Posted on 09/16/2001 11:18:22 AM PDT by Thanatos
![]() Osama bin Laden's Al-Quaeda is one of the terrorist groups that have merged in their battle against the United States and Israel. |
The new conglomerate of terror was put together at an extraordinary convention held in Beirut recently in which extremist Islamic groups such as Osama bin Laden's Al-Quaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah agreed to put aside old rivalries and deep religious schisms for a common agenda aimed at destroying the state of Israel and freeing the region of U.S. influence.
The terror convention was also attended by representatives from Iran and Iraq, two countries that fought a bloody war against each other in the 1980s, who have agreed to devote resources to the new alliance, named the Jerusalem Foundation.
The gathering also drew Islamic militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Qatar and Yemen. Sudan and Algeria, ruled by Islamic governments, also sent representatives.
In a communiqué reported by Arabic media outlets at the conclusion of the three-day convention, the "400 delegates" rededicated themselves to the jihad, or holy war, aimed at reclaiming Palestinian land from the Israelis and winning full Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem.
"The participants are firm that the strategy that should be adopted in dealing with the Jerusalem issue cannot be based on co-existence with the Zionist enemy . . . but rather by uprooting it from our land and holy Islamic-Christian shrines," the communiqué said.
"The only decisive option to achieve this strategy is the option of jihad in all its forms and resistance."
The communiqué denounced U.S. involvement in the Middle East, stating, "America today is a second Israel."
At least one American man attended the convention and flew back to the United States afterward, sources said.
Bush administration officials called a formation of a terror conglomerate against Israel a "disturbing development" coming at a time when tensions in the Middle East are at the boiling point, presenting President Bush with his first major foreign-policy test.
Middle East experts say there is good reason to be alarmed.
"This is a very radical group who [have] discovered that they are ideological fellow travelers on the issue of Jerusalem, the Palestinians and the U.S.A.," said David Schenker from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Terrorist expert Steven Emerson added, "Why do companies merge? To become more powerful. This is dangerous for Israel and dangerous for the U.S."
Musa Abu Marzouq, the Hamas leader held in a New York jail in 1997 before being expelled to Jordan, and Ramadham Abdullah Shallah, head of the Islamic Jihad of Palestine, were named heads of the new terror foundation, which will have its headquarters in Beirut.
"Our only choice is jihad in all its forms and using all its tools," Marzouq said at a press conference Feb. 1, at the conclusion of the convention.
Despite recent overtures to the West, the Iranian government also seems to be a driving force behind the new alliance.
Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashami, a high-profile Iranian diplomat and spymaster, led a large delegation of Iranian officials at the conference and announced afterward there would be a second summit in Tehran on April 28.
This is the man we're looking for now.
Identify yourselves now, so we can do the projectile calculations early-on.
These two cartoons say it all!
There is no reason to think that wiping out a big roomful of the enemy might have avoided the attack of 9/11. Still...
WASHINGTON The worlds most extreme terrorist groups met twice earlier this year in an effort to set aside their philosophical differences and unite in a new holy war against the United States and Israel, law enforcement officials tell Fox News.
The two meetings, according to the officials, took place in Beirut, Lebanon in February and the Iranian capital of Tehran in late April. The gatherings are described as "unprecedented," and went largely unnoticed in the west. A handful of officials in the White House were briefed on the event.
Dubbed the "Jerusalem Conference" by its 400 or so participants, the group drafted a document pledging to unite behind the Palestinians and win total Arab control over Jerusalem. "The only decisive option to achieve this strategy is the option of Jihad (holy war) in all its forms," the document says, according to law enforcement officials who have seen it. "America today is a second Israel."
The group made up of Usama Bin Ladens al-Qaeda, the Palestinians Hamas and Islamic Jihad factions, the Lebanese Hezbollah and militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Qatar, Yemen, Sudan and Algeria has named its task ahead, "The Jerusalem Project."
Sources tell Fox News that at least one participant went to the conference from the United States and returned here afterward.
The sources say "The Jerusalem Project" is headquartered in Beirut and led by two men -- Musa Abu Marzouq, a Hamas leader who was in 1977 arrested in New York and later deported to Jordan; and Ramadham Abdullah Shallah of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who has two sons that served in Bin Laden's Mujahedin unit against the Soviet's in Afghanistan.
Iran reportedly sent several official diplomats to the meetings, including Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashami, a well known Iranian intelligence official.
Translation: more than one American man attended the convention and flew back to the United States afterward.
Moderate Muslims need to clearly make the case that as Americans they support the freedom of all people to choose their own religion. Do these moderates tolerate to the idea of individual Muslims deciding for themselves that Mohammed is not a prophet of God and speaking out about their beliefs?
Islamic theology requires that any Muslim who turns from Isalm and Mohammed should be killed. Period. Moderate American Muslims need to clearly denouce this aspect to their religion. Otherwise, their religion is incompatible with the United States Constitution.
Let us not forget; we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with barbarians who pervert the sacred teachings of that great religion for their own putrid goals. Their only resemblance to civilized humanity is the fact that they walk upright.
Let us be firm in our resolve to do what must be done. No trials, no courts, no Miranda readings. No, they must be hunted down and disposed of like the rabid vermin they are.
To do less would be to stand aside and let barbarism triumph over freedom. To those to harbor and welcome this tyranny, I say to you; OVER MY DEAD BODY.
To those who, even now, are moving to stand in the gap; welcome aboard...let's send 'em to hell!
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