Video: How Islam killed freedom of speech in just 30 years

Last Thursday, April 14, I spoke at a private event in Montreal about the Islamic war on the freedom of speech that began with the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie and is now approaching final victory.

Thanks to Vlad Tepes for the video and for his indefatigable work making these videos that were filmed in less than ideal conditions watchable and listenable.

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VIDEO: Media won’t name sex assault suspect because he’s a Muslim migrant

Shades of Chebucto Heights High School. The Canadian mainstream media, like the mainstream media all over the West, would apparently prefer that non-Muslims in the West get murdered in jihad attacks and brutalized by Muslim rape gangs than that people start to think that a massive influx of Muslim migrants might be a bad idea.

Video from The Rebel (thanks to Marc).

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Accusations Against Trump Advisor by Islamists Proven False

The ‘case’ against Walid Phares has been shattered, as has been the credibility of the media outlets who put their political agenda ahead of the truth.

Islamists and their hyper-partisan media allies have been waging a smear campaign against foreign policy expert Dr. Walid Phares, who is advising Donald Trump and previously advised Mitt Romney. Now, the so-called “case” against Phares is in flames, burning the credibility of the media outlets and commentators who chose to put their political motivations ahead of the truth.

The character assassination campaign against Phares uncoincidentally pops up around presidential election time. It has two main pillars:  That Phares is somehow responsible for massacres by Lebanese Christian militias and that he’s an “Islamophobe,” despite his close working relationships with many Muslims including one who wrote an article titled “Walid Phares: A Hero to Muslim Liberals.”

False Claims that Phares’ Hands are Covered with the Blood of the Innocent

The first absurd line of attack is simply a regurgitation of a Mother Jones article by Adam Serwer that claims Phares was linked to a Christian extremist militia in Lebanon before he emigrated to the U.S. in 1990 and taught extremism that is responsible for its massacres.

In Lebanon, Phares became known for his advocacy of democratic pluralism, writing his first book about it age 22 in 1979. He also led a small political party in East Beirut named the Social Democratic Party. The Christians of Lebanon—the good, the bad and the ugly—united in the face of the brutal civil war. The political parties formed a coalition under the name of the Lebanese Front that included his small party and he served as its foreign affairs chief for two years in 1986.

Phares’ colleague in the coalition was Dr. Charles Malik, a former president of the U.N. General Assembly and co-author of the International Charter of Human Rights.

The military component—the militias—were collectively known as the Lebanese Forces. Phares did not issue even one order to them. He did not join one battle. He did not provide one gun. And there’s no record that he ever justified the massacres or urged human rights abuses by anyone.

Just the opposite, he called for a federal secular system and launched a workers’ union, a student group and a minorities federation. His push for democracy within the community where he was born and raised resulted in him being kidnapped by militiamen upset with his articles. He says he was often threatened by these militias until the day he left the country.

Unable to connect him to the massacres by actually connecting him to the massacres, the author of the piece says he provoked the bloodshed by supporting the creation of a Lebanese Christian state, as most Lebanese Christians wanted. By that standard, any supporter of an independent Israeli, Palestinian or Kurdish state is responsible for massacres committed in the name of the cause.

And now here’s the kicker: The article partially relies on the words of Toni Nissi, who has just published a letter expressing that he is “appalled and totally disgusted” at how his words were manipulated. He says the author, Adam Serwer, interviewed him for four hours, supposedly for a “documentary” about Lebanon. Three sentences then showed up in his article that—according to Nissi—”maliciously distorted the form and core of what was discussed in a cheap and repulsive attempt to attack Professor Walid Phares.”

When you examine the original Mother Jones article, you don’t have a well-researched informative article. You have about 2,500 words of throwing enough crap at the wall in the hopes that some of it sticks (to put it a bit more politely).

Phares isn’t to blame for the massacres of innocent Muslims in Lebanon—so what about all the repetitious chants of “Islamophobe?”

A So-Called “Islamophobe” Who Advocates for Muslim Human Rights and Freedom

“Islamophobe” is the favored slur favored slur of Islamist groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and apologists for the Iranian regime and their media allies to whom they feed biased stories.

Phares criticizes CAIR’s leaders for things like being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and discussing how to use deception when they didn’t know the FBI was recording them. CAIR responds by calling him an “Islamophobe.”

CAIR was even once caught teaching an audience to take advantage of how the “media in the United States is very gullible” and “especially, as a Muslim, if you have something to say, they will come running to you.” CAIR said to exploit the fact that the media “does little primary research” and “they will expect you to do their work. Let them.”

