Tag Archives: USA

Egypt: Obama, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood

by Claudia
Logo Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Brotherhood's logo. Image via Wikipedia

This is hardly surprising…

Elliot Abrams, a deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs under President Bush, noted that Muslim Brotherhood positions on women, on freedom of religion and on religious tests for candidacy to public office are all “an anathema” to the USA. He went on to explain that there is a great likelihood that those in the Muslim Brotherhood who preach the need for the supremacy of Shari’a law in Arab states will prevail. Nonetheless, he agrees with the President that formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood open the doors to American influence, and that influence may moderate the Brotherhood’s extremist Islamists positions. In addition he expressed the belief that there are divisions in the Brotherhood which could be exploited and deepened by meetings with American representatives.

Abrams’ assessment is very reminiscent of Israel’s western allies believing that political responsibility would moderate Arafat after Oslo in 1993; or that Hamas would be forced to self-moderate once it was saddled with the administration of the Gaza Strip after its bloody coup. Neither belief was founded in reality.

It is important to recall that the Muslim Brotherhood, since its inception more than 80 years ago, has been consistent in its ideology: the imposition of Shari’a law, by violence, on the entire world. Repression by Arab governments has never moderated it. Its core motivations arise from the jihadist Islamist belief in the obligation incumbent upon all Muslims to make Islam the only, or at least dominant, religion in the world. It is the oldest and among the best organized and wide-spread Islamic extremist terrorist organizations in the world. Its program for a “cultural invasion” of western countries, outlining a phased plan for infiltrating western societies and governments until it has the power to escalate its activities into political or violent confrontation, has been public for more than 20 years. Hamas, a self-proclaimed genocidal terrorist organization whose charter establishes its goal of destroying Israel, is a franchise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have expressed the desire to destroy the United States and make Islam the only, or the dominant, religion in the world. Why would a few western carrots or sticks make it change its core beliefs?

It seems likely that whatever his intentions, Obama’s contacts with the Brotherhood will strengthen it politically and increase its chances of becoming one of the dominant, if not the dominant, political force in Egypt. Being able to boast of Obama’s implicit recognition of the Brotherhood’s importance, the Brotherhood will now have an easier time gaining recruits, soliciting funds, and engaging with other major powers in Europe and elsewhere.

via Obama, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

And we have also seen what has happened with the Arab spring in Egypt, where the Islamists have flooded, expelling democratic protesters.

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Blasphemy resolution update: OIC, West pledge to “combat intolerance”

by Claudia
Flag of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference

Flag of the OIC. Image via Wikipedia

The real consequences of Breivik’s attack:

In what can rightly be described as a seminal step in relations between the Muslim world and the Western world, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the leading nations of the Western world led by the United States and the European Union agreed Saturday to take concrete steps to combat intolerance, negative stereotyping and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief.

The high-level meeting was held at the historic Yildiz Palace in Istanbul. It was attended by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Cathrine Ashton along with foreign ministers and officials from France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, the Vatican, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Arab League and African Union. The meeting was co-chaired by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Ever since he took office, the OIC secretary-general has been working on formulating ways and means to stop acts of religious intolerance. (Really? Because in the Mohammed cartoons, he actually fueled the conflict… and he is one of those who see plots against Islam everywhere and a “pandemic of Islam vilification” than should be fought against with a “blashphemy monitoring mechanism”).

“It was during my address to the 15th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that I outlined a new approach toward evolving a consensus against incitement to violence and intolerance on religious grounds that could endanger peaceful coexistence and must be viewed as a direct contrast to the very notion of a globalized world,” said Ihsanoglu. “I am glad that the eight points in the proposed approach found resonance with all the negotiating partners. They formed the basis of the consensus reflected in Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. The importance of the consensual adoption of this resolution should be duly recognized.”

via OIC, West pledge to combat intolerance – Arab News.

But there is more:

The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced the intention of the U.S. State Department to organize a coordination meeting during her participation in the meeting which she co-chaired with the OIC Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Istanbul on 15 July 2011. The meeting issued a joint statement emphasizing the dire need for the implementation of resolution 16/18.

