Category Archives: Right wing

CAIR to blame for Fort Hood killings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ruth Dudley Edwards 2“There’s a climate of fear in the US among the military, law-enforcers, policy-makers, the media, opinion-formers and many ordinary citizens. A major cause is the intimidating Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is dedicated to Muslim empowerment, receives substantial funding from Arab governments and has been accused by federal prosecutors of funnelling money to Hamas.

“So effective and ruthless is CAIR that anyone in authority worries before doing anything that can be misrepresented as anti-Muslim and lead to lawsuits citing religious or racial discrimination. There were plenty of people who might have prevented the psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan from murdering 12 soldiers and a policeman, but were too scared to do so.”

Ruth Dudley Edwards in the Sunday Independent, 15 November 2009

More scaremongering from Quilliam?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Quilliam FoundationSome of Britain’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders are promoting jihad from inside high-security prisons by smuggling out propaganda for the internet and finding recruits. In an authoritative report, Quilliam, a think tank funded by the Home Office, claims “mismanagement” by the Prison Service is helping Al-Qaeda gain recruits and risks “strengthening jihadist movements”.

Sunday Times, 15 November 2005

Although the study is not yet available online, the reliability of Quilliam’s allegations may perhaps be judged by the shock-horror revelation in their press release that “Faraj Hassan Al-Saad, a Libyan detainee then fighting extradition to Italy on terrorism charges, used prison call boxes to appear live on the Islam Channel” which is “run by Mohammed Ali Harrath, a convicted Tunisian terrorist who is the subject of an Interpol ‘Red Notice’.”

Quilliam recommends “establishing specialised a de-radicalisation centre [sic] to house imprisoned extremists, in order to tackle prison radicalisation”. Now, who do you suppose might be looking to get the contract to run that de-radicalisation programme?

Still, it’s good to know that Quilliam are spending taxpayers’ money on something other than hiring libel lawyers to threaten their critics.

Sarkozy repeats call for ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolas_SarkozyPresident Nicolas Sarkozy has reiterated his belief that the burqa, the head-to-toe veil worn by some Muslim women, has no place in secular France.

“France is a country where there is no place for the burqa, where there is no place for the subservience of women,” he said in a speech on French national identity. He was speaking on Thursday in the Alpine town of La Chapelle en Vercors in his first intervention in a country-wide debate begun last month on what it means to be French.

Public meetings are due to take place in some 450 government offices around the country, involving campaigners, students, parents and teachers, unions, business leaders and French and European lawmakers. The debate will end with a conference early next year on the twin questions of “what it means to be French today” and “what immigration contributes to our national identity.”

The Socialist opposition has accused the government of pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment to shore up support on the Right ahead of regional elections in March. It has said the debate risks alienating France’s large immigrant communities. But Mr Sarkozy on Thursday defended the “noble debate” and said: “Those who do not want this debate are afraid of it.”

Daily Telegraph, 13 November 2009

Update:  See “France will oppose but not ban burqas”, Reuters, 13 November 2009

Further update:  See also Tom Heneghan’s piece, “France retreats from burqa ban plan amid burst of hot air”, at FaithWorld, 13 November 2009

AuthorMartin Sullivan | in , , ,

Why Islam was behind the Fort Hood massacre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kevin_Myers“Jihad can be formed as a result of the teachings of an imam, but it boils down to a personal contract between Allah and the believer, based on an extreme interpretation of Islam…. This notion of a personal contract with Allah, that authorises a believer to break even the most civilised and civilising laws of the Koran, is a sure-fire recipe for murderous irrationality and social anarchy. And these have become the defining feature of almost every Muslim society in the world….

“Hence Fort Hood Texas, September 11 New York, July 7 London, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Norway, Bali, Kenya, Tanzania, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Anatolia, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bali, Bombay and Australia. Such universal belligerence has no universal cause, other than in the universality of Islam, which seems so often to respond lethally to local conditions, whatever they are.