Dr. Phares’ Rolodex is filled with the contact information for liberal Muslims who oppose Islamism and communicate with him regularly. A central pillar of his worldview is that there’s an intersection between U.S. national security interests and human rights in the Muslim world — where the West must align with Muslims who seek genuine democratic reform and peace. His message of empowering Muslims is the polar opposite of bigotry or “Islamophobia” — in fact, it is part of the antidote.

Facts and fair-mindedness are of no concern to Islamists who have long used “Islamophobia” as a political weapon, even against Muslims who stand in their way. Nor are facts and fair-mindedness of much concern to hyper-partisans who facilitate their agenda by deceptively carving the country into categories of ally and enemy.

If those shouting “Islamophobia” actually were concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment, they’d exhale a sigh of relief that he has the ears of GOP presidential candidates.

The vindication of Dr. Walid Phares is a sad testament to the state of today’s politics. An influential ally for many Muslims, at home and abroad, had his named tarred by Islamists and hyper-partisans whose excitement over political dynamite subsumes any impulse to do responsible fact-checking and critical thinking.

The campaign against Phares is a microcosm of a broader growing problem in America where hyper-partisanship and political correctness have made it extremely difficult to have a meaningful, nuanced conversation about the Islamist threat.

Those who try put themselves at professional risk. And the Islamists and their allies are exploiting these weaknesses in the West’s political discourse every step of the way.

ABOUT RYAN MAURO

Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s national security analyst, a fellow with Clarion Project and an adjunct professor of homeland security. Mauro is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio. Read more, contact or arrange a speaking engagement.

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Sanders Campaign Releases Ad Slamming Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Tackling anti-Muslim bigotry and challenging Islamism are complementary rather than contradictory ideas.

Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders released a new campaign video April 18 directly addressing anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States.

Entitled Love Trumps Hate, Sanders argues hatred against Muslims is used in contemporary American political discourse as a sop to distract people from the real problems of wealth inequality and injustice.

He specifically targets Donald Trump in the ad, saying “demagogues like Trump who come along as say ‘I know what the cause of your problem is’.”

“Today it is Muslims, you won’t remember how many years ago we were younger it was the uppity women who were trying to take our jobs as men, it was blacks who wanted to take white jobs that’s what demagoguery is about.”

Sanders is perceived by many as the only candidate in the race addressing concerns that the Muslim community has about rising anti-Muslim bigotry in America. Integration is an important part of the struggle against Islamism and Sanders’ attempts to reach out to the Muslim community are important in promoting that.

Others perceive him as pandering to Islamist apologists. He has met with activists who have spoken out in defense of Muslim Brotherhood affiliate Hamas. The Director of Jews for Bernie, Daniel Sieradski, even praised Hamas, writing “Great insight is to be gained from the remarks of Hamas’ founder, Sheikh Ahemd Yassin, himself, which are much more down-to-earth and pragmatic than any portrayal of Hamas in the right-wing oriented media” according toFrontPage Magazine.

He met with and was endorsed by the head of the Arab-American Association of New York, Linda Sarsour, an organization supported by the Qatar Foundation. The foundation is linked to the Qatari government and the Muslim Brotherhood. Sarsour’s brother-in-law is serving a 12-year sentence in an Israeli prison for involvement with Hamas.

Sanders has taken stances to oppose Islamist extremism as well, currently backing a bill which would enable victims of 9/11 to sue the government of Saudi Arabia over the gulf kingdom’s role in the al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. All other candidates have also backed the bill, except John Kasich who has not yet commented.

Other candidates have focused specifically on the national-security dimension of Muslim integration.

Senator Ted Cruz recently caused controversy by calling for increased patrols of Muslim-majority areas by law enforcement. In December, Trump called for “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

Genuine concerns about Islamism must not lead one to fall prey to anti-Muslim bigotry against American Muslims as a whole. Sanders’ advert shows that side of the debate.

Tackling this issue as either “pro- or anti-Muslim” is shortsighted and counter-productive. Only when we are able to robustly challenge Islamism while, at the same time, opposing anti-Muslim bigotry against ordinary Muslims can both toxic ideas be defeated.

To see what all the candidates are saying about Islamist extremism see our profile on the U.S. Presidential Election 2016.

ABOUT ELLIOT FRIEDLAND

Elliot Friedland is the Dialogue Coordinator with the Clarion Project. 

