http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/208710,dst_planehoax_112.article
Chicago-bound flight grounded by bomb threat
Authorities: Call was a hoax
January 12, 2007
By John Seewer The Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio — A bomb threat that halted a commuter plane shortly before it was to take off with 33 people on board this morning appears to have been a hoax, authorities said.
No explosives were found on the American Eagle plane, authorities said.
Authorities had believed a passenger from the plane reported the threat in a cell phone call to 911 about 10:30 a.m., but FBI spokesman Scott Wilson said officials had determined the call did not come from the plane.
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Secretly filmed: Dr Ijaz Mian calls for the destruction of British institutions
"one worshipper told us: 'Please don't think that Mr Latif is alone in what he says. In many mosques, whether they are in the suburbs or the towns or the cities, there are imams (Islamic clerics) just like him giving powerful speeches which are turning Muslim worshippers against this country.
'The preachers say that Christians, the Jews and other religions will always be the enemy. A whole generation of young Muslims is being brainwashed into believing such inflammatory things,' the middle-aged professional man who is a devout follower of Islam told us."
http://uppompeii.blogspot.com/2007/01/and-still-they-preach-poison.html
Front page of the Atlanta Sunday newspaper...
A symbol of faith, a chance to teach
By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/14/07
Sept. 11th's stamp on Islam stared Khalid Siddiq in the face: two little words — "Get out" — spray painted on a wooden board and thrown on the construction site of a mosque rising on 14th Street.
The graffiti landed with a thud, but no one left. The refurbishing efforts continued at al-Farooq Masjid, and a year later glistening copper domes and a towering minaret vie for eye space with Midtown's modern skyscrapers.
The towering al-Farooq Masjid becomes a statement for Islam and a venue for outreach to other faiths.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Saeed Raees (left), a Muslim businessman in Atlanta, says he and his family have avoided drawing attention to their Islamic beliefs. Now they want to tell others about their faith. Next to Raees are daughter Madiha, 19, son Osamah, 14, and wife Afshan.
That the skyline now includes Islam is a milestone in itself; its metaphorical presence even greater in a time when followers want to go from shielding their faith to encouraging their non-Muslim brethren to take notice.
"This is the focal point of our community," said Siddiq, an endocrinologist and director of al-Farooq, the city's oldest and largest mosque.
Siddiq recently stood under the foundation for a ceiling high above an octagonal prayer hall. By year's end, more than 1,500 worshippers will profess their faith in Allah here. They hope the mosque will help bridge the crater of suspicion created after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 34 percent of Americans believe all Muslims are sympathetic to the al-Qaida terrorist group.
Such perceptions prompted Muslim Atlantans to recoil in fear after 9/11, but many said they now feel compelled to speak out, to honor and preserve their traditions. One place they intend to do it is at the 14th Street mosque.
"This is extremely important for coming generations," Siddiq said. "They need symbols of our faith."
A child suffers
Sept. 11, 2001, profoundly altered daily life for Saeed Raees and his family.
It shocked Raees, president of the Atlanta biotech firm AnaGen Technologies, that his youngest son Osamah's friend stopped coming by their house. "What happened to us in New York — you guys did it," Raees recalled the 9-year-old saying to Osamah.
The family discussed changing Osamah's name.
"It's a beautiful name. Unfortunately one stupid guy ruined it for us," Raees said, referring to terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden.
But Osamah Raees refused to be called anything else. He is proud of his namesake, the son of a slave dearly loved by the prophet Mohammed.
Saeed Raees, who drives to al-Farooq for prayers every Friday, told strangers that he was from India, rather than Pakistan, to avoid suspicion. At work, he knew the biggest government grants were in bio-terrorism, but he shied away after hearing that Muslim-owned firms never receive such money.
Not wanting uninvited trouble, he asked his wife Afshan and daughter Madiha to abandon their hijabs, the head coverings worn by some Muslim women.
"It was uncomfortable," said Afshan, who had worn a hijab all her adult life. To stop, she said, was "a necessary evil."
She is a software programmer who has found she is more successful in job interviews if she appears with her head uncovered.
"I can understand why there is apprehension," she said. "It's about security, isn't it?"
"People are scared of the unknown," interjected her husband. "We have lived here more or less in a cocoon. Our neighbors don't know what Islam is, and that is wrong."
Al-Farooq's $10 million face lift will make it the largest mosque in the Southeast and provide a venue for critical outreach to non-Muslim neighbors.
The mosque will include a place for dawa, an Arabic term that means "invitation," to facilitate interfaith interaction. A mezzanine floor, still under construction, will allow non-Muslims to observe prayers being said below.
Saeed Raees thinks Muslims should engage in dialogue. He spoke recently at an Alpharetta synagogue about his faith and has invited the rabbi to do the same at a nearby mosque.
National polls indicate large numbers of Americans profess never having known a Muslim. Respondents who say they are acquainted with Muslims generally respond more favorably to questions about Islam.
"We needed to have built these bridges a long time ago," Raees said. "We are paying the price for that."
From fear to pride
If 9/11 changed the pulse of America, it also reshaped the perspective of Muslims, particularly younger ones reaching adulthood amid negativity about Islam.
Every time he watches the news about another terrorist incident, Isam Rashied, 18, cringes and prays that the perpetrators are not Muslims.
He says he, more than his parents, recognizes Muslims need to mix in the community.
