Tag Archive for: jihad

Did Pope Francis call Abu Mazen an ‘Angel of Peace’?

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Today we try something a little different as we go back to our “radio-only” days, before we started producing a regular TV show.

So listen as we take some “calls” from our (make-believe) audience and enjoy the ride. Of course, we have to address the nonsensical decision of the Vatican to recognize “Palestine” as a “State,” and just what state may that be?

Tune in and find out.

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Canada: 10 Muslims arrested at airport on suspicion of leaving to join Islamic State

Islamic State seizes Syrian city of Palmyra, threatening ancient ruins

Minnesota Muslims used college loans to pay for airfare to Syria to wage jihad

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Your tax dollars at work. “Fraud charges added to ISIL terrorism case against 2 Twin Cities men,” by Paul McEnroe, Star Tribune, May 19, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller)

Two Twin Cities men charged with conspiracy to fight alongside terrorists now face financial fraud charges for allegedly using their college loans to purchase airline tickets to fly to the Middle East.

In a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, Hamza Ahmed and Hanad Mustafe Musse were charged with using more than $1,000 of financial aid provided to them.

Ahmed, 20, of Savage, and Musse, 19, of Minneapolis, are among seven young Somali-Americans from Minnesota who face charges of planning to leave the United States and fight alongside Islamic extremist groups. Six of them were charged in April.

During the past two years, more than 20 Somali-Americans from Minnesota have left to fight alongside terrorists with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, according to the FBI.

The new indictment says that Ahmed and Musse bought airline tickets on Nov. 8, 2014, from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Europe, using more than $1,000 in federal college financial aid. Ahmed used his aid money to purchase a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, authorities say. Musse used similar funds to buy a ticket to travel to Greece. From those two destinations, authorities say the pair then planned on heading to Syria. Ahmed had actually boarded his flight when he was ordered off the plane by officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In a related matter, Abdirahman Daud, 21, another alleged conspirator, made his first appearance in federal court in Minneapolis on Tuesday morning before U.S. Chief District Judge Michael Davis. Daud was arrested by the FBI in San Diego in late April, along with alleged conspirator Mohamed Farah, after they drove from Minneapolis to California. They were accompanied on the trip by a confidential informant who was working for the FBI.

Daud and Farah allegedly planned to acquire false documents in San Diego in order to cross into Mexico. From there, they planned on flying to the Middle East with the intent of entering Syria to fight, authorities say….

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Canada: 10 Muslims arrested at airport on suspicion of leaving to join Islamic State

Islamic State seizes Syrian city of Palmyra, threatening ancient ruins

Canada: 10 Muslims arrested at airport on suspicion of leaving to join Islamic State

“Let Your Blood Be [The Caliphate’s] Fuel”

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On Wednesday, April 29th, 2015, a photocopy of a printed statement allegedly distributed by the Aleppo Center of Preaching and Mosques of the Islamic State (IS) began circulating online on unofficial Twitter accounts of IS members/supporters (documents available on CTC website). Dated Monday, April 27th, 2015, this statement was issued under the authority of the Caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and called for the emirs and fighters within IS’s Syrian provinces to volunteer to fight in the ongoing battles in Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn provinces in Iraq. While we have not seen a similar statement posted online from other Syrian provinces, the opening sentence of this statement made clear that it was intended for all Syrian provinces under IS control, not just Aleppo.

While the fact that the IS is seeking reinforcements to send to the frontlines in Iraq is not surprising, this statement has several noteworthy features, including a brief view into how the Caliph is thinking about the way forward as he prosecutes a multiple-front war and how he interacts with local leaders in regards to troop mobilizations and deployments.

The first potential take away from the statement is that it included an injunction for those who wanted to volunteer to report within 48 hours. The short temporal expiration date on this order suggests a certain urgency in the request. Given the time it will take to organize and deploy fighters, this suggests that IS sees the next several weeks in both Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn as critical.

But a quick response was not the only thing the Caliph wanted. The statement also contains a call for a specific type of fighter: suicide bombers and soldiers willing to sacrifice themselves in assaults/battles (suicide fighters). The “single-use” nature of these forces potentially suggests that a shortage of such fighters exists in Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn or that IS is preparing for a counteroffensive. And what is more, the call clearly wants those who are the best of the best: “religiously dedicated, patient ones, and war experts who don’t look back, fight and don’t lay down their weapons until they get killed or God grants them victory.” The statement conveys not just a need for fighters, but a need for the best and most committed fighters.

