FOR THOSE OF YOU ON THE “CONSERVATIVE” SIDE OF THE FENCE, READ THIS AND

FOR THOSE OF YOU ON THE “CONSERVATIVE” SIDE OF THE FENCE, READ THIS AND
 LEARN TO UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS BETTER THAN EVER. FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT
 ON THE “CONSERVATIVE” SIDE OF THE FENCE, PLEASE READ AND LEARN A DIFFERENT
 VIEWPOINT.

 Wherever you stand, please take the time to read this; it ought to scare
 the pants off you!

 We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his
 thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration
 overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of
 America’s finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the
 name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, “Mexifornia,”
 explaining how immigration – both legal and illegal was destroying the
 entire state of California. He said it would march across the country
 until
 it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

 Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave  a
 stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as
 he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He
 said, “If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too
 rich, then let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in
 history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all
 great civilizations rise and fall and that ‘An autopsy of history would
 show that all great nations commit suicide.’”

 “Here is how they do it,” Lamm said: “First, to destroy America, turn
 America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country.” History
 shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of
 two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an
 individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be
 bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: “The
 histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate
 are
 histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.” Canada, Belgium, Malaysia,
 and
 Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press
 for
 autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria
 suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques,
 Bretons, and Corsicans.”.

 Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, “Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and
 encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of
 belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences
 Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are
 due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other
 explanation is out of bounds.

 Third, “We could make the United States an ‘Hispanic Quebec’ without much
 effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin
 Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: “The apparent success of
 our
 own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not
 by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated
 ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only
 tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.”  Lamm said, “I would
 encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would
 replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is
 important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in
 America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing
 their similarities.”

 “Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least
 educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated,
 and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass
 have a 50% dropout rate from high school.”

 “My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and
 business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic
 identity, and I would establish the cult of ‘Victimology’ I would get all
 minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the
 majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure
 on the majority population.”

 “My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship, and
 promote divided loyalties I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would
 stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are
 mostly engaged in hating each other – that is, when they are not killing
 each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most
 historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a
 nation
 together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they
 belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and
 literature;
 and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic
 games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these
 bonds were n ot strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism
 and
 geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell.
 “E.
 Pluribus Unum” –From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the
 emphasis on the ‘pluribus’ instead of
 the ‘Unum,’ we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.”

 “Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to
 talk
 about anything against the cult of ‘diversity.’ I would find a word
 similar
 to ‘heretic’ in the 16th century – that stopped discussion and paralyzed
 thinking. Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and debate.
 Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established
 multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of
 ‘Victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration
 laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for
 America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant
 symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.”

 In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound
 silence followed. Finally he said,. “Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson
 Davis’s book “Mexifornia.” His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to
 destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don’t read
 that book.”

 There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud
 above every attendee at the conference. Every Americ an in that room knew
 that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly,
 darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is
 being
 suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our
 educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that
 practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate
 ‘diversity.’
 American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a
 Third World in America – take note of California and other states – to
 date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of
 George Orwell’s book “1984.” In that story, three slogans are engraved in
 the Ministry of Truth building: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and
 “Ignorance is strength.”

 Governor Lamm wa lked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the
 conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is
 deeply
 in trouble and worsening fast. If we don’t get this immigration monster
 stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and
 destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.

 If you care for and love our country as I do, take the time to pass this
 on just as I did for you. NOTHING is going to happen if you don’t.

USS Enterprise Heads To Iran…

…to join the world’s largest sea-based strike force already on their doorstep. More of what the MSM won’t tell you:

The Enterprise makes three. Three carriers and three strike groups, total.

This finalizes the first phase of military escalation against Iran that VP Cheney promised to the Gulf States.

The message we sent to Iran in Baghdad was signigicant only to people who don’t know better, like the media and dumb politicians. The real message is in the weapons of mass destruction, the instruments of the apocalypse of Iran’s nuclear facilities and infrastructure, that we have strung like a Damocles sword above their heads. Bush has made it quietly clear to them that we are going to strike. Forget Condi’s for-the-press face today. For many months now, while no one has been able to really see and understand, we have been waging a war of finality against Iran and her ambitions. While everyone in the media, and on the media’s receiving end, have been wringing their hands in anquish at our seeming impotence and inaction, the VP has been functioning as a nearly one man army/terrorist wreaking havoc through the halls of power in Tehran. Why do you think he has been taking all those trips through the region? To discuss the latest trends in couscous recipes? He has been shoring up relationships, building strategy, and waging the necessary war against Iran. Why is he about to visit all of Iran’s northern neighbors? Why has Iran been taking Americans captive in a feverish panic? Coincidence? Why is the architect of Iran’s nuclear program, Vladimir Putin, about to head to a private summit with Bush? Why all the posturing about a missile shield? It’s all about Iran, and Putin is working to get all he can as the price for his blessing.