His father, Khalid Rashied, a textile and sporting goods importer from Duluth, sent his all five of his children to the Islamic school at al-Farooq, which runs to the eighth grade.
Like their father, Isam and his older brother Imaad, 19, pray five times a day. They say that despite peer pressure, they don't drink alcohol in accordance with Islam. But they are glad they attended public school from ninth grade on.
Rashied's sons describe themselves as tea-sipping Southerners who don't care much to visit Pakistan, the country their father left behind 38 years ago. They say that Muslim families, much to their detriment, can be insular. Some even consider the American way of life immoral and shelter themselves from their surroundings, they note.
"I say to the adults, 'Why don't you go out there and mingle?' " said Isam, a junior at Duluth High School. "Does your mayor know there are Muslims in the community?'"
He said productive discussions about Islam would have never taken place in his classes if he had not been at his school.
Imaad, a freshman at the University of Georgia, also challenges Muslims to break down the walls.
"Parents don't realize how important it is for their kids to have non-Muslim friends," he said. "People really closed themselves in after 9/11."
'Time is a great healer'
Siddiq, director of the al-Farooq mosque, believes some laws and regulations adopted since Sept. 11, designed to combat potential acts of terror, have helped institutionalize discrimination against Muslims.
"Time is a great healer," he said. "The intensity of reactions has decreased, but we are seeing the effects of discrimination. In some ways it has become more acceptable and legally correct to suspect Muslims."
Khalid Rashied, the Duluth businessman, was detained twice in no man's land between the United States and Canada. He had a Muslim name, a rental car and no business cards.
He used to think the United States was the best country in the world in which to be Muslim. Now, he feels vulnerable.
"I was treated like a terrorist. For what reason?" he said.
Muslims worry that the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories further color American perceptions.
In Georgia, opinions were not helped by the arrest last spring of two Muslim men from Atlanta — Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee — in a federal terrorism case.
The North Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported 18 incidents of discrimination and harassment against Muslims in 2006, one a hate crime.
"It's a difficult environment," said Yusof Burke, director of the local CAIR chapter. "We feel we are under the microscope."
Born in upstate New York, Burke grew up in a white, Irish Catholic household and defies the stereotype of a Muslim. He converted to Islam in 1996 to marry a Muslim and worships at the Gwinnett County branch of the al-Farooq mosque.
50 nations represented
Burke said bias against Muslims in Georgia has taken on a new form since 2001. Immediately after Sept. 11, he heard accusations of racial profiling involving law enforcement officers. Now, Burke said, the complaints have more to do with employment discrimination or disparaging comments.
Worshippers hope the new 14th Street mosque — where on Fridays it's not unusual to see 1,000 faithful from 50 different nations — will help exemplify Islam in the United States.
Raees, the Alpharetta businessman, said the Midtown mosque will at least answer the question his son Osamah posed once as they drove past Perimeter Church, an impressive structure just down the road from their home.
"When will we have a masjid like this?" Osamah asked.
At the time, Raees did not have a good answer.
"I don't want them to be lost," he said of his children. "I don't want them to not know what Islam is."
Staff writer Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/01/14/0114metmuslim.html
Russia asks Britain for permission to interview more than 100 people in spy poisoning case
MOSCOW – Moscow has asked Britain for permission to interview more than 100 people in connection with the poisoning death of a former KGB agent, a top Russian prosecutor was quoted as saying Friday.
Russia sent the request to Britain's Home Office, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev told the official newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta. He declined to name the people Russia wanted to interview, and it was unclear if any were considered suspects. The Home Office declined to comment.
http://www.signonsandiego.com:80/news/world/20070112-1412-russia-poisonedspy.html
Al-Qaeda predicts US defeat
13/01/2007 21:28 - (SA)
Dubai - The Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda predicted on Saturday the "defeat" of US military forces in Iraq, in its first reaction to US President George W Bush's new strategy to end the ongoing conflict.
In a statement posted on the internet, it said Bush's change of tack - including 21 500 troop reinforcements - "is only a prelude to news of a defeat and a flight from the hell of Iraq".
"Increasing the number of troops will not in any way change the nature of the battle," added the statement, signed by "a spokesperson of the Islamic State of Iraq" - an entity declared by al-Qaeda in Iraq in mid-October.
"Reinforcements in the past had no effect and did not swing the battle in favour of the Crusaders."
The statement was seen by AFP on Islamist websites, but there was no way to firmly establish its authenticity.
Al-Qaeda is the global Islamist militant network led by Osama bin Laden.
It is held responsible for the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 that prompted the Bush administration to launch its transnational "war on terror".
In a recording posted on the internet in mid-December, the head of an al-Qaeda-dominated group in Iraq offered to give US troops a month to withdraw without fear of attack.
Saturday's statement said the Islamic State of Iraq was "at its best and in good control of the situation".
It continued: "The media frenzy surrounding the security plan for Baghdad and the new Bush strategy will change nothing..."
"The enemy is trying to save face at least in Baghdad; the security plans for Iraq from now on are limited to Baghdad."
Bush's new Iraq strategy, announced on Wednesday in Washington, centres on putting more US troops in Baghdad to wrestle control of the capital from a stubborn insurgency.
It also calls for the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government to assume control of all Iraqi provinces by November or risk losing US support.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki has separately announced a security plan for Baghdad, which is expected to be implemented in the coming days.
http://www.news24.com:80/News24/World/Iraq/0,9294,2-10-1460_2054707,00.html