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A Request from Canadian 9/11 Terror Victims

I thought this would be of interest. During my Ontario government days with the Office for Victims of Crime I worked with Canada’s 9-11 victims and Maureen Basnicki in particular as we helped them following the 9-11 attacks.

The Canadian Coalition Against Terror (C-CAT) was founded by Maureen to continue that effort and I think they’ve done a great job in exposing the truth and helping victims of terrorism including through use of civil litigation against state sponsors of terrorism like Iran. As you may know, Iran has assets in Canada which terrorism victims are pursuing in litigation which will be ended if we delist them and the Iranian Embassy was the front for some nasty activity against persons they didn’t like here in Canada.

Bottom line is that I hope you’ll read the below letter from Maureen and consider joining me in signing this petition.

Request from Canadian Terror Victims

Dear Friends,

I am a Canadian 9/11 family member and a cofounder of the Canadian Coalition Against Terror (C-CAT). Many of C-CAT’s founding members lost family and friends to Iranian-sponsored terrorism, and Canada has correctly listed Iran as a State Supporter of Terrorism. As Canada continues to court Iran this listing must be a red line. Should the Canadian government remove Iran from that list, terror victims will no longer be able to sue Iran in Canadian courts.

Please click on the graphic below to sign our parliamentary petition to keep Iran listed in Canada as a State Supporter of Terrorism. Any Canadian citizen or permanent resident, regardless of age, can sign. The petition is officially hosted by parliament and is only open for 120 days. It will then be presented by the sponsoring MP on the floor of Parliament. After signing you will get an email from parliament requesting that you confirm your support for the petition. Please don’t forget this crucial 2nd step.

Sincerely,

Maureen Basnicki

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

terror dollars out of canada petition

Saudi Arabia threatens the United States — America’s Response Should Be: “Go to Hell”

The Thomas More Law Center’s Richard Thompson posted the following on The President’s Blog:

Saudi Arabia has threatened the United States that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American assets if Congress passes a bill that would allow families of the 9/11 victims to hold Saudi Arabia legally  responsible for their role in the 9/11 attacks.

The Saudi threat is economic extortion.

Our response should be swift and clear — “Go to Hell.”

Instead, the Obama administration is lobbying Congress to block passage of the bill.

It’s time that the American people know the full story of Saudi Arabia’s complicity in the 9/ 11 attacks – the most horrendous surprise attack in American history.

It’s time that the American people know exactly what our government did to protect Saudi officials residing in America from FBI investigations.  The families of the 9/11 victims have a right to know.  See New York Times article here.

It’s time the American people know how our own government intentionally covered up Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attack.  See New York Post article.

Joint Terrorism Task forces say virtually every road leads back to the Saudi Embassy in Washington as well as the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.

Yet, time and again terrorism investigators were called off.

As a first step the American government should declassify the 28 pages of the 838-page congressional report on the 9/11 attacks.

According to recent news articles, some leaked information reveals:

  • A flurry of pre-9/11 phone calls between one of the hijacker’s Saudi handlers in San Diego and the Saudi Embassy.
  • The transfer of $130,000 from Prince Bandar, the then Saudi ambassador’s, family checking account to another hijacker’s Saudi handlers in San Diego.
  • Days after 9/11, the FBI evacuated dozens of Saudi officials from multiple cities, including at least one of Osama bin Laden’s family members who was on the terror watch list.
  • According to FBI agent Mark Rossini, “The FBI was thwarted from interviewing the Saudis we wanted to interview by the White House.”

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VIDEO: The Rise of America’s First Muslim Brotherhood Political Party

star spangled shariahThe wolves have been at work for a while preparing for such a time as now. These wolves are cunning, patient, low profile, and terribly focused like a laser beam on their target; only their target is not simply a herd of sheep but an entire country that daily becomes increasingly like a herd of sheep. The country is the United States, and the wolves that have been at work are members of the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliate Islamic groups sworn to fulfill the Quran’s commandment to establish a Caliphate; a One-World Muslim religion, culture, law, and maniacal allegiance to their Prophet Mohammed. Any obstacle standing in their way of total achievement and domination is to be fully and completely eliminated – not tampered with, coddled or made friends with, but eliminated.

