Loathe To Acknowledge American Jihad

Now that the DC "snipers" suspects John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo have been captured, one thing should be manifest to even the casual observer. The media has failed once again to provide responsible, unbiased news coverage. And make no mistake; "political correctness" is behind much of the media's shortsightedness.

Yes, the Left-leaning media keeps reminding us that John Muhammad is a Gulf War veteran, having served in the Army for ten years, as if that somehow unhinged him. But what about Muhammad's pro-terrorist assertions, anti-American sentiments, and connection with hatemonger Louis Farrakhan and his militant Islam, cult-like organization? Witnesses have noted John Muhammad's name change in recent times, his simpatico toward the hijackers who committed the atrocities on September 11th, and his talk of "violent plans", including plots to target police officers and fuel tankers, which alarmed others (The Bellingham Herald, 10/26/02).

Was John Muhammad then "inspired" by the al-Qaeda network? It's undeniable that some Muslims in America have been unduly influenced by: a) the successful al-Qaeda terror attacks of 9/11, b) the Fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden urging Muslim's to rise up against America and its allies, killing civilian and military populations alike, and c) the venomous anti-American rhetoric being spouted by some Mosques here in the US. Was Muhammad, and his cohort for that matter, al-Qaeda wannabees, eager to emulate the al-Qaeda bunch or other radical Islamists? And what ever happened to the planned FBI search of the "Ground Zero USA" facility located in Alabama, which provides paramilitary training? According to Britain's Scotland Yard, Islamists arranged for a course entitled "The Ultimate Jihad Challenge" to be taught at that site. The major media should be asking these and many other pertinent questions.

The television medium was particularly egregious, parading before viewers myriad professional "profilers" that spewed forth their typical psychobabble regarding "serial" and "spree" killers. Unfortunately, it was really a bunch of trite gobbledygook. More importantly, the media neglected to properly evaluate circumstances within the greater framework of the ongoing "war on terrorism". That's unimaginable, given that we are under threat of terror attacks. The media has put on their blinders, selectively viewing what they deem acceptable. Now that the perpetrators are in custody, it's even more amazing how the media goes through considerable contortions to deny that radical religious and political ideation may have, in fact, contributed to these shootings.

Very few of these experts (criminologist, forensic psychologists, homicide detectives, etc.) seriously explored the possibility of a perpetrator being driven by the twisted and hateful ideology of militant Islam and the Jihad movement. Moreover, the so-called "profilers" were wrongly focused upon a lone, "White male" assailant, rather than two, or more, conspirators. They were considerably off the mark, and unwittingly misdirecting the public and even members of law enforcement. When a Baltimore officer came upon John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo sleeping in their now-infamous vehicle, the officer readily discounted the two as possible suspects because they didn't "fit" the characterization being promulgated by the media. Also, that pivotal "tip line" was being undermined, as the public had a preconceived notion of a "White Sniper" operating on his own, and driving a white van. Clearly, the public was being significantly influenced by the twaddle being disseminated by the media, which apparently stymied the investigation to some extent.

Of great importance is that the lead "sniper", John Muhammad was known to be a long-time devout Muslim, and a member of the Nation of Islam organization, which is a rather bizarre and extremist cult within Islam. The group, which adheres to an amalgam of both religious and political beliefs, is rooted in a type of Black Supremacy that espouses perverse rhetoric, including anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic sentiments. It also warns Blacks to convert to the Nation of Islam before Allah's racial Armageddon ensues, and which will result in the annihilation of all Whites and all non-believers. Interestingly, although Blacks were shot by the perpetrators, none appeared to be Muslim. Gee, only "infidels" were killed. Doesn't that deserve a closer look?

Now that the perpetrators are apparently in custody, there is information out there that should be thoroughly investigated by major media. Please note the following article:

"US Authorities Warned of US Sniper a Year Ago" (Yahoo News, attenuated version of The Bellingham Herald story entitled, "Lighthouse Mission Director Warned FBI About Muhammad" by John Stark, Aubrey Cohen and Mary Lane Gallagher, 10/26/02)

