage comes to mind.
FYI - I highly recommend the book "While Europe Slept," by Bruce Bawer. Bawer is a gay, liberal Democrat, who moved to Europe several years ago and was appalled by European capitulation to radical Islam. Coming from a liberal, it is a scathing critique of the European elites who are routinely praised by American liberals. This book should be on everyone's "must read" list. Also in Europe, he gained a new appreciation of America.
BTTT
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Thanks for the ping.
Excellent report. Thanks to you and The Shrew for taking the time to compile these notes and post them here.
You're quite welcome.
Guys, do you now think that my old CPAC bumper sticker was accurate?....LOL
Nolo contendere.
thanks
Thanks for the report! We webcast the debate and press conference, but Jeff decided to make CD's of the symposium so we reclined on that duty.
Great work!!! Thanks so much for taking the notes and for pinging me!!!! ;)
bump
That's what we heard -- I was surprised to learn you weren't broadcasting the event live. Is there still a live link to the Richard Miniter / Paul Williams debate?
Posts like yours make all the typing worthwhile.
Thanks for posting.
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