While a prodigious number of elected officials work diligently to make nice to all people everywhere, and struggle to bring about “political correctness” to win favor and reelection rather than lead for the sake and safety of the citizens to which elected them, and many citizens mumble and resent political correctness but go along with the ever multiplying tentacles, the wolves continue to pick off an institution or significant politician here and there, as they never once stray from their intended target, the elimination of our country! Many law enforcement senior commanders and chiefs have become politically neutered from being the once strong, respected, and proud sheepdog that historically stood post placing himself between the vulnerable flock and the wolves. Add the many facets of “transformation and change” Obama has brought forward, and very few have aggressively opposed, and the public herd is all the more confused and overwhelmed, and simply returns to eating and enjoying life for the moment. Thinking past the moment is too difficult, too scary, too mind boggling so the herd simply continues to enjoy the moment. All the while the wolves continue to focus on their target(s). One target in particular that has been illuminated is the American political process. The wolves’ intention is to become their own political force, but only insofar as to use this force to establish the Islamic Faith form of government and law supplanting the Constitution of the United States with Sharia Law!

You scoff and say this can’t happen! My very good colleague, Clare Lopez, Senior Vice President of The Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. shares the evidence to demonstrate otherwise. Watch the five minute YouTube presentation below. Please take steps to understand what is transpiring all around you as the culture and fabric of America is deliberately being shredded. Some of us “sheep dogs” have already engaged in the fight against the wolves consumed with diabolical schemes to eliminate the whole herd, America. While a remnant of the herd have heeded our warnings and have responded to being educated on the clear and present danger, most of the herd continues to eat placidly with not a care on their mind – just as the wolves would like.

Star Spangled Shariah: The Rise of America’s First Muslim Brotherhood Political Party

“The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s stated goal in America is to ‘destroy the Western civilization from within.’ Star-Spangled Shariah: The Rise of America’s First Muslim Brotherhood Party reveals the newest weapon in their arsenal for doing so – a self-described Political Party called the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO). This new monograph connects the dots between the Muslim Brotherhood’s secret plan to impose Sharia in America, and the insidious use it intends to make of our democratic political system to that end.”

EDITORS NOTE: The Muslim Brotherhood centrist US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), which is holding a Muslim Capital Day during the week of April 18th is made up of: American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Muslim American Society (MAS), Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), The Mosque Cares (Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed).

Average Mohamed Fights Extremism With Cartoons by Elliot Friedland

Mohamed Amin Ahmed is the creator of ‘Average Mohamed,’ a video series published online that deconstructs Islamist arguments via animations.

Mohamed Amin Ahmed is the Executive Director of Average Mohamed, a Minneapolis based organization dedicated to fighting extremist ideas through animated videos. He immigrated to the United States 20 years ago and has played numerous roles in both civic and corporate worlds. After 9/11 Mohamed joined the Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism, and has since been the Chapter President for Minnesota.

His counter terrorism mantra is: “It takes an idea, to defeat an idea”. He currently works as a Manager for a local gas company and lives in Minneapolis with his wife and four children.

He graciously agreed to speak with Clarion Project Dialogue Coordinator Elliot Friedland about Average Mohamed and how popular culture can be used to defeat extremism. 

Clarion Project: Why did you start making cartoons to challenge Islamism?

Mohamed Ahmed: Fed up with a coherent counter narrative to talk plainly to Muslims, especially kids. The extremists are having their conversation with our youth. No parent talks to their kids about extremism because no parent believes their child can become one.

Average Mohamed is about bridging that gap, getting that conversation by guiding it.

Screenshot from Average Mohamed video.

Screenshot from Average Mohamed video.

Clarion: What do you think resonates about your message where government efforts have failed?

Ahmed: Simplicity, no put ups or airs. Just average folks talking. We quote our scriptures, something we never want our government to do, since there’s a separation of state and mosque. Average mohamed speaks plainly with easy to understand easy to get, use and even easier to disseminate talking points.

Our government is doing a lot of things right but in fighting extremism they need to incorporate more every day people.

That is exactly what Average Mohamed does.

Clarion: You’ve spoken about the importance of being comfortable with multiple identities. Why do you think identity is so important in countering extremism?

Ahmed: In past recruitments they extremists ask? Are you an American or a Muslim? As if the two are incompatible.

The extremists use identity as a recruitment tool. The more they can get an individual to deny their identities the easier to mold them into a puritanical nut who is at war with their other identities.

In our democracy we accept an individual can have multiple identities as a treasure trove of our diversity. One identity supplements the next and they are transition-able.

It is important we pass on this knowledge of one being comfortable in their identities. That it is normal and part of life.

Screenshot from Average Mohamed video.

Screenshot from Average Mohamed video.

Clarion: Can you describe some of the counter-radicalization work you do with your local community for our readers?

Ahmed: We have been hard at work. We have reached over 5,000 kids in face to face messaging in outreach.