"US authorities were warned a year ago that the ex-soldier suspected of carrying out 13 sniper attacks near the US capital may be a potential Islamic terrorist. A priest who runs a homeless shelter in this Pacific Northwest town where John Allen Muhammad lived for several months in 2001 and early 2002, raised the alarm last October, the Bellingham Herald newspaper said Friday. "I felt like he was part of an organization," said Reverend Al Archer who runs the hostel where the Gulf War veteran stayed along with John Lee Malvo, 17, who was Friday charged along with Muhammad with six counts of murder. "I felt like he had some connection with terrorists. ... I (told the Federal Bureau of Investigation) he's got connections somewhere with somebody who's got money," Archer told the Herald..."On the surface he was squeaky clean. He was almost too good to believe," added the cleric who is in charge of the Lighthouse Mission where Muhammad stayed with Jamaican immigrant Malvo who attended the local high school. Archer said that while Muhammad was staying in the shelter, he frequently left town on plane trips to places such as Denver and New Orleans, behavior he thought unusual for a homeless person. "At the mission, not many airline agents call and ask for residents," Archer said, recalling a phone conversation with Muhammad's travel agent. Archer grew so suspicious of Muhammad's "odd behavior" that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization and called the FBI, the Herald said. "I felt they probably threw my note in the trash," Archer said. The FBI would not comment Friday on whether it had received such a report on Muhammad in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks on US targets. A Bellingham musician to whom Muhammad took a shine earlier this year said that while Muhammad was homeless he sometimes "flashed a wallet thick with currency, and showed off expensive-looking watches and gold bracelets." Hannah Parks also told the paper that Muhammad "definitely talked about how he wasn't into America" and "passed out pro-Islamic fliers on the street from time to time." Other reports here said that federal records in Seattle, Washington, 80 miles (130 km) south of here, showed that Muhammad had owned the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle found in his car Thursday as far back as May 2000".

Unfortunately, few on the tube or elsewhere are adequately covering the "Islamic terrorism" angle on this story. The exceptions are the Fox News Channel (Cable), and more modest media outlets including the Internet (World Net Daily, National Review Online, etc.), and local newspapers such as the Seattle Times and The Bellingham Herald. The television "talking heads" and many liberal columnists are generally underscoring John Muhammad's "cumulative rage", history of domestic violence, and problems with authority when in the Army.

But, in truth, many terrorists are rife with psychopathologies and dysfunctional behaviors. One only need look into the eyes of 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta, or observe the bizarre statements and incongruous actions of Yasser Arafat to see this. Moreover, the Islamic regimes of the Middle East are notorious for their overall suppression and beating of women, and for "raging men" in the "Arab Streets" who have been encouraged by their corrupt leadership to vent against "The Great Satan" and western civilization. As to the latter, that's one of the reasons that these Middle Eastern Islamic regimes are breeding grounds for young male terrorists. So, John Muhammad's "rage" does not negate the fact that terrorism may be in play. Regarding the canard that a "terrorist" would not conduct a shake-down for ten million dollars, well that's poppycock and totally at-odds with reality. Groups such as Abu Sayaff and al-Qaeda participate in a host of nefarious endeavors in order to raise monies including hostage taking, weapons sales, and drug sales (widely known as "narco-terrorism"). In my estimation, nothing has been presented so far that would exclude Islamic terrorism from the mix. On the contrary, much points directly to it.

True, the "snipers" did not turn out to be al-Qaeda operatives, and the media continues to regale in that fact. I had gone on record as stating: "I could be wrong, but I'm inclined to believe that radical Islamists are behind the "sniper attacks" in the DC area, rather than some "lone wolf" nut-job". And, yes, I speculated that it could very well be of the al-Qaeda variety. Nonetheless, the distinction between al-Qaeda, and radical Islam is only marginally meaningful in the current context of this "war on terrorism". As we know, al-Qaeda is just a particular terror group within the greater Jihad or militant Islam movement. And it's important to understand that many of the Jihadists perpetrating domestic terrorism are not foreigners. Regarding two al-Qaeda "sleeper cells" that have made recent headlines, five out of six are US citizens in the Portland, Oregon group, and six out of six (those in custody) are US citizens in the Lackawanna cell, near Buffalo, NY, although co-conspirators seven and eight are still hiding out overseas in Yemen.

The Federal government's management of this "sniper" case is reminiscent of the manner in which they treated the "LAX shooter" incident that occurred on July 4, 2002 at Los Angeles International Airport. The perpetrator, Egyptian national Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, stormed the counter of El Al, the Israeli airline, and commenced shooting and stabbing those in his mist with two handguns and a knife. Hadayet succeeded in murdering three people before being killed himself. Despite all indications that the LAX incident represented Islamic terrorism, and that it was immediately designated by the Israeli government as such, the FBI was still very reticent to classify it as terrorism. Similarly, I believe that the FBI and other Federal authorities will conduct an exhaustive investigation over a period of months, and will ultimately conclude that the "DC snipers" were motivated by radical Islamic beliefs, thus constituting Islamic terrorism.

Saturday, July 13, 2002, 12:36 a.m. Pacific

Oregon sheriff: 'We had our suspicions'

By Hal Bernton, Mike Carter and David Heath
Seattle Times staff reporters

BLY, Ore. — This hard-knocks hamlet seems an unlikely place to search for clues to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

It sits on an arid plateau in Southern Oregon, about 50 miles east of Klamath Falls. With a population of about 250, it has a couple of cafes and small stores, an antique shop, and the razed foundation of an abandoned lumber mill.

But in late 1999, federal authorities and other sources say, the area had something far more unusual: militant Muslims scouting a ranch outside of town as a possible training camp for jihad fighters.