And there already appears to have been some response to this kind of call in the recent past. Almost three weeks ago, on April 11, 2015, a video surfaced from Al-Raqqah that showed a group of individuals dressed in combat fatigues pledging allegiance to the Caliph. The pledge itself was relatively similar to a previous pledge, except that it included a general pledge to the death, with the fighters stating “There is no return after today.” The video then proceeds to show the fighters allegedly traveling from Al-Raqqah to Salāh ad Dīn.

Additionally, there is an important corollary from this latest statement to the Caliph’s view of the current fight and the value he places on Iraq relative to Syria. If he is willing to call for the best of the best out of Syria and push them to Iraq, what does this mean about the value he places on Iraq relative to Syria? What is more, how do the local leaders feel about this call? It seems unlikely that governors in Aleppo and Raqqa enthusiastically send their best fighters away, never to return. It is certainly plausible that the Caliph feels that his governors in Syria can bear sending away some of their troops to Iraq, but the dynamic nature of the conflict both in Iraq and Syria is forcing the Caliph into a delicate balancing act regarding which front of the conflict is more important and how to avoid alienating local leadership.

Another point worth noting is the fact that although Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn are mentioned together in the statement, this does not suggest that they are considered of similar importance to IS. The fighting in Salāh ad Dīn has been intense (particularly around and inside the Baji oil refinery), but is most likely viewed as a stalling action by IS to prevent / prepare for an eventual campaign against Mosul. Al-Anbar, on the other hand, with its large Sunni population and critical geographic location, is a territory that is essential to the IS’s strategy in Iraq.

Finally, there is a curious matter within the statement that asks for volunteers among already existing IS forces to go fight in Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn. The Caliph presumably has the authority to order such individuals, who have already joined the military side of the IS, to mobilize and deploy. In thinking about why the statement is asking for volunteers, there are two important sub-points.

First, it may be that the Caliph is less sure of his control over individuals and events in Syria. It is possible that he is concerned about undermining his own leadership by giving an order that may not be obeyed by emirs and fighters in Syria. Nevertheless, there is a pressing need for additional fighters, so the compromise approach appears to be asking for volunteers rather than ordering them.

Second, the statement specifically says that volunteers are to report to the local office of “Preaching and Mosques.” This creates a mechanism for the local governor (wali) to exercise oversight over the process of sending fighters from Aleppo to Iraq. Again, presumably the Caliph does not need to defer to local leaders on this issue, but such deference provides insight into the calculations of the Caliph in managing local issues with the broader needs of his “state”…a classic governance challenge.

Some of these inferences are reinforced by the IS’s own self-reported attack data over the past week. IS has been conducting a daily news rollup of military activities within its Caliphate using the Al-Bayan radio station. Of course, one should accept those numbers cautiously as they are self-reported.

With that understanding, from April 21 – April 29, there were a total of 229 news items detailed in Al-Bayan daily reports. Over 28% of these (64 in total) reported on military activities in Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn. When one considers that the reports contained news from approximately 14 provinces during this period of time, the fact that such a high number came from two provinces alone is telling.

This number of attacks greatly increases if one takes three other areas bordering Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn provinces into account: Diyala, Northern Baghdad, and al-Janub (south of Baghdad and north of Wasit and Babil provinces). This number certainly stands in contrast to the 35 (15%) news items coming out of Syrian provinces of the IS. While there are still important developments going on in Syria, IS sees the battles in Iraq as critical.

To support the idea that particular types of fighters are seen as valuable to the campaigns in Al-Anbar and Salāh ad Dīn, consider the fact that of the 8 suicide bombings claimed by the IS in the Al-Bayan reports over the past week, all 8 occurred in Al-Anbar (7) and Salāh ad Dīn (1).

The past several weeks of conflict in Iraq have been characterized by advances and setbacks for both sides. In response, both IS and the Iraqi government have been adjusting their strategy and forces as needed.  However, while the responses of the Iraqi government have been subject to public scrutiny, the responses of IS have not been transparent. In that sense, this statement, taken together with the video showing the death pledge by fighters moving from Al-Raqqah to Iraq, sheds light on the current and future challenges of IS.