The US is actually supporting the implementation of this resolution that wants to prevent criticism of Islam.
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South America: Hezbollah Gaining Strength Dealing with Mexican Drug Cartels

by Claudia
hezbullah sign

Image by stevendamron via Flickr

Noriega told the committee that the Venezuelan government is encouraging Hezbollah activities in several Latin American nations. A key operative in the Hezbollah network, he pointed out, is the second highest ranked diplomat in the Venezuelan embassy in Syria, Ghazi Nassereddine.

Nassereddine, who was born in Lebanon, reportedly manages a network that raises and launders money and trains operatives to expand Hezbollah’s influence in Venezuela and other Latin American countries.

Noriega also noted that an Iranian overseer of Hezbollah is Mohsen Rabbani, who is wanted by Argentinian prosecutors for his role in the 1992 and 1994 terrorist attacks against the Israeli embassy and the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.

via Hezbollah Gaining Strength in Latin America Dealing with Mexican Drug Cartels | Stopping the spread of Sharia in America.

More:

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USA: Muslim woman says feds should force mosques to “end gender apartheid”

by Claudia
Asra Nomani-12

Image by Inkyhack via Flickr

Asra Q. Nomani, a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, argues that the Internal Revenue Service should move to deny tax-exempt status to any place of worship that holds to different roles for men and women. In “End Gender Apartheid in U.S. Mosques,” Nomani writes, “I’ve come to the difficult decision that women must use the legal system to restore rights in places of worship…”

“Nomani writes out of her own experience as a Muslim woman in the United States,” reports Mohler.

As she relates in her article, she has joined with a movement that has launched “Pray Ins” at several mosques in the Washington, D.C. area, protesting the practice of separating Muslim men and women for prayers.

via USA Today: Muslim woman says feds should force mosques to “end gender apartheid” – Beliefnet News.

Wikileaks: Al-Qaida hatred for Pope caused US worries about Vatican security

by Claudia

Saint Peter's. Vatican City

“Al-Qaida has publicly identified the Pope and the Catholic Church as an enemy (‘Crusaders’), and Vatican City attracts hundreds of thousands of American citizen visitors each year, both tourists and pilgrims,” the cable continued. 

According to the cable, the head of the Vatican Gendarme Corps Domenico Giani had sought specific security training from the FBI, including explosives ordinance training for Vatican Gendarmerie members at the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia. However, the cable reported, Giani has been “reluctant to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with the United States about Vatican capabilities and preparedness to respond to a terrorist attack.”

Well, I agree with the Vatican official in this. If not, I’m sure Wikileaks would have released their capacities “to respond to a terrorist attack”… 🙄

Photo.

Spain: Zapatero offered Obama to host AFRICOM at Rota Naval Base

by Claudia

Zapatero offered to increase U.S. military presence in Spain titled El País on its cover on Wednesday December 8, 2010.

It added: “José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was eager to turn the page on the bad relations with President George Bush and wanted to ingratiate with Obama. Just after the latter arrived at the Casa Blanca, Zapatero showed his willingness to increase U.S. military presence atRota Naval Base and offered it to be used by Africom, the new Pentagon command for Africa. “

Found here.

Well, I understand that is necessary for both countries to maintain a good relationship. But it’s quite hypocrite to see Zapatero going after Obama this way, after calling for other countries to order their troops back from Iraq and remaining seated while US flag was passing before him at Spanish National Day Parade on 2003. With his half machiavelic schemes, half childish, he doesn’t understand that Obama is not US Prez for ever and that another Republican can (and, with present circumstances will) be elected. So, then, will they be offering this still?

By the way, just to measure his great democratic spirit: he didn’t even ask the Parliament if they agreed on this. Isn’t that marvellous? 😡

Experts to Obama: Negotiate with the Taliban

by Claudia

Researchers Gilles Dorronsoro from France and Italian Antonio Giustozzi, as well as Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, were among those who said the current strategy was failing as the Taliban, ousted from government by a US-led invasion in 2001, grew in strength.

A coalition government that includes the Taliban should be the long-term goal, they said.

“We ask you to sanction and support a direct dialogue and negotiation with the Afghan Taliban leadership residing in Pakistan,” the experts said in their open letter.

“It is better to negotiate now rather than later, since the Taliban will likely be stronger next year.”

“The situation on the ground is much worse than a year ago because the Taliban insurgency has made progress across the country,” the letter said.

“The Taliban today are now a national movement with a serious presence in the north and the west of the country.”