We go to schools, mosques and Madrassa ( Islamic schooling). We do events where we host kids and have conversations. We go to events like the Somali Independence Festival where we distributed 3,000 pamphlets to kids directly on solely the issue of extremism.

Those pamphlets were paid for by high school kids who raised money by doing a Hena event. We distributed over 5,00 bottles of water donated by Halal Stores.

So we are a grass roots based organization. Yet we have over 250,000 views on our messages on social media. The viewership is global.

Clarion: What’s the biggest thing you think people who are fighting extremism get wrong?

Ahmed: Taking the average Muslim for granted. Looking at the average Muslim as a problem and not an asset waiting to do their part. Given a choice overwhelming majority of Muslims value democracy, peace and anti-extremism. Three principles that average mohamed is taking on to pass on to our youths age 8-16 year old.

We are here ready to do our part for we are no longer bystanders. The question is are they, are those fighting extremism willing to give us space, time and access to resources to do this work?

Time will tell. We are not waiting anymore. We are engaging our youth.

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Secret Cables Link Pakistan Intelligence Agency to Deadly Attack on CIA

Recently disclosed documents suggest that Pakistan’s intelligence agency paid a terror group to perpetrate a deadly attack on the CIA in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s intelligence agency paid a Taliban-affiliated terror group in Afghanistan to perpetrate one of the deadliest attacks on the CIA in the agency’s history, according to inferences made in recently-declassified U.S. government cables and documents.

On December 30, 2009, a Jordanian suicide bomber blew himself up in Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, located near the border with Pakistan, killing seven CIA employees. The bomber, a Jordanian doctor and double agent, tricked the Americans, telling them he would lead them to Ayman al-Zawahri, now head of al-Qaeda and, at the time, second in command.

A document dated January 11, 2010 , issued less than two weeks after the bombing, reports how the head of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied organization designed as terrorist by the U.S., met twice with senior officials of Pakistan’s intelligence agency (the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI) the month of the bombing.

During the first meeting, funding for “operations in Khowst [Khost] province” were discussed. “Funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khowst province for their support of the Haqqani network,” according to the cable.

At the second meeting, ISI officials gave “direction to the Haqqanis to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan.”

Although heavily redacted, a cable issued the following month specified the head of the Haqqani network as well as another individual were given $200,000 “to enable the attack on Chapman.” The cable specifically mentions a number of individuals involved in the operation, including an Afghan border commander who was given money “to enable a suicide mission by an unnamed Jordanian national.”

The Jordanian mentioned is assumed to be the suicide bomber, Humam al-Balawi, whom the CIA had cultivated as an al-Qaeda informant. Code-named “Wolf,” al-Balawi turned out to be a double agent, perpetrating the deadliest attack against the CIA in the 15-year history of the war in Afghanistan.

Although each document states, “This is an information report not finally evaluated intelligence,” Admiral  Mike Mullen (former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) terms the Haqqani network a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s intelligence agency. The U.S. has long-documented the connection between the ISI and the Haqqani terrorist organization.

The documents were the first public disclosure connecting the attack on Camp Chapman to the Pakistani ISI. They were released in connection with a Freedom of Information Act request. The U.S. had previously blamed al-Qaeda for the attack.

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Jennifer Ehle who plays Jennifer Lynne Matthew in the film Zero Dark Thirty about the killing of Osama Bin Laden, head of Al Qaeda. Matthews, a mother of three was described as “one of the CIA’s top experts on al-Qaeda.” She was head of Camp Chapman and killed in the attack on the base.

VIDEO: The Wild Bill Waterboarding Company

It’s time to get back to delivering justice to terrorists.

Donald Trump recently escalated his war of words with CIA director John Brennan. castigating the spymaster for saying he would never bring back waterboarding – even under a future president’s orders.

‘I think his comments are ridiculous,’ Trump said during a phone-in interview with ‘Fox & Friends’ on Monday morning.

‘I mean, they chop off heads and they drown people in cages with 50 in [a] cage – in big steel, heavy cages – drop ’em right into the water, drown people!’ Trump exclaimed, referring to the ISIS terror army.

‘And we can’t waterboard and we can’t do anything!’