No one is asleep at the wheel. Except the media and the Democrats.

There’s a lot, and I mean A LOT, that’s been going on behind the scenes. An entire war, in fact. More to report shortly…

EARLIER

The Case for Conservatism

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002026.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

The Truth about Syria

“Is Syria likely to attack Israel directly? It is possible–most likely via a deniable terrorist attack by a mysterious group. That is exactly how Syria is now trying to undermine Lebanon, with many in the West swallowing the propaganda that Fatah al-Islam is a shadowy al-Qaida branch rather than a Syrian surrogate. More likely, Syria might use Hizballah in a year or so to launch another attack on Israel. But next time, Israel might retaliate against the sponsor of the aggression–Syria–unlike what happened in summer 2006″.Barry Rubin

By Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com, June 1, 2007

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research for International Affairs (GLORIA) Center of the Interdisciplinary university (IDC), and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal and of Turkish Studies journal. He is the author of The Long War for Freedom, Yasir Arafat, The Tragedy of the Middle East, and Hating America. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, and many other publications. He has been a Council on Foreign Relations Fellow and is the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs. He is the author of the new book The Truth about Syria. CONTINUE

Posted by Jerry Gordon @ 11:41 am |

Busted: NYC terror plot — read this

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007653.htm

The conundrum of countering terrorism

• We still haven’t learned how to effectively fight extremists, a leading expert tells national security editor Patrick Walters
  

  ---

• June 02, 2007

THE US and its allies, bogged down in Iraq, are at a dangerous

crossroads in the war on Islamist terrorists as al-Qa’ida regroups and

re-organises its global operations.

That’s the view of US terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman of Washington’s Georgetown University. “Two years ago we believed we really had them on the run and that their command and control was essentially fractured. But during this period they were actually marshalling their forces to carry on the struggle,” Hoffman tells Inquirer.

The Oxford-educated Hoffman, who has spent 30 years studying terrorism, says he believes the West is in a dangerous situation. He arrived in Australia last month to speak to NSW police at a conference.

“Iraq has not just preoccupied our attention but enervated our militaries,” he says. “While this is occurring, al-Qa’ida and its affiliates have been able to regroup. They are not the same as they were on September 10, 2001. But nonetheless they are stronger now than they were two years ago and present a more serious threat.”

According to Hoffman the most compelling evidence of al-Qa’ida’s resilience is the plot, uncovered by British authorities last year, that involved plans for simultaneous attacks on 10 airliners from Britain en route to the US. Almost all the actual and disrupted attacks in Britain since 2003 have involved al-Qa’ida command elements operating in Pakistan, Hoffman says.

Iraq remains the greatest single counter-terrorism challenge for the US. Resolving that conflict is the only way to make progress, he contends. “One thing is indisputable: Iraq has become an enormous accelerant in radicalisation worldwide, and it’s being used by our opponents as a rallying cry. No progress is going to be made without resolving Iraq,” Hoffman says.

“Every martyrdom video talks about Iraq. It’s become a very formidable propaganda tool.”

This week, al-Qa’ida in Iraq continued to mount spectacular bombing attacks, with coalition military commanders warning that the next few months could see a surge in the group’s attacks as US and Iraqi forces try desperately to secure Baghdad.

Hoffman doesn’t like the phrase “war on terror”, arguing the notion has been characterised very effectively by the US’s adversaries as a war on Islam.

“Our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere has given them the opportunity to capitalise on the war on terrorism as a rallying cry,” he says.

The Iraq conflict has already had a spillover effect with tactics and weaponry honed in the Sunni Triangle now being routinely employed in Lebanon and Afghanistan.

Hoffman says Afghanistan is poised on a razor’s edge in terms of the counter-terrorism struggle as the lessons of Iraq are absorbed by the Taliban and al-Qa’ida fighters using the internet.

