Seems these caves do connect Texas to Mexico. And the 'cavers' need wetsuits.
Posted on 01/23/2005 3:12:28 AM PST by Calpernia
Mexico may be well on its way to a monotheistic revolution. This new trend is emerging from recent developments, and reflects a similar change evident in other South American nations - people are embracing Islam by the thousands, jettisoning the Catholicism imposed upon their ancestors in Spain.
The prayer congregation has tripled since Mexico City's Centro Cultural Islamico de Mexico (CCIM) first opened its doors 6 years ago. The numbers could be even higher. However, most Mexicans still have almost no knowledge of Islam. CCIM is spreading the Oneness of Allah at all levels of society and translating Islamic publications into Spanish. It also has several native-born active Da'wah graduates from Saudi Arabian universities who speak fluent Arabic. The Center's Islamic public radio program had to be suspended because of financial constraints.
In the last 3 years, CCIM built two new mosques in two cities close to the capital. Its ultimate goal is to establish full-time mosques in every major Mexican city.
Early History
Mexico has a rich history. The people of pre-Columbian Mexico, the Mayans, led a life similar to Native American Indians and were pantheists who relied upon high priests to mediate with their nature gods. Locked in wars and short of food, they gradually were wiped out and replaced by the Aztecs. These people believed in a polytheistic religion based on the world's constant creation and destruction. Their religion taught them that disasters could be averted only through warfarre and human sacrifice. By the sixteenth century, the Aztecs ruled a large part of Mexico.
In the early 1500's, Spanish conquistadors from Cuba and Spain came to pillage Mexico's natural resources - namely gold - and find glory. Cortez, the most infamous conquistador, posed as an Aztec god to mystify and trick people into joining forces with him. He conquered the Aztecs in less than 3 years, and set up "New Spain."
In 1535, the first royal court was established to grant Spanish colonists control over native labor and produce. The Roman Catholic Church allied to the Spanish monarchy, worked for creating a land free of religious dissent and to convert the people. During the 300 years of Spanish rule in Mexico, the colonists controlled all wealth and political power, and the natives had no other choice but to bey orders or to face death.
By the seventeenth century, New Spain had nearly collapsed, and Mexican Indians were dying by the millions from the imported diseases and the hard labor imposed by their oppressors. Out of nearly 11 million people in the 1520's, only less than 1 million remained by the 1550's. The cattle and sheep herds brought by the Spaniards ruined farmlands and depleted water resources, making it almost impossible for the natives to grow food. After enduring plunder and subjugation for centuries, Mexicans revolted and regained control over Mexico in the early 1900's.
Mexico Today
Today, Mexico has over 90 million people, most of whom follow the Catholicism imposed by the conquering Spaniards. However, the foodgates of religious thought have opened, and people are examing other religions - especially Islam.
There is very little knowledge about the origins of Islam in Mexico. Some sources say Syrian immigrants brought it; others say it came with Turkish immigrants.
Today, most Mexican Islamic organizations focus on grassroots Da'wah. These small organizations are most effective at the community level, going from village to village and speaking directly to the people. As a result of such hard work, Mexicans are eager to learn about Islam, and many are declaring their Shahadah - profession of faith in Islam.
People frequently get involved with a religion or ideology not because they believe in it intellectually but because it satisfies them emotionally. Individuals with a grudge against society, or a particular section of society, are often attracted to various radical, destructive ideologies such as some form of leftism or Islam. In Europe, a number of leftists have converted to Islam, the most prominent being Roger Garaudy, a bigwig in the French Communist party. I don't know if he still is a Communist, though.
If and when an alienated individual ever overcomes his alienation, that's the first step towards abandoning his radical beliefs.
Seems these caves do connect Texas to Mexico. And the 'cavers' need wetsuits.
UM, all I did was ping someone.
That's what I thought! ;-] Hehe.
However, let me take this opportunity to be hysterical!!!!! Trading in the Catholic manta for the mohammedan head scarf is not much of a stretch. South Americans have shown a proclivity for authoritarian rule anyway.