“… somewhere inside the greater Islamic mind is an absurd sense of victimhood: and where there is no local grievance, why then there is always ‘Palestine’, as if those few disputed acres in the vast Islamic landmass of Afro-Asia merited the unanimous and indignant global furies of all Muslims, from Delhi to Dearborn. This same querulous organ of self-pity also resents Muslims becoming the subject of intelligence operations after an Islamic atrocity….

“This is a sealed moral system, an internal autonomy that is immune to penetration or logic. Fear of such accusations of Islamophobia – phobophobia – almost certainly prevented Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s superior officers from disciplining him for his public jihadist outpourings. Pre-emptive action would certainly have been portrayed by the liberal media as Islamophobic discrimination against a patriotic Muslim, and would have enraged that reliable stock-character of media portrayal, ‘moderate Muslims’. Thirteen genuine patriots are now dead as the price of such phobophobic appeasement.

“More importantly, the US must now wake up to the consequences of its open-door immigration policy, just as Britain did four years ago after July 7. The subsequent pattern will presumably be similar. Watch now, as ‘victimised’ American Muslims close ranks, the burka and the hijab become commonplace amongst their womenfolk and the rest of the US asks in tones of awestruck horror: My God, what have we done?”

Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent, 10 November 2009

For earlier examples of Myers’ thoughtful comments on the issues of Islam and migration, see “Forget lily-livered liberalism, time to take stand and say we don’t want Muslim immigrants“, and “Huge areas of Britain have become foreign colonies. That could be tomorrow’s Ireland, too“. The latter piece was enthusiastically endorsed by the BNP.

Update:  See Yusuf Smith’s comments at Indigo Jo Blogs, 15 November 2009

Mad Mel’s moderate Muslim test

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Melanie Phillips tells us that “it is very important to separate moderate Muslims from Islamists”. But this poses the question: “how can you tell a genuine moderate from the dissimulators?”

And yes, you guessed it, the answer is that “the issue that defines true Muslim moderation is the absence of any hostility towards Israel”.

So, by that criterion, Mad Mel’s list of moderate Muslims would include Irshad Manji and … well, nobody else comes to mind, really.

According to Phillips, even Ed Husain is an extremist. When he opposed Israel’s assault on Gaza she accused him of adopting “the very narrative and rhetoric that are driving Muslims to mass murder”!

Attempt to smear Osama Saeed and Azad Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A radical Muslim cleric alleged to have inspired the Fort Hood gunman has been praised in the past as “a preacher of peace” by a prominent SNP candidate with close links to Alex Salmond.

The FBI is investigating communications between Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at the US Army base in Texas, and Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric now based in Yemen. Mr Awlaki has a large following in Britain and counts prominent mainstream Muslims among his supporters.

In 2006 Osama Saeed, who has been selected as the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central for the next general election, wrote that Mr Awlaki “preached nothing but peace”.

Last night Mr Saeed, who was researcher to Mr Salmond before he became the Scottish First Minister, distanced himself from Mr Awlaki, saying that he now felt “cheated” by the cleric. Mr Saeed said: “I completely disagree with what he has said about Fort Hood, and a host of other matters which he has more recently written and spoken about.”

Mr Awlaki, 38, who on his blog described Major Hasan as “a hero”, has been a regular visitor to Britain and delivers frequent lectures to audiences here by video or via the internet.

Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, wrote last November that Mr Awlaki was “one of my favourite speakers and scholars”. Mr Ali, whose society’s patron is Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, distanced himself from the cleric’s views last night. He said: “I reject them and disassociate myself from them completely.”

An SNP spokesman said last night: “Anwar al-Awlaki formerly expressed moderate views – his more recent comments are disgraceful and have been condemned by all right-thinking people, including Azad Ali and Osama Saeed. Any attempt to smear any individual in the UK over this would be appalling.”

Times, 12 November 2009

Needless to say, this witch-hunt originates with Harry’s Place, Standpoint and the Spittoon.