“Two years ago we were far more optimistic about Afghanistan. The fact that it has slipped back so dramatically is enormously worrisome if we take a net assessment of where the war on terrorism is going.”

There are not only Pakistani jihadist bases that are assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan but al-Qa’ida training camps in north Warizistan are also aiding insurgents and planning attacks much further afield. While NATO and its allies, including Australia, are taking the fight to the Taliban, Hoffman says they have to invest more in the fundamental tenet of counter-insurgency warfare: achieving local stability and security.

This involves not just a long-term commitment but building up indigenous security forces as quickly as possible to take the lead role: the same challenge that faces the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Hoffman argues al-Qa’ida’s ability to regenerate its forces is the biggest challenge facing the US and its allies, who are locked into a multi-generational struggle. Although there have been successes in disrupting networks, such as Jemaah Islamiah in Indonesia, new generations of Muslim youth are being radicalised. There are more than 5000 internet sites devoted to terrorism, an exponential increase compared with three years ago.

Hoffman points out there is “a tremendous youth bulge” that presents an enormous demographic challenge across north Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Many of these societies have a high proportion of their populations under 17 years of age.

“These people that are growing up in these environments are going to be grist for the terrorists’ and insurgents’ mill. We continue to kill and capture but alongside the use of kinetics (conventional military operations), we have to develop means that much more effectively counter the resonance of the terrorists’ message. We do almost nothing to counter that.”

At the same time US government budget cutbacks are affecting the very programs that allow the US to engage the Muslim world. According to Hoffman the Voice of America, the US Government’s main overseas broadcasting arm, devotes only 6 per cent of its budget to internet communications, yet that medium is the main means of radicalisation and recruitment for terrorist groups.

“It is inexplicable that we devote a paltry amount of resources to countering it,” he says.

An emerging threat highlighted by Hoffman and other terrorism experts is the proliferation in other societies of so-called stand-off weapons and improvised explosive devices such as the powerful roadside bombs seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We seem to be now fixated on suicide terrorism spreading from Iraq and I am sure it will. But I think we will see more of these improvised explosive devices and stand-off weapons because it is a low-risk means of attacking your enemies. It’s low-cost and you preserve your assets and your personnel.”

A key change in al-Qa’ida’s strategy during the past two years is its recently adopted penchant for the use of unconventional weapons – chemical, biological and radiological – not necessarily for their killing potential, but for the corrosive psychological impact they can have on society at large. In Iraq this has involved the use of truck-mounted chlorine gas cylinders combined with high explosives.

“Al-Qa’ida is still constantly scanning the horizon to identify new gaps in our defences. I think over a decade ago their identification of their diaspora communities as a source of new recruits was a strategic investment that paid off, given the kind of plots we have seen in the UK,” Hoffman says.

He argues the challenge posed for the US by al-Qa’ida and its affiliates is a new paradigm that demands a far greater focus on long-term political strategies. Conventional military responses not only cannot defeat the enemy but may even be counterproductive.

“We still think of terrorism as something that’s perpetrated by actual organisations or groups,” Hoffman says.

“What we see is that it is something that’s more akin to a mass movement that’s really facilitated by a system ofnetworks. We need a different military approach that’s about winning hearts and minds and building capacity more effectively in countries threatened by terrorism.”

Hoffman says the Western intelligence community is fully aware of the evolving spectrum of threats coming from al-Qa’ida and associated Islamist groups but nevertheless is struggling to keep abreast or in front of a highly adaptive enemy.

Australia, he observes, has a great deal of geographical advantage in confronting the terrorism challenge given that the nation occupies a continent and has arguably the world’s best border control regime.

“Long before many other countries, Australia had very strict visa policies,” Hoffman says.

“It’s a tremendous advantage but no country can think of itself as immune to the heady currents of radicalisation and the clarion calls to violence.”

Recruited To Die

http://www.nysun.com/article/55653?page_no=1

Senator Reid’s Amnesty for Terrorists Bill

 

Senator Reid’s Amnesty for Terrorists Bill
Andy Selepak
Author: Andy Selepak
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: June 1, 2007

 

The facts demonstrate that illegal alien amnesty bills have already helped five terrorists kill Americans! FSM Contributing Editor Andy Selepak asks, “Why do we tolerate the spectacle of our government officials putting our lives at risk?”

