Posted on 10/01/2003 11:22:35 AM PDT by Mossad1967
THE news last week that two Muslim military personnel, James Yee and Ahmad al-Halabi, had been arrested on suspicion of aiding Al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantnamo Bay (with another three Muslim servicemen under watch) seemed to prompt much surprise. It should not have.
It has been obvious for months that Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces. In February, a milestone Wall Street Journal article established that imams who consider Osama bin Laden "a hero of Allah" dominate the Islamic chaplaincy in the New York state prison system.
In March, I documented the case of FBI Special Agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz: His superiors not only overlooked this immigrant's pattern of pro-Islamist behavior, they promoted him.
And at least six prior cases of Islamist servicemen have come to light:
Ali Mohamed: An Egyptian immigrant who after discharge from the U.S. Army went to work for Osama bin Laden, Mohamed pleaded guilty to helping plan the 1998 bombing surveillance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. He's now in prison serving his sentence.
Semi Osman: An ethnic Lebanese immigrant and non-U.S. citizen who served in both the Army and Naval Reserve, Osman was arrested in 2002 and accused of "material support for terrorists." He pleaded guilty to a weapons violation and served his sentence.
Abdul Raheem Al Arshad Ali: An African-American convert to Islam and former Marine, he awaits trial in prison for supplying a semiautomatic handgun to Semi Osman.
Jeffrey Leon Battle: An African-American convert and Army reservist, Battle awaits trial in prison on charges of "enlisting in the Reserves to receive military training to use against America."
John Allen Muhammad: An African-American convert and Army veteran, Muhammad is suspected of having thrown a grenade at a fellow soldier in 1991. He awaits trial in prison as one of two charged in last year's Beltway sniper killings.
Hasan Akbar: Another African-American convert, Akbar awaits trial in prison for two counts of premeditated murder and three charges of attempted murder in a March fragging incident against his fellow soldiers.
The Akbar incident prompted Deanne Stillman of Slate magazine to conclude that Islamists "may be infiltrating the military in order to undermine it."
That infiltration also has a mundane quality; take the example of Nabil Elibiary: An Islamist who protests the "defaming" of bin Laden and defends polygamy, he also led the holiday prayer service at an Air Force base early this year.
Executive-branch insistence on "terrorism" being the enemy, rather than militant Islam, permits this Islamist penetration.
And it continues. The Defense Department responded last week to the chaplain's arrest by defending its hiring practices. Only under external pressure, notably from Sens. Chuck Schumer and Jon Kyl, did it agree to reassess them. Even then, the Pentagon insisted on reviewing the appointments of all 2,800 military chaplains - rather than the 12 Muslims among them.
Political correctness run amok! Which Christian or Jewish chaplains would be accused (as the Washington Times has reported of their Muslim colleague Yee) of "sedition aiding the enemy, spying, espionage and failure to obey a general order? By pretending not to see that the enemy emerges from one source, the authorities dilute their focus, render their review nearly meaningless and endanger security.
The U.S. government needs to use common sense and focus on militant Islam. It should consider such steps as:
* Breaking off contact with organizations (like the Islamic Society of North America and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Council) that place Islamists in government jobs.
* Suspending presently employed Muslim personnel who got their jobs through those institutions until their loyalty can be confirmed.
* Working instead with anti-Islamist Muslim groups, such as the Islamic Supreme Council of America for Sunni Muslims and the American Muslim Congress for Shi'ites.
* Confirming that government-employed Muslims do, as many of them swore under oath, "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." A mechanism is needed to identify employees with an Islamist outlook and expel them from government service.
Ironically, the Defense Department finds it easier to kill Islamists in Afghanistan than to exclude them from its own ranks. But only if the latter is carried out can Americans be confident their government is fully protecting them.
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and author of "Militant Islam Reaches America."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09292003/postopinion/opedcolumnists/6697.htm
Let's never forget the horror that that kind of writing led to in the past.
Haven't we had enough of this PC crap?? War has never been nice. It offends people, particularly the ENEMY. We have far too many Muslim enemies in this country who are relying on the fact that we can't tell the difference!
If this continues, we will have to pi$$ off some of the innocents living among us to get at the real enemy.
I fear if we don't, we are doomed as a free society.
Too bad we can't do a "Mind Meld" and see what's in folks hearts.
No I'm not willing to have Big Brother at the door either.
What a dilemma!
Seems like in this age of technology, we could rely on background checks to point to dangerous characters and not give them free reign and definitely NOT sensitive jobs.
Ya think?
How about the guts to DO something other than "Keep them under surveillance" 'till they decide to go underground and blow up 3,000 innocent people?
I believe that spark of the Divine in our hearts is listened to much better by some of us humans.
A scene on West Wing (Yeah I watch it through my filter) made this anology:
Muslim fundamentalist radicals is to Al Qaeda etc. as
Christian fundamentalist radicals is to KKK
The suspicious links between Venezuela and Islamic radicalism are multiplying. American law enforcement and intelligence officials are exploring whether there is an al Qaeda connection--specifically, they want to know if a Venezuelan of Arab descent named Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah had ties to any of the September 11 hijackers. The United States deported Diab Fatah to Venezuela for immigration violations in March 2002. A U.S. intelligence official says that Diab Fatah is still a "person of interest" and that his family in Venezuela is "a well-known clan associated with extremist and illicit activity" in northern Venezuela. But when U.S. officials sought Diab Fatah for further questioning, they were told by Venezuelan officials that he was not in the country. Diab Fatah may also be tied to the Caracas mosque of Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz, which has caught investigators' attention. One of the mosque's officials, also a Venezuelan of Arab descent, was recently arrested in London for carrying a grenade on a Caracas-London flight. ***
It seems to me that if we stop wasting/giving away money the borders could be closed easily.
Could you please explain what you mean by CLOSE THE BORDERS? If we close the Canadian Border, what do we do with all the Canadians that work in the US and Americans that work in Canada. Same thing for Mexico. What do we tell all the companies that sell goods back and forth across the border. Do we just pay them to keep their inventory and never sell it? Or do we close down all those businesses?
What do you tell all the businessmen and women that travel back and forth making buys for their companies? You don't have a job now?
What money do you want us to stop wasting/giving away? Anything specific?
The dues we pay to the U.N. would be enough to close the border with Mexico.
We currently have a coalition of forces in Iraq, and are working with the UN toward our goal of self-government in Iraq. We also have activities in many other ME countries that involve cooperation through the UN and it's resolutions. Do we just drop all that and give up on Iraq, Afghanistan,Kuwait, etc?
This country give away billions in foreign aid. I say we keep that money and use it here.
Yes, the money would do much good here. It does good for those foreign countries, except for what is ripped off by the governments of those countries. We are trying to change that.
I agree, WE SHOULD TAKE CARE of ourselves first. Actually, the same problem with the money in foreign countries is what prevents us from solving the problems here in the US. Dirty politicians/crooks/organized crime take the money. We don't need more money, just leaders with a moral compass.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.