Posted on 12/03/2005 8:53:51 AM PST by Interesting Times
The Georgetown Marriott Conference Center rejected a "terrorism" symposium on the grounds that the sponsoring organization was too controversial and the venue inappropriate for this type of forum. Concurrently, another Marriott Hotel in the Washington area is hosting the Council on American- Islamic Relations' annual conference – and participating as a panelist at the gala will be an alleged coconspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
According to the Georgetown Marriott executives, the decision to reject the event, being hosted by the People's Truth Forum, or PTF, was based upon business considerations: "The event would call for heightened security since protesters might be attracted from both the student body and off campus. These same protesters might block the front entrance leading to confrontations with hotel guests and/or room cancellations."
After researching the matter, the Marriott's corporate office supported the local decision and issued the following statement: "Due to the high density of Muslim students on campus, we're afraid of the potential for violent protests, injured employees and damage to the facility."
According to PTF's president, Jeffrey Epstein, "The People's Truth Forum, a fact-based, non-partisan organization, is dedicated to educating Americans on topics of national security. Controversy and resistance is nothing new to us given our commitment to disseminating 'unpopular' truths."
Epstein added: "Although I don't harbor ill feelings toward the Marriott Corporation for their weak-kneed 'business' decision pertaining to the Georgetown property, I am deeply troubled by the realization that a major American corporation could fear reprisal from enemy sympathizers, within our borders, during a time of war. This situation certainly begs the question as to what degree our national security has already been compromised."
Today, CAIR will host its 11th Annual Banquet at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.
CAIR is a self-proclaimed Muslim advocacy group that has its roots in the Palestinian Hamas. CAIR's parent organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine, was founded by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. CAIR, itself, has had numerous individuals convicted in and/or deported by the United States for terrorist activity. And CAIR is the defendant in a lawsuit put forward by the family of a lead FBI agent for that agent's murder during the September 11 attacks.
CAIR has advertised on its website that it will be featuring Siraj Wahhaj as one of the speakers at the banquet. Wahhaj, an imam at the At-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., is known for having his name on the U.S. attorney's list of potential coconspirators of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Two of the individuals convicted in the bomb plot, Omar Abdel Rahman (the leader of the conspiracy) and Clement Rodney Hampton-El (an expert bomb maker), worshipped at Wahhaj's mosque. Wahhaj was also a character witness for Abdel Rahman at the 1995 trial against him.
What does this say about our current state of affairs, when one of the largest American corporations is willing to silence an ally and give voice to the enemy? It says that we, as a nation, are on a dangerous path that only starts with appeasement, yet ends in our destruction. If the Marriott is a test case for the future consciousness of America, then we can be assured that we will have no future.
Anti-terrorism ping...
Why aren't these guys behind bars or kicked out of the US?
BTTT
I guess American corporations fear Muslim retaliation within the United States. They do not fear the retaliation of loyal Americans.
CAIR has the right to organize and to hold conferences, so long as they stay within the law. What's disturbing here is to see a major American corporation refusing to serve an explicitly anti-terrorist organization like the Peoples' Truth Forum for fear that some Muslims might be offended.
So the Marriott can host a conference featuring CAIR, but they can't host a conference discussing terrorism in general? They need a good freep, if you ask me.
Well while it is sad, at least they are honest they are AFRAID.
Marriott should be equally afraid that anti-terrorist U.S. citizens will demonstrate our displeasure via protests and our wallets.
That fact alone speaks volumes, though, doesn't it? We are civilized and they are not.
It does.
Can you see the Pentagon from the Crystal Gateway? I know you can from the Crystal City Marriott. I don't expect that the local rabble, Pentagon brass, will be protesting around a hotel. But I doubt they've forgotten the gaping hole and fallen from amongst them.
I'm sure German hotels in the 1930s had the same concerns about the Brownshirts!
If our government would enforce the laws, Muslim thugs would not be threatening people who are peacefully assembling to exercise their First Amendment rights. What the Hell is wrong with this country?
Incidentally, I didn't know that CAIR was an offshoot of Hamas. I guess it's because the MSM hasn't discovered that yet. Or prefers not to tell the public.
When are the administration and faculty of Georgetown going to get measured for their burqas? And I include the males in that group.
CAIR is essentally a government-approved and sacntioned organization, since its members frequently hold large events without incident and share stages with President Bush and other senior DC officials. What basis would the Marriott have for rejecting them? If their presence is a problem in America, it's up to the government to declare them a terrorist-sponsoring organization and start detaining their leaders - if the government won't do that, then it isn't up to the Marriott to take action in their stead.
Conversely, the other group is small, in no way linked to the power brokers in DC, and likely to take action or make statements that could prove troublesome for the hotel. Marriott has the right to refuse sevice to them - they same way they could refuse to allow a rock band to take over three floors of the hotel if they thought the hotel would end up getting trashed. It may seem like a short-sighted decision, but Marriott still has the right to make it. They, of course, would have the same right to refuse service to CAIR if they thought bad things would result, but since that organization has official backing in DC it might prove fiscally imprudent to do so.
Why would the Marriott reject Islamics , when half their staffs are Islamics.
Have you people never seen who is running hotels and motels these days
Contact Information
Corporate Headquarters
Marriott International
One Marriott Drive
Washington, D.C. 20058
Phone: 301.380.3000
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