Senator Reid’s Amnesty for Terrorists Bill

By Andy Selepak

After the capture by federal authorities of six alleged Muslim terrorists, three of whom were illegal aliens, charged with planning a terrorist attack on the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was quoted by ABC News on May 10, 2007, as saying, “I think it would be a real tragedy if we tried to make this immigration debate one dealing with terrorism.”

Reid thinks it would be a tragedy if the debate over immigration addressed how potential terrorists enter the United States? Isn’t the purpose of an immigration bill to regulate and restrict who enters this country? Shouldn’t it be a given that terrorists are to be kept out of the U.S.?

On one level, Reid’s statement might be seen as a gaffe or misstatement. Politicians make them occasionally. But in light of the Fort Dix case, his statement must be seen as far worse. It should be viewed as designed to ignore a problem that continues to pose a mortal danger to every American. That’s why the Senate’s amnesty legislation has to be derailed before politicians make a bad situation even worse.

Nevertheless, Reid got away with this shocking statement because the media, like the Democrats, President Bush and some Republicans, have a blind spot on how America’s immigration policy has facilitated the entry into the U.S. of people who want to kill us.

We should recall the facts about the so-called “Fort Dix Six.” They included Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, from Jordan; Eljvir Duka, 23, Dritan Duka, 28, and Shain Duka, 26, all from the former Yugoslavia and ethnic Albanians; Serder Tatar, 23, from Turkey; and Argon Abdullahu, 24, from the former Yugoslavia and an ethnic Albanian. Abdullahu is charged with helping the Dukas illegally obtain firearms. Only Shnewer was a U.S. citizen, Tatar and Abdullahu were described by the Post as being “legal residents,” and the three Duka brothers were all residing in the U.S. illegally.

The Star Ledger reported on May 10, 2007, that “The Duka family entered the United States illegally through Mexico in October 1984,” including the three brothers’ mother and father, Zurata and Ferik Duka.

Senator Reid’s statement about separating the immigration debate from terrorism represents a break with reality. Why isn’t he held accountable by our media for this blindness?

Although three of the Fort Dix Six were illegal aliens, they were not uncovered by the U.S. immigration system, the Patriot Act, the FBI, or the CIA. According to the May 9 Washington Post, the would-be terrorists were “undone after attempting to have jihad training tapes copied onto a DVD.” The paper noted that “Had they not offered up an alleged jihadist video to be duplicated at a nearby Circuit City, they might never have been spotted.”

It should not have come down to the terrorists’ stupidity that led them to be caught. The fact is that the Duka brothers would never have had the opportunity to train in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, or film their training, if it were not for a broken U.S. immigration system. And all this only six years after 9/11, when terrorist attacks carried out by foreign nationals, here both legally and illegally, killed nearly 3,000 Americans.

The 1993 World Trade Center bombings and September 11^thshould have prompted an immediate overhaul of our badly broken immigration system, but Reid doesn’t want the terrorist threat to get in the way of allowing millions of illegal aliens to stay in the U.S. and making a large number of them U.S. citizens and Democratic Party constituents. Short-term political gain trumps keeping America safe.  

In the Fort Dix case, American soldiers and civilians were needlessly put in danger and almost killed because our government refuses to enforce our immigration laws.

Hundreds could have been killed and/or wounded, and the blame would have fallen onPresident Bush, both political parties and both Houses of Congress. Our immigration system is broken, but so is our government. We have a federal system of government unable or unwilling to protect and defend our borders.

While the Dukas had evaded immigration authorities for 23 years, they had not avoided the New Jersey police. They had been stopped dozens of times a year for speeding, illegal passing and driving without a license. In addition, on May 10, the WashingtonPost reported that Dritan Duka pleaded guilty in 2000 to possession of drug paraphernalia and Shain Duka to possession of marijuana.

The article continued that “Only one brother had a driver’s license, and only briefly. But they drove anyway and were ticketed regularly by Cherry Hill police…” In fact, “The three had their driving privileges suspended¯meaning they could not even apply for a license¯54 times in less than a decade.”

Incredibly, the Post reported that “William Kushina, a Cherry Hill Police Department spokesman, said the department could do nothing about serial unlicensed driving except continue to issue tickets and suspend privileges.”

The incompetent enforcement of our immigration laws at the federal level is also evident at the local level. Meanwhile, the American people remain vulnerable to attack. Illegal aliens, including potential terrorists, seem to break laws at will, confident they will never be caught, or if they are, never deported.

