Investigation launched after claims of mosque attack in NATO base

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an official investigation into a mosque attack at the NATO İncirlik Air Base in the southern province of Adana, following claims that the attack was carried out by U.S. soldiers, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Turkish and U.S. generals, as well as other relevant authorities, will be asked for information about the incident as part of the investigation, reports said.

Local media in Adana had earlier reported that a number of soldiers at the İncirlik base entered the mosque on New Year’s Eve, destroying its minbar and windows along with the Quran. Turkey’s chief of staff subsequently denied the allegations.

Windows in the prayer room were broken by unknown individuals and there was some additional small-scale damage, the chief of staff said in a written statement issued late Jan. 10.

Hurriyet Daily News, 13 January 2013

Posted in USA

CAIR protest against Pamela Geller at Maryland conservative conference

CAIR anti-Geller protestMonths after a debate over controversial anti-Muslim billboards in some Metro stations erupted, the woman behind those ads appeared at an event in Annapolis.

And that controversy followed Pamela Geller to the event convened by the Maryland Conservative Action Network (MDCAN).

Protesters outside held signs with messages such as “Hate is Not an American Value.”

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Congressman doesn’t want college to accept book grant

An Eastern Carolina congressman says a local community college should not accept a grant that would explain the Muslim culture.

Craven Community College in New Bern says it will accept the National Endowment for the Humanities’ grant. “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys” would provide 25 books and a DVD to the college.

“It is appalling to me that a federal agency like NEH is wasting taxpayer money on programs like this,” said Jones. “It makes zero sense for the U.S. government to borrow money from China in order to promote the culture of Islamic civilizations,” said the Republican from the third district.

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Islamophobia doesn’t exist, claims WSJ contributor

The Islamophobia IndustryThe Wall Street Journal has published a hostile “review” by Jonathan Schanzer of Nathan Lean’s The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims.

Schanzer doesn’t just trash Lean’s book but also attacks the concept of Islamophobia itself, which he describes as “simply a pejorative neologism designed to warn people away from criticizing any aspect of Islam”. Those on the receiving end of the anti-Muslim hysteria whipped up by the Islamophobes so effectively exposed by Lean would no doubt take a different view.

For a response to Schanzer’s article, see “Bush era neo-con schmuck Jonathan Schanzer shills for nasty Islamophobia movement”, Loonwatch, 10 January 2013

CAIR campaigns for public officials to withdraw from conference featuring hatemonger Geller

MDCAN conference

The Maryland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD) is calling on Marylanders to contact several public officials in that state to request that they withdraw from participation in the upcoming Maryland Conservative Action Network Conference in Annapolis because the leader of a designated anti-Muslim hate group will speak at the event.

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New Jersey: Islamic Society attorney claims discrimination by planning board in mosque plan

Bernards Township anti-mosque signThe lawyer for a Somerset County Islamic organization believes that the township Planning Board is discriminating against his clients for wanting to build a mosque in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards.

Vincent T. Bisogno, attorney for the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, said the board increased the parking requirement to 110 spaces despite a zoning ordinance suggesting a house of worship of this size be required to have 50 spaces. “Is it (the ordinance) only for Christians?” Bisogno asked during a board meeting Tuesday night.

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Shots fired at Ismaili Jamatkhana in Georgia

Ismaili JamatkhanaFAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Fayette County Sheriff investigators are trying to find out who took shots at a Muslim house of prayer early Tuesday morning. Deputies were alerted when an alarm went off in the Ismaili Jamatkhana on Flat Creek Trail at 2:08 a.m.

“A responding Deputy Sheriff arrived on the scene and located the appearance of gunshots to the building,” said Sheriff Barry Babb.

Deputies found four windows on the back side of the building shattered by gunfire. No one was in the building when it happened.

Farida Nurani, a spokesperson for the Jamatkhana, said the building is a house of prayer and community center. Nurani said security measures are being taken and guards will be at the building 24 hours.

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Geller and Spencer OK with passport fraud

Stephen Lennon at SION conference
Illegal immigrant Stephen Lennon speaking at Geller and Spencer’s New York conference

Over at Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, Richard Bartholomew examines the responses by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to the conviction of English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon on a charge of passport fraud.

It seems that these self-styled defenders of the western legal system against the supposed encroachments of Sharia law can’t even bring themselves to condemn the commission of this serious criminal offence by the man they have hailed as the leader of the British counterjihadist movement.

In addition, of course, Geller and Spencer still haven’t provided us with an explanation of how Lennon could have arrived in New York on a false passport them knowing. Until they do so, the suspicion will remain that they actively co-operated with him in securing his illegal entry to the US so he could attend their conference.

Which, if I understand US law correctly, is a criminal offence there too.