Well, imagine these guys in the IIWW and just think what they would have been called if they would have advised to “negotiate with the Nazis”. Consider too what consequences this would have to the Taliban presence in the are: indeed their presence now would be much greater than before 2001 if ISAF ends their mission there.

Funny news of the month

by Claudia

Bush’s approval rating over Obamamessiah‘s:

The ex-President’s approval rating rose to 47% in recent weeks according to a Gallup poll released Monday, which is one point higher than Obama’s rating in a survey also taken this week.

The poll results represent a surprising rebound for the once fiercely unpopular Bush, whose approval rating was just 25% just a little over a year ago.

Ouch!

 

Venezuela: Iran to place medium-range missiles inside Venezuela that can reach the US

by Claudia

See?? That's where we are going to build the base, Mahmoud

[…] According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an “emergency”. In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for “national needs” … radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers

via Huge Problem: Iran to place medium-range missiles inside Venezuela that can reach the U.S. :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience.

More here and here.


An Iranian Shahab 3 missile. (UPI)

(via GP).

US: California Mosque Mole “Erodes Trust Between Muslims, FBI”

by Claudia

The mole was stupid. He was there to locate terrorists, not to create new ones…

Farouk al-Aziz allegedly tried to incite members of a California mosque to blow up a mall, they reported him to the FBI, but nothing happened.

Apparently, that’s because al-Aziz was actually Craig Monteilh, a paid FBI informant and ex-convict sent to infiltrate the mosque and expose a potential terrorist. But the FBI’s attempt to spy on the mosque was exposed instead, in a case that has imperiled relations between the agency and American Muslims.

via California Mosque Mole Erodes Trust Between Muslims, FBI.

This man was trying to locate (supposedly) possible terrorists, which means he wasn’t there to create them. In fact, Spain the incitement to commit crimes by police officers is prohibited because it would violate the personal liberty of the individual. I do not know how this is regulated will be in the U.S., but it is clear that this man wasn’t actually there to convince people to be terrorists but just to locate the actual ones.

This leads us to the second point I want to comment on this: the sensibility of Muslims.Today, “not all Muslims are terrorists, but virtually all terrorists are Muslims“. Placing mosques under surveillance may seem alarming, but if we consider the messages of hate that are preached in some of them, the relationship of some imams with terrorist activities and the fact that some of them have been used as arms’ deposits, the measure is justified, specially if there is suspicion of any of those activities in them. It is not necessary to invent more terrorists: there are more than enough … 😦

There is also another possibility: the FBI recruit him believing that he wasn’t a terrorist and he actually wanted to blow the mall…

Wikileaks: US is worried about Catalonia being “the main center of Mediterranean jihadism”

by Claudia

Nothing we did not already know, about jihadism in Catalonia, but it is interesting to see U.S. concerns on the subject.

The U.S. Embassy in Madrid believe that Catalonia is the hottest spot of radical Islam in Spain, a scenario that should be monitored and controlled as a bridge to the Mediterranean. The strong presence of Moroccan and Pakistani community in Barcelona and the effervescent activity of Islamists in towns such as Tarragona, Hospitalet, Badalona and Reus concern to U.S. intelligence services. IN fact, they consider this community as its first research objective. The secret documents of the State Department define Catalonia as the main center of Islamism in the Mediterranean.

So concerned they were, that they have opened some offices in Barcelona for “a multi-agency co-ordinating the fight against terrorism, crime and intelligence information to combat the growing threat jihadist and criminal activities in the region” in collaboration with our Spanish hosts. ”

Background:

  1. Catalonia: the meaning of the Pakistani terrorists’ detentions (for translation to English, scroll down).
  2. Spain: No1. place in recruitment of Islamist terrorists in Europe. Most of the Islamist terrorist choose the Muslim communities in Catalonia to create sleeping cells. 80% of the police operations have taken place in Catalonia and 31% of the 130 Islamists who are now in prison were arrested in Catalonia.
  3. Spain: alleged Al-Qaeda financier belongs to Socialist Party’s Executive Board.
  4. Spain: Salafist criminal “procedure” condemns a woman to death on adultery charges.
  5. Spain: Islamic Moral Police in action.
  6. Spain: Italian Prosecutors’ report showed AQIM recruitment.
  7. Spain: Salafist Imam Charged for Coercing a Woman to Wear Hijab.
  8. Spain: Seven accused of setting up a Sharia court, freed.
  9. Spain: the dangers of locating mosques in industrial areas.
  10. Spain: pro-independency Catalonian entity wants to show the “bonds that historically have existed between Islam and Catalonia”.
  11. Spain: police arrest 7 linked to al-Qaida