In this case, it was a clerk at Circuit City that prevented what would have been a massive attack on a U.S. military base on U.S. soil. Thankfully, an individual with a conscience saved the day. Our government at many levels failed us. But now the federal government wants to give amnesty to even more illegal aliens on American soil who may be potential terrorists.  

The fact that illegal aliens were planning a deadly attack on American soldiers and on U.S. soil at a military base is lost on supporters for amnesty for illegals. ABC News reported that Democrats, for instance, “reject the argument” that the Duka brothers or Abdullahu prove anything.

Sadly, this is an old story of the government providing amnesty to illegal aliens and ignoring the consequences. Our government never learns, essentially guaranteeing another terrorist attack.

According to a Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report from September 2005, “of 94 terrorists who operated in the United States between the early 1990s and 2004, including six of the September 11th hijackers…about two-thirds (59) committed immigration fraud prior to or in conjunction with taking part in terrorist activity.” But they stayed in the U.S. anyway. The September 2005 CIS report discloses that, in 1983, “9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM)…enrolled first at Chowan College, a Baptist school in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, and then at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. There, one of his classmates was Ramzi Yousef’s brother, who himself later became an al-Qaeda member while Yousef planned the 1993 World Trade Center and Bojinka plots with KSM.”

In a report entitled “The Open Door, How Militant Islamic Terrorists Entered and Remained in the United States, 1993-2001” the CIS reported that “Past amnesties for illegal aliens have facilitated terrorism. Mahmud Abouhalima, a leader of the 1993 Trade Center bombing, was legalized as a seasonal agricultural worker as part of the 1986 amnesty.”

The report says that Mohammed Salameh, another conspirator in the 1993 Trade Center bombing, “applied for the same amnesty as Abouhalima and was denied” but “continued to live and work in the United States illegally and ultimately took part in the 1993 attack.”

The bottom line is that illegal alien amnesty bills help terrorists kill Americans.

The September 2005 CIS report also states that “The 1986 amnesty program was fraudulently used five times in attempts to establish residency. One terrorist, Mir Aimal Kansi, sought amnesty under the 1986 law for illegal entrants. Four others, three convicted for their roles in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and one in the 1993 Landmarks case, sought amnesty under the Special Agricultural Workers Program. Three who sought amnesty under this program attained it.”

Nevertheless, Senator Reid, with White House support, wants to push a similar amnestybill. The new bill includes all the same enforcement provisions that were included in the 1986 bill but never carried out. The only difference between then and now is there are now more illegal aliens in this country. There were less than 3 million illegal aliens in the U.S. in 1986. But, depending on estimates, there are now between 12 and 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. 

So here’s the question: if five terrorists used the 1986 Amnesty bill in attempts to establish residency, what happens now that there might be ten times as many illegal immigrants in this country? Could there be 20 terrorists illegally living in the U.S. right now who could be granted amnesty by a new “comprehensive immigration reform” bill? Could there be 50? 100? Or More?

Voting in favor of an amnesty bill under these circumstances is tantamount to turning a blind eye to terrorists on American soil plotting to kill Americans. Why do we tolerate the spectacle of our government officials putting our lives at risk?

Let’s build the fence and identify and isolate the illegal aliens. Then, at the very least, let’s immediately deport those with terrorist ties before they try to kill us again. This is the only “immigration reform” that makes any sense.

Why can’t Bush, Democrats and Republicans agree on that? Why do they insist on putting us all in danger? And why won’t the media do their jobs and insist on a solution that will protect America from another terrorist attack?

#  #

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Andy Selepak, a writer at Accuracy in Media, is the author of the study, New Evidence of Liberal Media Bias, published as an AIM Report. He can be reached at andrew.selepak@aim.org.

 

If you are a reporter or producer who is interested in receiving more information about this writer or this article, please email your request to PR@FamilySecurityMatters.org.

 

Note — The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of The Family Security Foundation, Inc.

 Click here to support Family Security Matters

 

Turkey: “In a very quiet, deep way, you can sense an Islamization”

Turkish secularism on the ropes. “A Secular Turkish City Feels Islam’s Pulse Beating Stronger, Causing Divisions,” by Sabrina Tavernise for the New York Times, with thanks to Steve:

DENIZLI, Turkey — The little red prayer book was handed out in a public primary school here in western Turkey in early May. It was small enough to fit in a pocket, but it carried a big message: Pray in the Muslim way. Get others to pray, too.“The message was clear to me,” said a retired civil servant, whose 13-year-old son, a student at the Yesilkoy Ibrahim Cengiz school, received the book. “This is not something that should be distributed in schools.”

