Hitchens, Hentoff Question Ground Zero Mosque

Two prominent liberal commentators have come out against the Ground Zero mosque project. Christopher Hitchens, (who has criticized some arguments used by some mosque opponents) on Monday attacked Rauf's "sinister belief that the United States was partially responsible for the assault on the World Trade Center and his refusal to take a position on the racist Hamas dictatorship in Gaza."

The more he reads through Rauf's statements, Hitchens wrote, the more alarming they sound. After Iran's ruling mullahs hijacked last year's election, Rauf advised President Obama to "say his administration respects many of the guiding principles of the 1979 revolution," including the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, which means establishing the rule of law.

But Rauf neglected to explain that Vilayet i-faqih is a term coined by Ayatollah Khomeini to describe the idea that Iranian society is under the permanent guardianship of the mullahs.

"Under this dispensation, 'the will of the people' is a meaningless expression, because 'the people' are the wards and children of the clergy," Hitchens wrote. This effectively gives the Iranian clergy the authority to dictate election results.

According to Hitchens, it is a mistake to suggest that the issue of building the Ground Zero mosque is solely one of religious tolerance:

"As Western Europe has already found to its cost, local Muslim leaders have a habit, once they feel strong enough, of making demands of the most intolerant kind. Sometimes it will be calls for censorship of anything 'offensive' to Islam. Sometimes it will be demands for sexual segregation in schools and swimming pools. The script is becoming a very familiar one. And those who make such demands are of course usually quite careful to avoid any association with violence. They merely hint that, if their demands are not taken seriously, there just might be a tiny smidgen of violence from some other unnamed quarter."

As for "the gorgeous mosaic of religious pluralism, it's easy enough to find mosque Web sites and DVDs that peddle the most disgusting attacks on Jews, Hindus, Christians, unbelievers and other Muslims - to say nothing of insane diatribes about women and homosexuals," Hitchens added.

That is why "the fake term Islamophobia is so dangerous. It insinuates that any reservations about Islam must ipso facto be 'phobic.' A phobia is an irrational fear or dislike. Islamic preaching very often manifests precisely this feature, which is why suspicion of it is by no means irrational."

Columnist Nat Hentoff objected to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's call for an investigation into the funding received by mosque opponents:

"If one of her sleuths knocks on my door, this opponent will readily state that I need no outside funding as a reporter who is deeply investigating the motivation of Imam Rauf's choice of this site of mass murder for the mosque. I will add that, of course, all American Muslims have their First Amendment right to exercise their freedom of religion in their place of worship. There have been other mosques in New York City built without opposition."

Hentoff criticized Rauf's refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organization and his no-comment response to Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar's endorsement of the mosque's location. The columnist noted that Rauf, a supporter of sharia, has participated in State Department tours of Arab Middle Eastern countries during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.

"Does our State Department include sharia as being within our rule of law?" Hentoff asked.

Ray Locker, former USA TODAY national security editor, becomes IPT's new Managing Director

Steven Emerson, Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), is pleased to announce that Ray Locker has joined our staff as Managing Director. The former national security editor of USA TODAY, he coordinated coverage of the Pentagon, American foreign policy and the international intelligence community.

Locker directed projects that showed the Pentagon's slowness in dealing with the threat of roadside bombs and he exposed the military's practice of hiring retired officers with conflicts of interest as advisers to current commanders. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cited the IED reporting as the main reason he spurred a $25 billion program to buy new armored vehicles. As a result of Locker's investigative journalism, Congress is changing Pentagon policy.

"We are thrilled and honored to have someone of Ray's stature join our staff, and lead our editorial efforts. His years of experience, and his network of contacts will greatly strengthen our work," noted Emerson.

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Gates Memo Ignores Fort Hood Causes

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is promising a series of changes to military policies aimed at preventing a repeat of last fall's Fort Hood massacre by Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan. Yet, in detailing those changes, Gates never mentions Hasan by name, and he never mentions the threat of Islamist extremism that fueled Hasan's shooting spree that left 13 people dead and 30 others wounded.

That follows the tone set by an independent review which originally formulated the proposals in a report called, Protecting the Force: Lessons Learned from Fort Hood.

In a memorandum issued Friday, the Defense Department promises to better coordinate with the FBI and with Joint Terrorism Task Forces; clarify policy on prohibited Internet activity balancing personal expression "against actions that undermine good order and discipline." That means defining "what constitutes associational, advocating, supremacists and extremist behavior."

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The Muslim Students Association's Terror Problem

While it strives for respectability, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) has a dark side. For example, a 2007 report by the New York Police Department describes MSAs as "part of a growing trend of Salafi-based radicalization."

The report lists MSAs as an example of "Salafi Influences and Incubators," stating: "Extremists have used these university-based organizations as forums for the development and recruitment of like-minded individuals - providing a receptive platform for younger, American-born imams, to present a radical message in a way that resonates with the students."

But the organization's role in radicalizing other Muslims is just part of the problem. Patrick Poole shows how some of the organization's most senior members have been implicated in a variety of terror-related conspiracies:

"These include an MSA national president who was al-Qaeda's top financier in the U.S., as chapter president who was one of al-Qaeda's co-founders, and a former MSA faculty advisor who is currently the terrorist most wanted by the U.S. government," according to Poole. "Other MSA leaders have been recently identified in several domestic and international terror plots, and some currently are facing terrorism charges."

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Missing Context in the Mosque Debate

Like most political battles, the debate over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero in Manhattan is hampered by each side's inability to recognize any legitimacy in the other's positions.