ABOUT MUHAMMED AL-UBAYDI AND DANIEL MILTON

Muhammad al-`Ubaydi is a research assistant at the Combating Terrorism Center and monitors Arabic jihadist websites. Daniel Milton is an Assistant Professor at the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Muhammad and Daniel would like to thank Nelly Lahoud, Bryan Price, and Krissy Hummel for their insights and assistance in preparing this piece. The views presented are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, or any of its subordinate commands.

VIDEO: Mosque Obama hails as “model” tied to 12 jihad terrorists

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Video thanks to Creeping Sharia.

The President touts the Islamic Society of Boston as a model for his Countering Violent Extremism program. Then why are there at least 12 jihadis associated with it?

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EXCLUSIVE: Actual Video of the Garland, Texas Jihad Attack!

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WARNING – THIS VIDEO CONTAINS EXTREMELY OBSCENE LANGUAGE.

When I first saw this amazing piece of video that was taped during the actual jihad attack in Garland Texas, I knew I was looking at an important piece of forensic evidence in an Islamic attack and a significant piece of law enforcement history. Therefore I wanted to be sure that a public release of this material in no way, shape or form would endanger any brave law enforcement officer or violate any laws of withholding evidence.

I gathered my team and we discussed the pros and cons of releasing this vital information and determined to make sure law enforcement had a copy and released it back to its owner with no restrictions on its use but then we took it a step further. We decided to blur out the police car and the police officers so that there would not be any chance of exposing any information, slight as it may be, which could be used in any way against the Garland Police Department or any of its officers.

From there, a phone conference was set up so that a few of us could actually speak with the men who taped the shooting. After about an hour phone conference with the two gentlemen I was even further impressed with the value of this video and more importantly, the story of the apparently only civilian eyewitnesses and their frightening experiences.

The moral of this story is that some very brave police officers killed two evil, hell-bent Muslim terrorists, thus potentially saving the innocent lives of those who were inside the convention center, including my team and me! But, the epilogue to this story is that two very brave men who stumbled on the scene of this Islamic State attack have stepped forward to show their video and tell their story so that all freedom loving people can get a better understanding of this epic battle between good and evil.

Dom: The Conservative Lady Warrior

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dom the conservativeMeet, Dom -The Conservative, blogger, wife, Mom, counter-jihad warrior! Sometimes it’s funny how life provides positive developments from extremely bizarre situations.

On May 3, 2015, Dom was one of the attendees at the Pamela Geller – Muhammad Art Exhibit and was there to support the American doctrine of freedom to speak and freedom to assemble. Little did she realize how her life would be changed by being one of the people under attack from Muslim terrorists who were intent on killing the participants simple because they were at the event?

In the midst of the “controlled” confusion of the evening our United West team met Dom, interviewed her and became friends with a very serious, very intelligent woman who has a critically important message for all freedom-loving Americans.

Listen to what Dom has to say and then, JOIN THE FIGHT!

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FBI chief: Potentially ‘thousands’ of Islamic State followers in U.S.

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So don’t draw any Muhammad cartoons, people, and maybe they won’t hurt us.

Anyway, why are there potentially thousands of followers of the Islamic State in the U.S.? The FBI shows a remarkable lack of curiosity about that. Of course, Bureau policy is to ignore the ideology, motives and goals of the jihadis. Muslims are streaming into this Islamic group that the Obama Administration insists is not Islamic, and nary an Administration official stops even for a second to ponder how this strange phenomenon came to be.

“FBI Chief: Potentially ‘thousands’ of online ISIS followers in U.S.,” ABC News, May 7, 2015:

There may be as many as thousands of people inside the United States consuming online “poison” from ISIS alone, and, “I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there,” FBI director James Comey warned today, referring to one of the men who opened fire outside of an event in Texas earlier this week celebrating artists’ portrayals of the Prophet Mohammad.

“We have a very hard task” in trying to identify and stop anyone inspired to launch an attack inside the U.S. homeland, Comey told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas and a small group of reporters.

Such efforts have become particularly challenging because ISIS has reconfigured and redefined terrorist recruitment, according to Comey. In fact, while the FBI is trying to find that so-called needle in a haystack, “increasingly the needles are invisible to us,” he said.