That aborted effort has now thrust Bly into the thick of a Seattle-based FBI and federal grand-jury investigation into al-Qaida's activities in the United States. Authorities suspect that a group of Seattle-based Muslims, mostly U.S. citizens, were operating as a "cell" in support of al-Qaida, and that opening a terrorist-training camp was part of their plans.

For about six months beginning in September 1999, Semi Osman — a cleric at a small Seattle mosque named Dar-us-Salaam — lived on the ranch, a few miles outside town. Osman is now in federal custody in Seattle, charged with immigration and weapons violations and under investigation for terror-related activities.

Sources say Osman's visitors on the Bly ranch included two members of a London mosque led by Sheik Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical cleric believed to be an al-Qaida recruiter, and militant members of Osman's Central Area mosque. Some of the visitors rode horses and fired automatic weapons, according to people in the area.

Police began to watch the ranch closely, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger.

"There were reports of gunfire and of a large group of suspicious, or unusual, people there," Evinger said.

Gunfire is common in rural Southern Oregon, where many residents carry arms and engage in target practice or hunting.

But this information concerned the sheriff enough that he turned it over to the FBI. He heard nothing again until after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the information gained new importance. His detectives were briefed about the federal investigation late last year, Evinger said.

"I think even before then, we had our suspicions about what this might be," he said. "You expect terrorist activity in the big cities. I think people need to realize this sort of stuff can happen anywhere."

Neighbors say Osman, now 32, kept a low profile, tooling around in a beat-up 1984 Toyota sedan and at one point commuting to Klamath Falls to work as a mechanic, according to neighbors and a former employer.

Still, he and his family got plenty of notice. In this community of bluejeans and boots, the balding, bearded Osman dressed in a tunic and skullcap. His wife, an American who converted to Islam, dressed in a long robe and headscarf in traditional Islamic fashion. A young daughter attended the local school.

Some Bly residents who knew Osman say that he was friendly and polite, and often spoke of his hopes to join the U.S. Army after he left the ranch. Osman, a naturalized British citizen with permanent U.S. residency status, was a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve.

But at least one neighbor, retired carpet layer Perry Thompson, clashed with Osman.

Thompson said Osman was a high-strung man who didn't like unexpected visitors. On two occasions, Thompson said, an armed Osman confronted him. In one of the incidents, Thompson said, Osman forced him to stop his truck by driving up from behind and parking in front of him, then he jumped out of his car, ran to his window and pointed a semiautomatic handgun at his head.

"He had all kinds of guns," Thompson said. "And he was belligerent." A Bly tow-truck driver, Billie Livingston, also reports an unsettling visit to the ranch. Coming to jump-start a dead battery, she was surprised to find a half-dozen men, some of whom appeared foreign-born, intently watching her.

Among the men at the ranch in December 1999 were two men who federal investigators believe were sent by al-Qaida leaders to check out the ranch as a potential training camp.

The men's presence in Southern Oregon was documented in a speeding ticket issued that December in Klamath Falls. According to a source, the police officer became suspicious of the occupants of the car and checked their identification.

Later, federal agents would determine the men had arrived from Great Britain two weeks earlier.

"Those men," the source said, "were there for a bad purpose."

The two men were followers of Abu Hamza, leader of the North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, the heart of militant Islam in Europe.

Abu Hamza applauded the Sept. 11 attacks. His mosque had been attended by Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and by Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up an American Airlines jetliner with explosives in his shoes.

Osman's attorney, Robert Leen, denies his client has any involvement with terrorism. Others who know Osman say that he was uncomfortable with the militancy of his visitors and that he sought to distance himself from them.

The Bly ranch had been owned by Esther Fisher Schneider, who died in August 1999 at age 82. She had moved from Washington state to Bly in the 1990s with a sheep rancher named Ivan Rule, known among Bly residents for espousing extreme right-wing political views.

The property is now listed as owned by the late Schneider and the Barraka Communal Corp., a nonprofit corporation created by Rule and an American Muslim woman who lived with him in 1999.

In February 2000, Osman and his family left the ranch. The daughter and son-in-law of neighbor Perry Thompson, Lona and Paul Azevedo, moved in. In walks on the property, the Azevedos have collected ammunition from semiautomatic and other weapons.

Rule, who no longer lives in Bly, was not available for comment. The IRS has a tax lien against him in Fremont County, Colo., in the amount of $10,041, dating from May 1994.

Lona Azevedo says she continues to pay rent to Rule through a Bly post office box, but she is not sure where he lives.

Meanwhile, yesterday in London, Abu Hamza denied any knowledge of a plot to set up a terrorist camp in Bly, or of a cell of al-Qaida supporters in Seattle.

"We have quite a good following in America, but we don't keep a structure because we are talking about principles," he told NBC.

"I have friends everywhere," he said. "When you are arresting people in America under suspicion, you might as well arrest the rest of the planet."

Link to article HERE.

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