Journalist Mary Jacoby explores this dynamic in a compelling essay on her site, MainJustice.com. The proposal's defenders, she writes, fail to acknowledge that many American mosques are financed by foreign interests who meld a political agenda with their conservative religious beliefs, often squeezing out moderate Muslim voices.

Mainstream media outlets help perpetuate this dominance by ignoring the sullied histories of national Islamist groups who are treated as the voice of all American Muslims:

"If liberals would acknowledge the origins and nature of groups like the Islamic Society of North America, the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, it would help diffuse the climate of intolerance that they deplore.

Conservatives wouldn't be able to complain of a grand conspiracy of ignorance. And all Americans would become more sophisticated about distinguishing between Muslims who truly share values of religious freedom, and those who in some ways don't – not to discriminate against anybody, but to more clearly define the debate."

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Alaskan-based Terrorist had 20-Person Hit List

New details have emerged in the case of a rural Alaska couple accused of domestic terrorism. According to a sentencing memorandum entered in federal court this week, Paul and Nadia Rockwood had compiled a hit list of 20 targets and were ready to begin carrying out attacks.

Although we previously reported on the arrest and guilty pleas of the Rockwoods back in July, the release of new documents shows that the connections to American born al Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki was more than merely inspirational, and that the plot itself was more than merely aspirational.

After converting to Islam a decade ago, Paul Rockwood began studying the teachings of Awlaki, and over time Rockwood came to believe that it was his responsibility to "exact revenge" on anybody who desecrated Islam. Rockwood reportedly carried a lot of radical material, including "Constants on the Path to Jihad" and "44 Ways to Jihad," when he was arrested. Those are two pieces in which Awlaki preaches the radical form of Islam for which he has become so well known. For example, in "44 Ways to Jihad," Awlaki says:

"Jihad is the greatest deed in Islam and the salvation of the ummah is in practicing it. In times like these, when Muslim lands are occupied by the kuffar, when the jails of tyrants are full of Muslim POWs, when the rule of the law of Allah is absent from this world and when Islam is being attacked in order to uproot it, Jihad becomes obligatory on every Muslim. Jihad must be practiced by the child even if the parents refuse, by the wife even if the husband objects and by the one indebt even if the lender disagrees."

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Pirate Fail Leads to Dismissal of Charges

If at first you don't succeed in an act of piracy, don't worry, because you won't be held accountable. That, according to a federal judge who has dismissed piracy charges against six Somali nationals who were accused of attacking a Navy ship off the coast of Africa on April 10.

The men were charged with opening fire on the U.S.S. Ashland, a warship that supports amphibious operations. The six men, and a group of five other Somalis captured after allegedly firing on another U.S. warship, were brought to Norfolk, Virginia, where they were charged with the attacks. Commenting on the arrests at the time, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride explained:

"since the earliest days of this country, piracy has been a serious crime…privacy threatens human lives and disrupts international commerce. When pirates attack U.S. vessels by force, they must face severe consequences."

Following their arrest, all of the men pled not guilty and were awaiting a trial which was expected to begin in September. But during pre-trial proceedings, Judge Jackson dismissed the piracy charges, concluding that the U.S. government had failed to make a reasonable case that the men's actions amounted to piracy.

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British Bank Fined for Violating Sanctions

While we frequently highlight the ongoing attempts to punish state sponsors of terrorism through international sanctions, it is important to remember that sanctions by themselves are useless unless they are actually enforced. Underscoring this point is the news this week that Barclays would pay $298 million to settle criminal charges that it had violated economic sanctions.

On Monday, federal prosecutors charged Barclays Bank in a two-count information alleging the financial institution violated economic sanctions in dealings with countries that include Iran, Cuba, and Libya. According to the Department of Justice:

"From the mid 1990s through September 2006, Barclays violated both U.S. and New York State criminal laws by knowingly and willfully moving or permitting to be moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of banks from Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and Burma."

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Pakistani Flooding Creates Opening for Terrorists

While Pakistanis continue to suffer the devastating effects of repeated monsoons, the international community is competing with terrorist groups over recovery efforts.

Heavy rains since the beginning of July have caused major flooding throughout Pakistan. The United Nations estimates that at least 20 million people have been affected and are now living in makeshift camps without food, water, and electricity. Just last week, al Jazeera reported:

"We have been told that for the past two weeks people here have not received any help…They are running out of food and they are running out of medicine."

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Muslim Mosque Critic Reports Threat

A Canadian Muslim woman says she felt threatened by a telephone call critical of her opposition to the proposed Ground Zero mosque in New York. Raheel Raza, a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says the caller identified himself as Sharif El Gamal, one of the developers involved in the mosque effort.

Raza attended a meeting last week with Gamal and another mosque advocate and had asked for details about the financing behind the $100 million project, including whether it would come from sources outside the U.S. According to a Toronto Sun report, Raza felt threatened when the caller reached her on her cell phone and "accused me of 'jumping into' the meeting he called and then said 'May Allah protect you.' I was shocked and hung up."

If it wasn't a threat, "Why would I need Allah's protection?" she asked. Gamal denied making the call, but the Sun report indicates the number captured in Raza's phone matches Gamal's New York office.

Raza and fellow Muslim Canadian Council member Tarek Fatah detailed their opposition to the mosque earlier this month in a column published by the Ottawa Citizen. Choosing a site so close to the site of the 9/11 attack is a "deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel," they wrote.

It violates the sentiment of Quranic instruction to "'Be considerate when you debate with the People of the Book'-- i.e., Jews and Christians. Building an exclusive place of worship for Muslims at the place where Muslims killed thousands of New Yorkers is not being considerate or sensitive, it is undoubtedly an act of 'fitna')," they wrote.

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