Update:  See Osama Saeed’s post, “Times run with Centre for Social Cohesion briefing”, Rolled-up Trousers, 12 November 2009

Further update:  And here is the Quilliam Foundation’s helpful contribution, headed “Quilliam calls on Muslim organizations to reject jihadism”.

Fort Hood and the Clash of Civilizations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Since the Ft Hood atrocity, I’ve seen a meme going around that it somehow  exposed a contradiction between ‘political correctness’ and ‘security’. The avoidance of Nidal Hassan’s religion out of fear of offending anyone, goes the argument, created the conditions which allowed him to go undetected and unsanctioned in the months and years leading up to his rampage. American security, therefore, demands dropping the ‘political correctness’ of avoiding a confrontation with Islamist ideas and asking the ‘tough questions’ about Islam as a religion and the loyalty of Muslim-Americans. This framing of the issue is almost 100% wrong.”

Marc Lynch’s Foreign Policy blog, 11 November 2009

Islam ‘not a religion’ but a ‘violent political system’ says Pat Robertson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

US right-wing evangelist Pat Robertson offers his views on the Fort Hood killings:

“Islam is a violent – I was gonna say religion, but it’s not a religion, it’s a political system, a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination. That is the ultimate aim…. So you’re dealing with a – not a religion, you’re dealing with a political system. And I think we should treat it as such, and treat its adherents as such, as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group.”

See Crooks and Liars, 10 November 2009

Muslim Mafia author calls for ‘backlash’ against US Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim MafiaA conservative author whose book was touted just last month by four Republican members of Congress is explicitly calling for a “backlash” against American Muslims in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings.

Dave Gaubatz, author of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America, made the comment in a semi-coherent interview with the group Family Security Matters.

In assigning collective blame for the Fort Hood killings, Gaubatz said:

“Politicians, Muslims, and law enforcement are concerned about a ‘backlash’ against Muslims. Now is the time for a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders. Muslims know what materials are being taught in their mosques and they know many of the materials instruct young Muslims to kill innocent people who do not adhere to Sharia law. If Muslims do not want a backlash, then I would recommend a ‘house cleaning’. Stack every Saudi, al Qaeda, Pakistani, Taliban, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood piece of material from their mosque and have a bonfire. Tell the American, Jewish, and Muslim community this hatred will no longer be allowed in their mosques.”

All of this might be dismissed as the ranting of a fringe lunatic, but for the fact that Gaubatz’s work has been circulated and endorsed by prominent Republican officials.

TPM, 9 November 2009

Update:  Cf. this interview with one Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association who rejects a backlash against Muslims “just because they’re Muslims” but adds: “We should not allow Muslims to serve in the US military and we have got to raise questions about whether we can afford to allow Muslims to immigrate into the United States at all.”

Muslim Mafia author calls for ‘backlash’ against US Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim MafiaA conservative author whose book was touted just last month by four Republican members of Congress is explicitly calling for a “backlash” against American Muslims in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings.

Dave Gaubatz, author of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America, made the comment in a semi-coherent interview with the group Family Security Matters.

In assigning collective blame for the Fort Hood killings, Gaubatz said:

“Politicians, Muslims, and law enforcement are concerned about a ‘backlash’ against Muslims. Now is the time for a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders. Muslims know what materials are being taught in their mosques and they know many of the materials instruct young Muslims to kill innocent people who do not adhere to Sharia law. If Muslims do not want a backlash, then I would recommend a ‘house cleaning’. Stack every Saudi, al Qaeda, Pakistani, Taliban, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood piece of material from their mosque and have a bonfire. Tell the American, Jewish, and Muslim community this hatred will no longer be allowed in their mosques.”

All of this might be dismissed as the ranting of a fringe lunatic, but for the fact that Gaubatz’s work has been circulated and endorsed by prominent Republican officials.

TPM, 9 November 2009

Update:  Cf. this interview with one Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association who rejects a backlash against Muslims “just because they’re Muslims” but adds: “We should not allow Muslims to serve in the US military and we have got to raise questions about whether we can afford to allow Muslims to immigrate into the United States at all.”