Here is video of Donald Trump’s position on waterboarding during a GOP debate:

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The Caliphate’s Global Workforce: An inside look at the Islamic State’s Foreign Fighter paper trail

CTC_Caliphates-Global-Workforce-Final-240x308The report “The Caliphate’s Global Workforce: An inside look at the Islamic State’s Foreign Fighter paper trail” was written by Brian Dodwell, Daniel Milton and Don Rassler

This report contains an analysis of over 4,600 unique Islamic State personnel records that were produced by the group primarily between early 2013 and late 2014. The importance of this data for understanding the Islamic State and, in particular, the foreign fighter flow, cannot be overstated. To put it simply, it is the largest cache of primary source documents produced by the Islamic State available in the open-source as of this date. These particular documents were acquired by NBC News from an Islamic State defector and subsequently provided to the CTC (and other entities).

This report provides a window into the organization’s global workforce, revealing information about foreign fighters’ countries of origin, citizenship, points of entry into Syria, marital status, skills and previous occupations, education levels, religious knowledge, fighting role preferences in the group, and previous jihadist experience. In addition to analyzing the data at the macro-level, the report also highlights numerous anecdotes of individual fighters.

Taken together, the analysis in this report reveals an organization that is attempting to vet new members, manage talent effectively within the organization, and deal with an incredibly diverse pool of recruits.

To download this report in PDF format click here.

Saudi involvement in 9/11 ‘deliberately covered up at highest levels’ of U.S. government

What has the U.S. gained by doing the Saudis’ bidding all these years? Has global jihad terrorism abated? Have the Saudis stopped spreading their violent and virulent Wahhabi ideology around the world? Have the Saudis stopped the rise of the Islamic State? In fact, the whole “alliance” has been a disaster that has severely weakened the United States.

“How US covered up Saudi role in 9/11,” by Paul Sperry, New York Post, April 17, 2016:

In its report on the still-censored “28 pages” implicating the Saudi government in 9/11, “60 Minutes” last weekend said the Saudi role in the attacks has been “soft-pedaled” to protect America’s delicate alliance with the oil-rich kingdom.

That’s quite an understatement.

Actually, the kingdom’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government. And the coverup goes beyond locking up 28 pages of the Saudi report in a vault in the US Capitol basement. Investigations were throttled. Co-conspirators were let off the hook.

Case agents I’ve interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Washington and San Diego, the forward operating base for some of the Saudi hijackers, as well as detectives at the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department who also investigated several 9/11 leads, say virtually every road led back to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.

Yet time and time again, they were called off from pursuing leads. A common excuse was “diplomatic immunity.”

Those sources say the pages missing from the 9/11 congressional inquiry report — which comprise the entire final chapter dealing with “foreign support for the September 11 hijackers” — details “incontrovertible evidence” gathered from both CIA and FBI case files of official Saudi assistance for at least two of the Saudi hijackers who settled in San Diego.

Some information has leaked from the redacted section, including a flurry of pre-9/11 phone calls between one of the hijackers’ Saudi handlers in San Diego and the Saudi Embassy, and the transfer of some $130,000 from then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar’s family checking account to yet another of the hijackers’ Saudi handlers in San Diego.

An investigator who worked with the JTTF in Washington complained that instead of investigating Bandar, the US government protected him — literally. He said the State Department assigned a security detail to help guard Bandar not only at the embassy, but also at his McLean, Va., mansion.

The source added that the task force wanted to jail a number of embassy employees, “but the embassy complained to the US attorney” and their diplomatic visas were revoked as a compromise.

Former FBI agent John Guandolo, who worked 9/11 and related al Qaeda cases out of the bureau’s Washington field office, says Bandar should have been a key suspect in the 9/11 probe.

“The Saudi ambassador funded two of the 9/11 hijackers through a third party,” Guandolo said. “He should be treated as a terrorist suspect, as should other members of the Saudi elite class who the US government knows are currently funding the global jihad.”

But Bandar held sway over the FBI.

After he met on Sept. 13, 2001, with President Bush in the White House, where the two old family friends shared cigars on the Truman Balcony, the FBI evacuated dozens of Saudi officials from multiple cities, including at least one Osama bin Laden family member on the terror watch list. Instead of interrogating the Saudis, FBI agents acted as security escorts for them, even though it was known at the time that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

“The FBI was thwarted from interviewing the Saudis we wanted to interview by the White House,” said former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was involved in the investigation of al Qaeda and the hijackers. The White House “let them off the hook.”

What’s more, Rossini said the bureau was told no subpoenas could be served to produce evidence tying departing Saudi suspects to 9/11. The FBI, in turn, iced local investigations that led back to the Saudis….

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SEE NO SHARIA: How Our First Lines of Defense Have Been Disarmed

see_no_sharia_thumb-683x1024For much of the past fifteen years, the United States government has failed to understand, let alone decisively defeat, the enemy that, under the banner of its al Qaeda franchise, murderously attacked our country on September 11, 2001.  The reason why that has been so – notwithstanding the bravery and skill of our men and women in uniform and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars – has been unclear to most Americans, including some in government.  Until now.