This leafy, liberal city would seem like one of the least likely places to allow Islam to permeate public life. But for some residents, the book is part of a subtle shift toward increasingly public religiosity that has gone hand in hand with the ascent of the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The phenomenon is complex. The party has not ordered changes, but sets examples through a growing network of observant Muslim teachers and public servants hired since it came to power in 2002.

The shift goes to the heart of the question that has gripped this country for the past two months: As the party settles more deeply into the bureaucracy, will it leave its Islamic roots in the past and build a future that includes secular Turks, or will it impose its religion more rigorously?

[...]

“In a very quiet, deep way, you can sense an Islamization,” said Bedrettin Usanmaz, a jewelry shop owner in Denizli. “They’re not after rapid change. They’re investing for 50 years ahead.”

At the heart of the issue is a debate about the fundamental nature of Islam and its role in building an equitable society. Turks like Mr. Zeybekci contend that their country has come a long way since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s secular revolution in 1923, and that it no longer needs to enforce controls like preventing women from wearing head scarves in public buildings. “It’s like locking everybody in a stadium, when you know that only three are thieves,” Mr. Zeybekci said, in his office, which has pictures of Mr. Erdogan and Ataturk.

But secular Turks contend that Islam will always seek more space in people’s lives, and therefore should be reined in. They look to the military as secularism’s final defender.

“Islam is not like other religions,” said Kadim Yildirim, a history teacher in Denizli from an opposition labor union. “It influences every part of your life, even your bedroom.”…

According to a report to Parliament by the education minister, 836 people from the government’s Religious Affairs Directorate have been transferred to the ministry’s offices during Mr. Erdogan’s tenure. That has also led to changes in the habits of the bureaucracy. In Denizli, the lunchroom in the local Ministry of Education no longer serves food during Ramadan, based on an assumption that all workers are observing the religious fast, employees said….

All education material, once vetted centrally, is now checked in a far looser fashion, according to one senior Ministry of Education official in Ankara, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid for his job. A point system to rate textbooks has been loosened. The red prayer book, illustrated with pictures of small children praying, would probably not have been distributed in past years.

It is still unclear where today’s changes will lead the country. Mr. Oran says that although the ideology of Mr. Erdogan and his allies “is inevitably Islam,” they are workers and tradesmen who are ultimately motivated by profit. “They are very rapidly becoming bourgeois.”

Mr. Yildirim draws hope from a recent exchange among his students he overheard. One posed a question: If you were rowing a boat with only one extra seat and passed by a deserted island with the Prophet Muhammad and Ataturk, whom would you save?

Another answered: “Ataturk is resourceful. He can save himself. Take Muhammad.”

So evidently Muhammad can’t save himself. He has to be zealously looked after, cf. Cartoon Rage, Pope Rage, etc

Sister’s ’surprise’ at jihad book

Sister’s ’surprise’ at jihad book

Adel Yahya spent 2005 studying, his sister told the court The discovery of a book about jihad in the flat of one the 21 July bomb suspects came as a “surprise” to his sister, a court has been told.Lina Yahya told Woolwich Crown Court she had not heard of the book found at her brother Adel Yahya’s London home. The Secret World refers to “sacrifice in the cause of jihad, meaning people losing their lives”, jurors heard. Mr Yahya and five other men all deny conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life. About the book, his sister said: “This is a surprise. He’s never really had these sort of views.” He has passed his exams so I’m sure he must have been in the library studying Lina Yahya Sister of 21 July bomb accused Asked if this meant Mr Yahya had never displayed any such views to her, she replied: “Yeah, never.” She also told court she was unaware that Mr Yahya had fraudulently received £532 from London Metropolitan University after pretending he had no money. She had also not known that he had used a letter from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, granting her indefinite leave to remain in Britain, to fake another letter. Max Hill, prosecuting, said: “I’m suggesting, I’m afraid, that although Adel is your brother and although, no doubt, any sister would hope that she knows her brother well, there were things about Adel, particularly in 2005, which you knew nothing about.” She replied that during that year, he was studying, as she remembered him spending a lot of time in the library. “I know him… He has passed his exams so I’m sure he must have been in the library studying.” The accused are Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London; Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, from Stoke Newington, north London; Mr Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Mr Yahya; and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, of no fixed address. The case continues.