As recently as two years ago, someone in the United States who wanted to consume “radical poisonous propaganda” would have to seek that out on the Internet, most likely on a jihadist web forum. So the FBI focused its investigative efforts on those jihadist web forums, Comey said.

But “that has changed dramatically, especially with [ISIS] and their use of social media,” where on phones in people’s pockets they ask Americans and other foreigners “to travel to the so-called caliphate to fight” but simultaneously say, “If you can’t travel, kill where you are,” according to Comey.

“It’s almost as if there is a devil sitting on the shoulder saying, ‘Kill, kill, kill, kill’ all day long,” he said. “[They are] recruiting and tasking at the same time. … In a way, the old paradigm between ‘inspired’ and ‘directed’ breaks down here.”…

Comey, meanwhile, warned that even when the FBI finds someone who has in fact connected with ISIS, keeping track of that person is becoming increasingly difficult.…

Especially since the FBI is bound as a matter of policy not to study or understand the motivating ideology of these people.

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Rare Look Inside The Garland Terrorist Attack Venue As It Unfolded

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Join The United West team as we take you step by step through what happened to us inside the event.

First we will hear 4 minutes of Robert Spencer explaining why the event was messaged like it was. He specifically addresses those who believe Pamela Geller’s event was unnecessarily provocative to the followers of Islam.

Next you will be inside the venue with us as a Garland SWAT leader explains to the audience that shots were fired and they will need to move all in attendance into the auditorium which is further away from the front entrance.

Next you will experience being moved to a safer offsite facility approximately 5 miles from the Culwell Center where we learn that we were targets of a terrorist attack and law enforcement needed our statements.

Then well after midnight we were released and the City Of Garland put us up in a hotel for the night because where we were staying was off limits due to proximity of the attack area.

Pamela Geller paid five figures for additional security. Little did she know the Islamic State would send two Muslim Jihadis to attack and try to kill as many people inside as possible in the first IS attack on domestic targets in the United States.

The United West team thanks the Garland Police Department and Garland Police SWAT Unit for keeping all the attendees safe during this terrorist event.

The two Muslim Jihadi shooters were wearing body armor, they were armed with 100 round drum fed fully automatic AK-47’s, and had grenades they did not have time to detonate. There mission, luckily for us, failed but imagine for a brief moment what would could have happened if these to Muslim Jihadis picked a softer location like a mall, restaurant, hospital, etc….

Interestingly there was not one single pro Islamist protester at the event. Conversely, at the Stand with the Prophet event in January close to 250 Muslim protesters and their sympathizers were protesting against the 2000+ patriots who were protesting the Muslim event being held at the Culwell Center.

It will be interesting to see if next year the school district of Garland, Tx denies Pamela Geller or anyone else access to their facility for the planned 2nd annual event for free speech.

If that should come to pass unfortunately the Jihadis will have won because the Garland School District will have submitted to the fear caused by Islamic violence.

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Connecting the dots to the Texas gunmen

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Both gunmen identified in the May 3 attack against the “Draw Muhammad” event at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, according to news reports. Elton Simpson and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, both were known to mosque leadership dating from 2006, although Usama Shami, chairman of the mosque’s board of trustees, claimed they stopped attending recently.

Interestingly, the imam at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix (ICCP) is Sheikh Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz Ahmad Sulaiman, one of the so-called “flying imams,” who filed suit in March 2007 against US Airways officials for allegedly showing discrimination in removing them from a flight after the imams’ suspicious behavior raised alarm among crew and passengers. That behavior included loud praying at the gate area prior to boarding, refusal to sit in assigned seats, requests for seat belt extensions that were unnecessary and unused, and travel on one-way tickets with no checked baggage.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was demonstrated in federal District Court to be affiliated with Hamas (the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a designated terrorist organization as listed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), and its attorney, Omar Mohammedi, a former president of CAIR’s New York chapter, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the six imams, including Imam Sulaiman.