With the publication by the Center for Security Policy of a new book by two of its leaders, President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. and Vice President Clare Lopez, See No Sharia: “Countering Violent Extremism” and the Disarming of America’s First Lines of Defense, the case has been forcefully made that this sorry state of affairs is a product of a sustained and highly successful influence operation by Islamic supremacists. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Islamists in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular have gained access to and considerable sway over policymakers in the White House, the FBI and the Departments of State, Justice, Defense and Homeland Security.

President and CEO Frank Gaffney outlines the failures of the ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ program:

See No Sharia describes the trajectory that has flowed from such penetration and subversion.  It traces how fact-based counterterrorism and law enforcement have inexorably been supplanted by an approach defined by accommodations demanded by Islamists – purged lexicons and training programs, limitations on surveillance, case-making and rules of engagement and above all, eschewing anything that gives “offense” to Muslims.

In addition to showing the perils associated with such policies and practices as America faces the growing threat of global jihad and its animating doctrine of sharia, this book provides specific recommendations as to how to restore our first lines of defense – the FBI and other law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, the military and the intelligence community – whose effective service is needed today more than ever.

Frank Gaffney noted,

“Americans expect government officials to fulfill their oaths of office by protecting the Constitution, the Republic it established and its people from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  The vast majority of our public servants yearn to do their duty. Yet, as See No Sharia makes plain, for at least a decade and a half, they have been obliged to conform to policies that greatly diminish their chances for success.  We simply cannot afford to disarm those in our first lines of defense against Islamic supremacism and its jihad – both the violent kind and the stealthy sort the Muslim Brotherhood calls ‘civilization jihad.’”

Clare Lopez added,

“As a career intelligence professional, the extent to which our policy making apparatus has been penetrated and subverted by Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist operatives is deeply problematic.  This book is meant to expose their handiwork – and to impel the urgently needed and long-overdue policy course-correction.”

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY

The Center for Security Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan national security organization that specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource needs that are vital to American security and then ensures that such issues are the subject of both focused, principled examination and effective action by recognized policy experts, appropriate officials, opinion leaders, and the general public. For more information visit www.securefreedom.org.

The Center for Security Policy/Secure Freedom is proud to present this monograph as a superb addition to its Civilization Jihad Reader Series.  “The Gulen Movement: Turkey’s Islamic Supremacist Cult and Its Contribution to Civilization Jihad in America” is available for purchase in kindle and paperback format on Amazon.com.

Click here for a full PDF of the newly released monograph.

Canada Must Hold Iran Accountable!

The Islamic Republic is a state sponsor of terrorism—That’s why Canada shut down the Iranian embassy in Ottawa in September 2012 . However, I would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to some of the more-particularly inhuman and nefarious activities of the Iranian regime.

The Islamic Republic started with an officially-approved massacre of all sorts of dissidents. Along with the functionaries of the former monarchy, thousands of revolutionaries whose views differed from that of the Islamic Republic, were either hanged or shot dead after sham trials – or even without them.

Later, the Islamic constitution that was established in Iran effectively brought a fundamentalist Islamist regime to power which systematically suppressed all other voices and sociopolitical constituencies like liberals, socialists, women, and religious and ethnic minorities. This has led to a vicious process of violation of human rights in Iran since the establishment of the Islamic regime; a process that still vigorously continues, even after the presumably “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani took office.

As a matter of fact, the violation of human rights in Iran has skyrocketed since Rouhani became president in 2013. Over 2,000 Iranians have been hanged under this “moderate” president’s watch, the largest scale of executions in Iran in the past 25 years. Indeed, the execution spree in the first half of 2015 was not overlooked by Amnesty International, which noted that “death sentences in Iran are particularly disturbing because they are invariably imposed by courts that are completely lacking in independence and impartiality”.

Amnesty International also added: “[Death sentences] are imposed either for vaguely-worded or overly-broad offences, or acts that should not be criminalized at all, let alone attract the death penalty. Trials in Iran are deeply flawed, detainees are often denied access to lawyers in the investigative stage, and there are inadequate procedures for appeal, pardon and commutation.” As a result, Iran has become the top country committing executions per capita, under Rouhani’s watch.