I've got so much information stuffed in my head and on this machine, that I'm not sure we won't both blow if I even try to understand something else new about this mess. Tunnels, huh?
Okay.
>>>>>Tunnels, huh?
YUP!
This is in reference to some terror messages we were following over the past few years.
As to whether we interpreted the messages correctly or not...well that is another story.
But the Al Battar, an Arabic e magazine did give instructions for SCUBA diving. And the jihadi message boards had messages that made it sound like tunnels would be used and they had SCUBA divers posted too.
Catholicism IS New Testament Christianity and is the true, Orthodox Biblical church founded by Christ (as opposed to those created by men like Lutherism, Calvinism etc.) and Islam doesn't have a prayer. This article is taken from a Mooselimb website -- those nutters regularly lie about their numbers to fool themselves into believing they are powerful
bump!
I remember the Brit cavers.
Mexico was NOT at all happy that they were there.
Bump
How much of the "influence" is related to the heroin trade issue?
As in, Afghanistan and Mexico are providers of heroin...the "Islam" thing might just be cover or excuse or just rationalization for "increaed community among heroin suppliers."
I highly suspect that the association between Mexico and Islam goes even deeper. Google "Zimmerman Telegram" and just substitute some nations and dates.
Bump! Bump!
This is a continuation of Reagan's War on Drugs.
Osama bin Laden a 'narco-terrorist'
Source: Washington Times
Date: 22 January 2004
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The al Qaeda terror group has embraced heroin trafficking to such an extent that its leader, Osama bin Laden, is now a "narco-terrorist," says a U.S. congressman just back from a fact-finding mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"It seems clear to me heroin is the No. 1 financial asset of Osama bin Laden," Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican, told The Washington Times. "There is a need to update our view of how terrorism is financed.
"And the view of Osama bin Laden relying on Wahhabi donations from abroad is outdated. And the view of him as one of the world's largest heroin dealers is the more accurate, up-to-date view."
Mr. Kirk wants a pronounced shift in how the Bush administration tries to stop al Qaeda funding. Up to now, Washington has focused on bin Laden's traditional sources: Islamic charities and his family fortune.
But the Bush team has choked off much of that flow, forcing bin Laden to adjust. In Afghanistan, bin Laden has the benefit of the world's largest poppy crop, as he evades capture in Pakistan's notorious border areas. He is reaping $24 million alone from one narcotics network in Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to Mr. Kirk's investigation.
The congressman said it is no longer sufficient to go after only the charities and bank accounts. Washington now must fuse counterterrorism and counternarcotics into an inseparable mission.
"The most important thing here is to change the language to not describe Osama bin Laden anymore as a terrorist, but to more accurately describe him as a narco-terrorist," said Mr. Kirk, who sits on the Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, state and judiciary.
Mr. Kirk and his team of House staff investigators spent five days in Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose farm areas once again are sprouting thousands of acres of poppies from which opium and heroin are produced. Hundreds of illicit drug labs have sprung up to process the heroin for shipment to Pakistan.
The al Qaeda-heroin connection is becoming more clear to Washington. The first big break came last month, when Navy ships seized boats concealing large stashes of heroin and operated by crew members linked to al Qaeda. In Afghanistan, Mr. Kirk talked to a variety of sources, including U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, U.S. troops and Afghan counternarcotics officials.
A kilogram of heroin that can fetch $2,000 in Pakistan can get $10,000 in Turkey. That is why al Qaeda has begun sending drug-laden boats into the Arabian Sea: to find more lucrative markets outside Pakistan.
"If he can expand his operation closer and closer to the retail market, he will dramatically increase his profit," Mr. Kirk said.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reluctant to get his troops too deeply involved in the drug wars, aides say. Some Pentagon officials view counternarcotics as predominately a law enforcement duty. In Afghanistan, where the United Nations reports 264,000 poppy-growing families, the U.S. military does not want to alienate citizens whose support it needs for the U.S.-backed government of Hamid Karzai.
Tidbit Ping.
Yep.
You try to discuss the connection between dope and dope money funding terrorism; and dopers and dopey people just smirk.
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