The Egyptian-born Imam Sulaiman has served since 2002 as the imam at the ICCP, which was founded in 1982 and received its tax-exempt 501(c)3 status as a religious establishment. The ICCP website openly identifies the mosque as Shariah-compliant, with reference on its donations page to paying the “zakat,” an obligatory annual tax for all Muslims that is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and of which one-eighth must go to support jihad. According to its website, the ICCP’s property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). The trust is yet another Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, as confirmed in a 2009 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division, which identified the trust as a Hamas associate.

Imam Sulaiman is a member of the Washington, D.C.-based North American Imams Federation, whose board of trustees include the Jordanian-born Imam Omar Shahin (another of the so-called “Flying Imams” and former imam of the Islamic Center of Tucson, Ariz.) and Imam Siraj Wahhaj, whose name appeared on a U.S. government list of unindicted co-conspirators for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Imam Sulaiman is a 1992 graduate of the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he received his doctorate with a specialization in the hadith, the accounts of the life and deeds of Islam’s founder, Muhammad. He memorized the Koran at the age of 11 and overall, has spent some 33 years in the study of Islam. Given this background, Imam Sulaiman is a very senior cleric, whose authority projects influence in the Phoenix area. Unfortunately, in April 2004, when Zuhdi Jasser, the founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, organized a Muslim Rally Against Terrorism, Imam Sulaiman and other imam members of the Valley Council of Imams refused to lend their support because they refused to condemn terrorism in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Although not yet confirmed, it’s likely that the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix was the mosque where Texas gunman Elton Simpson, born in 1991 in Illinois before moving to Phoenix, was converted to Islam, reportedly while attending high school, 2005-09. It was, however, about 2006 when he began discussing the Muslim’s obligation to engage in jihad in telephone conversations recorded by the FBI. Due to the court’s apparent ignorance of the fact that the only kind of jihad discussed anywhere in Islamic Law is “war against non-Muslims,” the government failed to convict him of anything beyond making a false statement about his intention to go to Somalia to participate in jihad. Further, according to published media reports, it was in 2006 that Usama Shami, the ICCP mosque president, dates his own relationship with Simpson, who would have been converted to Islam at about that time.

The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix’s Facebook page has posted links to both the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Muslim American Society and the Islamic Community Center of Tempe (or Tempe Masjid). Although not an event linked by the ICCP, the Tempe Masjid’s Facebook page currently contains an announcement for a May 15-17 course titled “Dawn of Mercy: The Messenger in Mecca.” One of the featured speakers for that event is Siraj Wahhaj, whose name appeared on a U.S. government list of unindicted co-conspirators for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Finally, in April 2015, Imam Sulaiman figured among other local imams who condemned the Islamic State and its barbarity as somehow divorced from Islamic doctrine and singled out Fox News, which he claimed was “paid to create an animosity between people.”

At least in the case of these two jihadi gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, the formative influence of a mosque like the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix and its clerical leadership must not be overlooked, especially when their affiliations, leadership and programs are as troubling as these.

Pamela Geller: A Response to My Critics—This Is a War

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A succinct and compelling statement from my colleague Pamela Geller on why we do what we do, and what is at stake. “Pamela Geller: A Response to My Critics—This Is a War,” by Pamela Geller, Time Magazine, May 6, 2015:

Some are saying I provoked this attack. But to kowtow to violent intimidation will only encourage more of it.

Sunday in Garland, Texas, a police officer was wounded in a battle that is part of a longstanding war: the war against the freedom of speech. Some people are blaming me for the Garland shooting — so I want to address that here.

The shooting happened at my American Freedom Defense Initiative Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, when two Islamic jihadists armed with rifles and explosives drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland and attempted to gain entry to our event, which was just ending. We were aware of the risk and spent thousands of dollars on security — and it paid off. The jihadis at our free speech event were not able to achieve their objective of replicating the massacre at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine last January — and to go it one better in carnage. They were not able to kill anyone. We provided enormous security, in concert with the superb Garland police department. The men who took the aspiring killers down may have saved hundreds of lives.

And make no mistake: If it weren’t for the free-speech conference, these jihadis would have struck somewhere else — a place where there was less security, like the Lindt cafe in Australia or the Hyper Cacher Kosher supermarket in Paris.

So, why are some people blaming me? They’re saying: “Well, she provoked them! She got what she deserved!” They don’t remember, or care to remember, that as the jihadis were killing the Muhammad cartoonists in Paris, their friend and accomplice was murdering Jews in a nearby kosher supermarket. Were the Jews asking for it? Did they “bait” the jihadis? Were they “provoking” them?