Venezuela: Chávez’s relatives are millionaires in the US

by Claudia

Hugo Chávez, laughing after knowing how much he and his family have in bank accounts across the world

Hugo Chávez, laughing after knowing how much he and his family have in bank accounts across the world

Weapons, parties, concerts, jewelry, cars, travels, changes of look are part of the lifestyle of the family of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, who is a staunch defender of socialism and a tough anti-capitalist.

DEA reports from 2008, indicate that you have identified five bank accounts in U.S. financial institutions amounting to nearly $ 140 million belonging to the brothers and mother of the president of Venezuela.

But you know? Then he will insist he is a suporter of the “socialism of the XXI century” and talk about the “Bolivarian revolution”. And people like Sean Penn will of course, support him.

Anyway, looking on the bright side. As he has blamed “criminal capitalism” for the recent heavy rains that have fallen in Venezuela, we can, safely, blame his family for them… and for global warming!! :mrgreen:

Saudi Arabia Fueling Religious Persecution And Extremism

by Claudia

If yesterday we were speaking about Saudi private donors being one of the main sources of Islamic terrorism, today we know more about textbooks inciting hate against non-believers produced by Saudis and exported throughout the world.

America’s top financial counter-terrorism official, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey, believes there’s a strong link between education and support for terror. As he wrote in the Washington Post last June, to end support for such terror, among other steps,

“we must focus on educational reform in key locations to ensure that intolerance has no place in curricula and textbooks. . . . [U]nless the next generation of children is taught to reject violent extremism, we will forever be faced with the challenge of disrupting the next group of terrorist facilitators and supporters.”

Saudi Arabia is one such “key location.” The kingdom is not just any country with problematic textbooks. As the controlling authority of the two holiest shrines of Islam, Saudi Arabia is able to disseminate its religious materials among the millions of Muslims making the hajj to Mecca each year. Such teachings can, in this context, make a great impression.

In addition, Saudi textbooks are also posted on the Saudi Education Ministry’s website and are shipped and distributed free by a vast Sunni infrastructure established with Saudi oil wealth to many Muslim schools, mosques and libraries throughout the world. In his book The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright asserts that while Saudis constitute only 1 percent of the world’s Muslims, they pay “90 per cent of the expenses of the entire faith, overriding other traditions of Islam.” Others estimate that, on an annual basis, Saudi Arabia spends three times as much in exporting its Wahhabi ideology as did the Soviets in propagating Communism during the height of the Cold War. From the Netherlands and Bosnia, to Algeria and Tunisia, to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to Somalia and Nigeria, nationals of these countries have reported that over the past twenty to thirty years local Islamic traditions are being transformed and radicalized under intensifying Saudi influence. The late President of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid wrote that Wahhabism was making inroads even in his famously tolerant nation of Indonesia.

To understand why Jim Woolsey and other terrorism experts call Wahhabism as it spreads through the Islamic diaspora “kindling for Usama Bin Laden’s match,” it is important to know the content of Saudi textbooks. They teach, along with many other noxious lessons, that Jews and Christians are “enemies,” and they dogmatically instruct that that it is permissible, even obligatory, to kill various groups of “unbelievers“ — apostates (which includes Muslim moderates who reject Saudi Wahhabi doctrine), polytheists (which can include Shias and Sufis, as well as Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists.), Jews, and adulterers. The texts also teach that the “punishment for homosexuality is death” and discusses that this can be done by immolation by fire, stoning or throwing the accused from a high place.

…

Four years ago, the Saudis gave a solemn and specific promise to the United States. Its terms were described in a letter from the U.S. assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs to Sen. Jon Kyl, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security: “In July of 2006, the Saudi Government confirmed to us its policy to undertake a program of textbook reform to eliminate all passages that disparage or promote hatred toward any religion or religious groups.” Furthermore, the State Department letter reported that this pledge would be fulfilled “in time for the start of the 2008 school year.”