One of the “legal” pretexts of the Islamic regime for executing dissidents is the common charge of “muharebeh” or “enmity towards God”, routinely used against all sorts of human rights activists and dissidents; and which invariably receives the death penalty, sometimes administered in public by mass hangings by cranes – although even stoning is not ruled out legally. Many of those hanged take up to 20 minutes to die slowly and painfully from strangulation. The victims’ bodies are typically left hanging for some time before being removed as a way of intimidating the public into silence.

Many of those who are executed come from minority communities such as the Ahwazi Arab-Iranians – who are predominately Shia – as well as Kurdish and Baluchi Sunnis. The targeting of minorities has not changed since Rouhani’s assuming office. Over the past decade, many Ahwazi Arab political prisoners, ranging from poets and teachers to bloggers and human rights activists, have been executed on trumped-up charges in kangaroo courts.

Rather than finding reasonable evidence for the committing of a crime, judges rely on “confessions” which have been extracted from the accused through physical and psychological torture. Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the accused are kept in the dark, often not informed of where their loved ones have been imprisoned, executed or even buried. Again, NOTHING has improved under Rouhani.

Never mind that Iran is one of the few countries that continue to execute juvenile offenders, where according to the UN at least 160 are languishing on death row for crimes committed under the age of 18. The number of child offenders executed in 2014-15 – under Rouhani’s watch – is higher than at any time during the past five years. According to an Amnesty International report released a few days ago, Iran’s authorities have sought to “whitewash their continuing violations of children’s rights and deflect criticism of their appalling record as one of the world’s last executioners of juvenile offenders”.

Such kinds of reports, however, have failed to prevent Rouhani from receiving a warm welcome on his European tour, as top politicians as well as the Pope were eager to meet him. Surprisingly, these days, even the prominent opposition voices in the West, who often complain about their own governments’ disregard of human rights, don’t see a necessity to voice any substantial criticism against the abuses of human rights by the regime of Iran.

That is because much of the world wants do business with the Iranian regime, and they don’t want any fuss over rather “trivial things” such as the violation of human rights by that regime. Indeed, it seems that the rush to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran has twisted and bound all tongues in the West.

How can we possibly improve the condition of human rights in Iran by holding the Iranian regime accountable when at the same time the Liberal government of Canada is going to implicitly legitimize that regime’s violation of human rights by reestablishing diplomatic relations with it?

VIDEO: Iran doesn’t want just a bomb

The Iran/U.S. treaty, that is, the so called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),  has been a gigantic mistake and the Western Countries now doing business with Iran are blindly acting out of cupidity and simply ignoring the final outcome.

The assured consequences, the assured final impact such gullible Western Countries will eventually suffer.

According to the American Enterprise Institute:

The conventional wisdom over the last few decades has been that Iran is racing towards a nuclear weapon. Iran wants a bomb, “the bomb.” But the real challenge for us is to understand that perhaps Iran doesn’t want just a bomb.

Please watch this short AEI Senior Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies Danielle Pletka video:

Frederick W. Kagan writes:

Media reports suggest that Iran has taken delivery of parts of the S-300 air defense system from Russia.  This system would greatly complicate Israel’s ability to conduct air strikes against Iran, and would make it harder even for the U.S. to do so.  But Iran has also given Russia a shopping list of other military hardware it desires to purchase, including the Su-30 air superiority fighter-bomber (similar in characteristics to the American F-15E Strike Eagle), and the Yakhont supersonic anti-shipping missile system.

iran_missiles_530

Iran’s acquisition of any of these systems would be significant, but its acquisition of all of them could be game-changing.  It could give Iran the ability to compete militarily with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and even Turkey and possibly Israel for the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.  It could even make it difficult or impossible for the U.S. to maintain aircraft carriers or large-deck amphibious ships in the Persian Gulf.

This graphic shows the ranges of the various weapons systems Iran has requested from Russia.  A handful of Yakhont batteries, which are truck-mounted and therefore mobile and hard to track, can cover the entire Persian Gulf with missiles against which American ships cannot reliably defend themselves.  Four S-300 launchers (which the Iranians have already purchased from Russia and are waiting for their delivery) provide wide coverage against an Israeli air attack.  The combat radius of the Su-30 covers almost the entire Middle East.

The graphic also shows the two systems Russia has already deployed in Syria at Latakia and Tartus, which will likely remain there indefinitely.  If Russia chose to support Iran in efforts to deny the U.S. or its allies easy access to the region, these systems would form an important part of the overall defense.

Each system would be problematic by itself.  Taken together they form the basis of a real access denial capability that could fundamentally alter the correlation of forces in the region.

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