Are the Jews responsible for the Nazis? Are the Christians in the Middle East responsible for being persecuted by Muslims?

Drawing Muhammad offends Islamic jihadists? So does being Jewish. How much accommodation of any kind should we give to murderous savagery? To kowtow to violent intimidation will only encourage more of it.

This is a war.

Now, after the Charlie Hebdo attack, and after the Garland attack, what are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters?

The attack in Garland showed that everything my colleagues and I have been warning about regarding the threat of jihad, and the ways in which it threatens our liberties, is true. Islamic law, Sharia, with its death penalty for blasphemy, today constitutes a unique threat to the freedom of speech and liberty in general.

Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.

Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not stand for being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed, while everyone else lives in fear.

Islamic law as it’s interpreted by extremists forbids criticism of Islam, the Quran, and Muhammad. If they cannot be criticized in the United States, we are in effect accepting Islamic law as overriding the freedom of speech. This would establish Muslims as a protected class and prevent honest discussion of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence.

Some say that “hate speech” should be censored. But what constitutes “hate speech” is a subjective judgment that is unavoidably influenced by the political perspective of the one doing the judging.

Allowing this sort of censorship would mean nothing less [than] civilizational suicide. Many in the media and academic elite assign no blame to an ideology that calls for death to blasphemers — i.e., those who criticize or offend Islam. Instead, they target and blame those who expose this fanaticism. If the cultural elites directed their barbs and attacks at the extremist doctrine of jihad, the world would be a vastly safer place.

You can try to avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. The shootings in Garland, Paris, and Copenhagen targeting defenders of free speech, and the raging jihad across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, are the disastrous consequences of avoiding reality.

I encourage all Americans to watch the videos of the Garland event and see what Islamic supremacists wish to silence: basic, elemental free speech arguments.

But we are unbowed. Even when the venue was in lockdown and hundreds of attendees were ushered down into the auditorium, the crowd was singing the Star Spangled Banner and G-d Bless America. In the face of fear, they were staunchly and uniquely American.

To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you cannot criticize. If the international media had run the Danish cartoons back in 2005, none of this could have happened. The jihadis wouldn’t have been able to kill everyone. But by self-censoring, the media gave the jihadis the power they have today.

We must take back our freedom.

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Feds overlooked Texas jihadi because “there are so many like him”

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“There are so many like him that you have to prioritize your investigations.” But…but…it’s a tiny minority of extremists!

“Texas Attacker Left Trail of Extremist Ideas on Twitter,” by Scott Shane, New York Times, May 5, 2015:

WASHINGTON — Counterterrorism officials on Tuesday were studying the electronic trails left by two men killed by a police officer as they shot at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas, looking for any direct ties to the Islamic State extremist group in Syria. The group praised the gunmen in a statement as “soldiers of the caliphate,” the unified Muslim land that it purports to be building.

But any secret ties that officials might find may be less important than the public exchanges of messages on Twitter by one of the gunmen, Elton Simpson, in the weeks before the attack. Mr. Simpson, a convert to Islam with a long history of extremism, regularly traded calls for violence on Twitter with Islamic State fighters and supporters, as well as avowed enemies of Pamela Geller, the organizer of the cartoon contest.

His Twitter contacts included Junaid Hussain, a British fighter with the Islamic State in Syria known as Abu Hussain al-Britani, and Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, a Somali-American now in Somalia who uses the name Mujahid Miski and frequently promotes the Islamic State. Both men called for violence, and Mr. Hassan had suggested the Texas event as a possible target.

On April 23, 10 days before the Texas attack, Mr. Hassan linked to the planned cartoon event in Texas, praised the January shootings at a satirical newspaper in Paris and called on jihadists in the United States to follow that example.

“The brothers from the Charlie Hebdo attack did their part,” Mr. Hassan wrote in the post. “It’s time for brothers in the #US to do their part.”

Later the same day, Mr. Simpson posted about the cartoon contest, using the handle Shariah is Light: “When will they ever learn. They are planning on selecting the best picture drawn of Rasulullah (saws) in Texas.” Rasulullah (saws) is a respectful phrase for the prophet.