Saudi Arabia has failed to keep its promise to the United States. One Wikileak cable from the US embassy reports that Saudi education reform seems “glacial.” In its newly released 2010 annual report on religious freedom, the State Department itself asserted, albeit with diplomatic understatement, with respect to Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks: “Despite government revisions to elementary and secondary education textbooks, they retained language intolerant of other religious traditions, especially Jewish, Christian, and Shi’a beliefs, including commands to hate infidels and kill apostates.”

via Saudi Arabia Fueling Religious Persecution And Extremism.

WikiLeaks: Saudi private donors remain main source of Islamic terrorism

by Claudia

This isn’t surprising, of course…

Hajj is one of the financial sources of Islamic terrorism

“Terrorist funding emanating from Saudi Arabia remains a serious concern.” So states a cable prepared for the visit of U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke to the kingdom earlier this year.

It is one of several that have appeared on the WikiLeaks site to indicate that despite some progress, the flow of cash to extremist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan from individuals and charities in the Gulf has certainly not been halted.

The cable, written by U.S. Ambassador James B Smith, says that the Saudis are “cooperating more actively than at any previous point to respond to terrorist financing concerns raised by the United States, and to investigate and detain financial facilitators of concern.”

It says the Saudi Ministry of Interior had begun to detain individuals involved in funding networks for groups such as Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), an extremist Pakistani group that carried out the Mumbai attacks in 2008, the Taliban, and Hamas.

But it says donors in Saudi Arabia “continue to constitute a source of funding to Sunni extremist groups worldwide, especially during the Hajj and Ramadan.” And it adds the kingdom remains “almost completely dependent on the CIA to provide analytic support and direction for its counterterrorism operations.”

via WikiLeaks cables assess terrorism funding in Saudi Arabia, Gulf states – CNN.com.

Afghanistan: Taliban killer had clean background

by Claudia

The Afghan policeman who killed six American troops had been on the force for three years and had no criminal background, Afghanistan’s interior ministry has said.

The gunman, who also died in the shooting on Monday, opened fire as the group was on its way to a weapons range in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the officer had enlisted as a sleeper agent in order to have an opportunity to kill foreigners.

The bloodshed – which appeared to be the deadliest attack of its kind in at least two years – underscored one of the risks in the programme to train enough recruits to turn over the lead for security to Afghan forces by 2014.

via Express.co.uk – Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | World News :: Afghan killer had clean background.

Having so much anxiety to leave is not good. The danger of course, is to do everything wrong and, although some things have already being done in a very wrong way (Sharia Law being a source of law according to the Constitution), things can even get worse…

Moreover, this is not the first time that happens (1, 2).

‘Christmas Tree Bomber’ Mohamud Was In Touch With Al Qaeda Mouthpiece

by Claudia

Republicanmother asked me here if “Christmas Tree Bomber” was in fact a danger, considering that the bomb he had planted was given to him by FBI. It looks that, despite his friends being stunned by his arrest, he was more dangerous than he looked at first.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, the Somali-American college student charged with plotting an attack on a Christmas lighting event in Portland, Oregon, was in contact with, and wrote articles for, another prominent American al Qaeda propagandist for nearly two years, authorities say.

…

The FBI affidavit alleges that Mohamud stated to undercover agents that he had wanted to take part in violent jihad since he was 15, and that he told FBI agents that he had written four articles since 2009 for two different on-line jihadist magazines edited and distributed by Samir Khan.

Khan, 24, is the Saudi-born, New York-raised editor behind Inspire magazine, the English language online publication of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Khan, who has said he is currently hiding in Yemen, has become a rising figure in jihadist propaganda and an “aspiring” Anwar Awlaqi, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

Samir Khan is the guy who wrote “I am Al-Qaeda to the core” and “I am proud to be a traitor to US“. He also said: I am acutely aware that body parts have to be torn apart, skulls have to be crushed and blood has to be spilled in order for this (Islam’s claim to power in modern world) to be a reality“. His magazine Inspire Magazine published a list of terrorist tips recently.

USA: FBI thwarts terrorist bombing attempt at Portland holiday tree lighting, authorities say

by Claudia

There we go again:

The FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city’s annual tree-lighting Friday night, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon.A Corvallis man, thinking he was going to ignite a bomb, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it.

However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint signed Friday night by U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation, during which Mohamud had been monitored for months as his alleged bomb plot developed.

via FBI thwarts terrorist bombing attempt at Portland holiday tree lighting, authorities say | OregonLive.com.