Posted on 08/31/2006 5:37:46 AM PDT by SJackson
The recent terror case of a "gentle" third-grade teacher from the D.C. suburbs shows the danger is at once closer and harder to ID than you think. The enemy is hiding not in the shadows, but in plain sight, and may even wear a smile.
Hundreds of Muslims last week flocked to a federal courtroom to show their support for the affable and soft-spoken Ali Asad Chandia of Maryland as he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting terrorists. Friends say anti-Muslim prosecutors railroaded a "law-abiding" and "peaceful" brother.
"He is a dedicated teacher," said one. "A great family man," said another.
Another told the judge Chandia's so gentle he wouldn't hurt a tree branch in his yard. "I said to Ali that I may need to cut the branch (but) he asked that I not hurt the tree," the friend, a landscaper, said in a letter. "I was touched by Ali's insistence that the tree not be harmed in any way."
But prosecutors tell a different story.
They showed evidence that Chandia, 29, trained at a jihad camp in Lahore, Pakistan, run by the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al-Qaida subcontractor that also trained some of the London bombers. He helped Lashkar ship 50,000 paintball pellets, unmanned aerial vehicles, night-vision gear and wireless video cameras from the U.S. to Pakistan for paramilitary training. He even chauffeured a Lashkar lieutenant around Washington on trips the officer made here after 9-11.
Within months of the attacks, Chandia joined the so-called Virginia jihad network dedicated to preparing for holy war against U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan. The gang's ringleader was the civil-rights coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Washington-based nonprofit leading the charge against airport and subway terror profiling.
Chandia, who graduated from the University of Maryland and once worked at Costco, also worked as a former personal assistant to the jihad gang's spiritual leader -- imam Ali al-Timimi, a native Washingtonian convicted last year for soliciting the Muslim men to levy war against the U.S. Al-Timimi praised the hijackers who carried out the 9-11 attacks and even cheered the crash of the space shuttle Columbia. Chandia helped al-Timimi schedule his sermons.
In Chandia's car, not surprisingly, federal investigators found a CD-ROM containing videos that glorified Osama bin Laden and the 19 hijackers.
All this took place in the shadow of the U.S. capital. And yet members of the large Muslim community there, many of whom work for the government, were unfazed by the evidence aligned against Chandia. After his conviction, some 350 Muslims including Islamic scholars, activists and other leaders, as well as government employees and contractors, donated generously to his defense fund.
"We ask Allah to reward everyone who supported this cause," gushed the head of the Ali Asad Support Committee. "We ask Allah to raise their ranks and to grant them goodness in this world and in the hereafter."
The local Muslim luminaries also wrote letters to the judge complaining of a U.S. witch hunt against "Brother Ali" and other "principled" Muslims who support "mujahideen" groups. And they mobbed the federal courtroom in Alexandria, Va., hoping for a lenient punishment.
But the judge wasn't buying it, and he imposed a fairly stiff sentence. Chandia, for his part, was unrepentant to the end. Upon his sentencing, Chandia lashed out at prosecutors, warning "their judgment is on the way."
U.S. marshals then led away a terrorist -- not a mild-mannered teacher or loving father -- but a terrorist.
Islam is a religion of peace, this terrorist supporter was a "gentle" sweetheart that wouldn't "hurt a tree branch in his yard", and Santa's sled is pulled by six purple hippos while Goldilocks and Litte Red Riding Hood ride shot gun and drop Easter eggs down chimneys.
I didn't say it would be easy. You asked what do we do and I told you.
Well, I guess I owe them an apology. Hate to do it but I will. I did a search on their site for that guys name but it did not come up. I listen to it every morning and I never heard it mentioned.
I don't know about that many of them are citizens part. It seems whenever these guys are busted they became citizens but were born somewhere else. My take - unless they were actually born here, revoke their citizenship and ship them back to their country of origin. Those born here pose a different problem. Can we revoke citizenship of people born here?
I am now reading the PIG Guide to Islam and the Crusades. In the second chapter, talking about the Koran, it states that all Islam scholars agree that the Medina (violent) suras override the Mecca (peaceful) suras. So it seems that while they can claim truthfully they have peaceful passages in the Koran, the suras ordering them to murder the infidels - us - are the only ones they need pay heed to.
Do a google search on this guys name. All kinds of sites defending him and wanting to raise money to support him.
You guys are too funny with your Al CIAda boogey men. Have some more cool-aid, while the Republic goes down the toilet.
A tree, yes, but he had no problem with killing women and children.
First I've heard of this.
Sure sounds like a mild mannered third grade teacher to me. /s
I guess the writer of this article expects the terrorists in our midst to go around scowling at every American they see, and shouting anti-American slogans everywhere. Whatta goober! Of course they're going to be low-key! How else would they be able to go about getting their work for the cause done without anyone being suspicious of them?
Massive muslim immigration and travel have created a very dangerous situation in the western world. Old Europe is virtually lost. It is up to the old Anglo-American alliance (US, Canada, UK, Australia, and possibly New Zealand) and, maybe Japan, to carry the torch for freedom. These few countries do have the power to win the war, of that I have no doubt. Do we have the will to do what is neccessary to win the war?
It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible to win this war if we do not root out the enemy within. The PC ethic that is so ingrained in our society is clouding our judgement and hindering the effort. Until we can identify and deal with the real agents of the enemy within the muslim community, they are all under suspicion, as far as I am concerned.
Am I being mean to believe that everyone who showed up in that courtroom to support the terrorist-supporting SOB should be thrown out of our country today? Tomorrow morning would also work.
I would vote for that. At the least, it would be comforting to know if some FBI agent was there taking photos and writing down license tags.
I'm reminded of a scene in the Godfather, the FBI collecting license plate numbers in the parking area at his daughters wedding. My guess that didn't happen here.
We will. To paraphrase Halsey: "When this is over arabic will only be spoken in Hell."
Perhaps his cellmates should be chosen wisely..
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