The onslaught of recruitment propaganda has multiplied the number of online enthusiasts for the Islamic State in the United States, giving counterterrorism investigators the difficult task of deciding which are simply fantasizing in public and which might be planning violence.

“The ISIS guys are talking to these wannabes on Twitter all day long,” a senior law enforcement official said. “It’s like the devil is sitting on their shoulder saying, ‘Come on, they’re insulting the prophet, what are you going to do about it?’ ”

The official, who would speak about the continuing investigation only on condition of anonymity, said that although Mr. Simpson had long been under F.B.I. scrutiny, he had not appeared to be preparing for violence. “There are so many like him that you have to prioritize your investigations,” the official said….

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Video: Robert Spencer on Newsmax TV on the Texas jihad attack

Pamela Geller in Time Magazine: A Response to My Critics—This Is a War

Dr. Rich Swier joins the Tom Trento Show to explain “FITNA” in TEXAS

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Join me and my special in-studio guest Dr. Rich Swier as he explains the Islamic doctrine of “FITNA” and how it is relevant to the Islamic State jihad attack in Garland, Texas. Dr. Swier explains that Fitna (resisting Islam) is worse than the slaughter we see in the Middle East and the slaughter which nearly happened in Garland.

Also in our show today is an Israel update by Arie Egozi detailing a “phantom” attack at a weapons depot in the Sudan and more information on the Iranian nuclear crisis.

After this show was taped UK Imam Anjem Choudary told Pamela Geller on the Sean Hannity Show that she should be tried in Shariah Court and slaughtered… for speaking out against Islam. Why did he say this?

The reason that Imam Choudary believes this is because the Quran says so. What Imam Choudary is demonstrating is the Global Islamic Movement strategy of Fitna. Fitna is defined as “[F]orces that cause controversy, fragmentation, scandal, chaos, or discord within the Muslim community, disturbing social peace and order.”

Quran versus 2: 191-193, reads:

And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Imam Choudary is doing what the Quran demands. Slaughter any unbeliever who causes Fitna for the “fitna is worse than killing.”

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FBI under increased scrutiny for failing to prevent Garland jihad shooting

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They had Elton Simpson on their radar for years. But it is FBI policy in the Obama Administration not to acknowledge, much less study, the beliefs that motivate such attacks. The FBI training materials, by order of John Brennan and Barack Obama, do not mention Islam and jihad in connection with terrorism.

So how can the FBI distinguish between those who are genuine threats and those who are not?

They can’t, because such questions will turn on matters involving their Islamic piety — which is off limits for investigation.

“Mohammed Contest Attack an ISIS First in the US,” by Charlene Aaron, CBN News, May 5, 2015:

ISIS says it was behind the attack outside a contest in Texas featuring cartoons of Islam’s prophet Mohammed. It is the first time the group claimed to have carried out an attack inside the United States.

Meanwhile, the FBI is under increased scrutiny for failing to prevent Sunday’s attack after it had closely monitored one of the suspects in the shooting.

Federal agents had been monitoring 30-year-old Elton Simpson for possible terrorist ties for more than a decade.

Simpson and his roommate were shot dead after opening fire on a security guard outside the event.

In the past, FBI agents recorded Simpson talking about fighting “non-believers” for Allah and about plans to travel to Africa to link up with Islamist brothers in Somalia.

Five years ago, he was arrested for attempting to join an al Qaeda-affiliated group there.

Years spent investigating Simpson for terrorism ties resulted in three years of probation, placement on the no-fly list, and $600 in fines and court fees.

His attorney says he became increasingly agitated.

“I mean, I know that some of the statements that he made were, ‘If you die on the battlefield’ than you get, you know, whatever, the wives and things like that, but I think you hear that out of a lot of people. I mean, that’s a belief of the Muslim faith,” Kristina Sitton, Simpson’s attorney, said in 2011.

Simpson recently posted messages on Twitter about his dismay with his country.

Just minutes before Sunday’s shooting, he tweeted that he and a brother had pledged loyalty to ISIS.

“May Allah accept us as mujahideen [jihadists],” he wrote.

Though the FBI was aware of his social media rants, he was not under 24-hour surveillance.

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TEXAS JIHAD – “We Were There!”

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We were there! We were in the middle of the first Islamic State jihad attack on U.S. soil that targeted innocent American citizens.

I do not mean we were some of the news media “talking heads,” I mean we were part of the American Citizens who were the targets of the two jihadis, hoping to kill us.

In this show I and the United West team sit back on site in Garland Texas and share their personal reflections on their harrowing experience.

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garlandteam

The United West Garland Texas Team.

Pamela Gellar reports:

The FBI has confirmed Phoenix native Elton Simpson, a Muslim convert from Phoenix, Arizona, as one of the shooters responsible for attacking a Draw Muhammad Contest in Garland, Texas on Sunday. Simpson had been previously convicted of lying to the FBI about his jihadist intentions in 2010. Simpson made multiple pro-Sharia statements then that led the FBI to request, unsuccessfully, that he be placed on a no-fly list.

Simpson had been indicted in January 2010 on charges of lying to the FBI. He was subsequently convicted of lying to law enforcement, but not of planning to engage in violent terrorist activity abroad.

The indictment chronicles recorded conversations from 2005-2010 with an FBI informant named Dabla Deng, who introduced himself to Simpson as someone looking to learn more about Islam. Simpson was not shy about his beliefs, praising those who “fight” for Islam and encouraging Deng to renounce the West.

“They trying to bring democracy over there man, they’re trying to make them live by man-made laws, not by Allah’s laws. That’s why they get fought. You try to make us become slaves to man? No we slave to Allah [sic], we going to fight you to the death,” Simpson told Deng on one of the tapes.

575x369xgeller-summit-575x369.png.pagespeed.ic.goBZxwjPr90mfB7VdWUnSimpson spoke often of Somalia, and a desire to go there. He told Deng in recorded audio that he was considering traveling to a madrassa in South Africa and making his way up to Somalia to join the terrorist group Al Shabaab. While Al Shabaab has been an Islamist threat for many years, they are most popularly known today for an attack that killed 147 Christian students at Garissa University, Kenya in April, and a 2013 attack on Westgate Mall in the same nation, which brought them to international prominence. Experts warned in April that Al Shabaab is evolving from a local to a “transnational” jihadist threat.

The Court document notes that his repeated references to getting ready to “bounce” to Africa and join the “brothers” prompted FBI officials to attempt to place Simpson on a no-fly list. They failed: “Because the Defendant was being deceptive about the possibility of traveling to Somalia, however, the FBI became concerned that Mr. Simpson in fact did intend to go Somalia to engage in violent jihad. As a result, the agents attempted to prevent or disrupt the Defendant’s travels. The FBI tried, unsuccessfully,to place Mr. Simpson on the no-fly list.”

It is not clear why the application to place Simpson on the no-fly list was rejected. Concerns about Muslims traveling out of the West and into Islamist war zones were lower in 2010, however, at a time when the Islamic State was still an off-shoot of Al Qaeda (they split in 2014).

Simpson was eventually arrested and plainly claimed to have never discussed this issue, the crime for which he was convicted. The court found him guilty of lying about discussing support of jihad, but not of plotting to join or aid a terrorist organization.

The Court writes that “the Government did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant’s discussions about traveling to Somalia were related to the political situation Agent Hebert described.” Agent Herbert explained previously in the document how Al Shabaab had developed into a militarized terrorist force in the chaotic Somalian political landscape.

The Court also argues that Simpson’s statements were ambiguous:

It is true that the Defendant had expressed sympathy and admiration for individuals who “fight” non-Muslims as well as his belief in the establishment of Shariah law, all over the world including in Somalia. What precisely was meant by “fighting” whenever he discussed it, however, was not clear. Neither was what the Defendant meant when he stated he wanted to get to the “battlefield” in Somalia.

The official number of Americans who have joined jihadist groups are believed to be in the dozens, particularly the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Read the full Court case against Simpson here:

The Media and Jihad

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Every time that there is a major jihad attack, the media responds in the same way. There is now a routine that the authorities tell us:

  • Islam is the religion of peace
  • Muslims that do jihad are extremists and not real Muslims
  • Authorities must watch out for retaliation against Muslims
  • All religions are the same. The Christians are as bad or worse
  • We have not done enough to welcome Islam
  • Concessions will reduce jihad; we need to give Islam more concessions.