https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh-wIkcR6dI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjXotoTbRko
On Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 3:02:36 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > *Sheriffs sound off on Islamic 'terror camps' in U.S.* > > Posted By *Leo Hohmann* On 01/21/2015 > > Sheik Mubarak Ali Gilani is the spiritual leader of Pakistan-based Jamaat > al-Fuqra and its U.S. front group, the Muslims of the Americas. > > Sheriff John Carter of Wayne County, Georgia, received a hot tip in > February last year that he remembers well. > > The caller said he had reason to believe the Muslims of America, a > mysterious Islamic commune with cult-like devotion to a radical Pakistani > sheikh, was building underground bunkers on its land near the tiny town of > Jesup. > > He immediately paid a visit to the reclusive Muslim group’s compound, > where Mecca Circle turns off of Oreo Road several miles north town. About > 38 people live in the commune, where women wear burqas and the men don the > skullcap common among Sufi Muslims. > > “We haven’t had a lot of crime out there. They have not been unfriendly or > rude in any way. They do want their privacy. It is a concern. We’re > monitoring them, and I believe they’re monitored federally, although I > don’t know that for sure because they’re not going to tell you,” Carter > told WND. “But most of the concerns that bring us out there have come from > outside the county.” > > The sheriff has a file in his office about an inch thick titled “Mecca > Circle,” filled with articles and CDs about the clannish Muslim enclave > that keeps an extremely low profile in Wayne County. > > And what about the report about those “bunkers?” > > “I personally went up there, February a year ago, because this person was > saying they were putting in bunkers,” he said. > > He inquired of the leader, a man named Kareem, who led him to a site where > the ground had been disturbed. > > “They were replacing a septic tank,” Carter said. > > Most police calls to the 22 MOA compounds nationwide have resulted in > similar “false alarms,” as residents are understandably upset when they > find out they have a possible jihadist training camp operating in their > county, or even their state or region. > > There have been a few crimes committed by MOA members in Wayne County, > Carter said, but nothing approaching an act of terrorism. > > “The only thing I can recall, and I was chief deputy for 16 years before I > became sheriff, was two of them did an armed robbery at a liquor store some > years ago. We caught them and they went to prison,” Carter said. “There’s > eight trailers out there on Mecca Circle, one vacant lot, a frame house and > a mosque facing the east. I haven’t seen much more than that.” > > The remote compound outside of Jesup is the smaller of two MOA encampments > in Georgia whose members swear allegiance to Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, the > Pakistani cleric and spiritual leader of Jamaat al-Fuqra. The group’s U.S. > headquarters, Muslims of America, is in Hancock County, at the foot of the > Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, at a place called Islamberg. > > At another compound in Red House, Virginia, the local sheriff’s office > says they have about 20 trailer homes and a mosque. Another large compound > exists in York County, S.C., with others in Michigan, Tennessee, California > and other states. > > The Virginia camp, in a remote area of Charlotte County, also happens to > be the closest to the Lynchburg office of Christian Action Network, an > activist group led by Martin Mawyer that produced the documentary film > “Homegrown > Jihad. > <http://superstore.wnd.com/video/Homegrown-Jihad-The-Terrorist-Camps-around-the-US-DVD>” > > The film takes a critical look at Muslims of America and Jamaat al-Fuqra. > The network’s film crew has visited the compound in Virginia several times. > > Maj. Donald Lacks of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office told WND that > the sheriff does not consider MOA to be a threat and he doesn’t take > seriously the information put out by Mawyer and others about the network of > 22 “jihadist training camps.” > > But the phone calls and visits from concerned Americans continue to occur > intermittently, mostly from folks outside Charlotte County, Lacks said. > They often occur after an article has been published, such as WND’s story > last week > <http://mobile.wnd.com/2015/01/22-terror-camps-verified-inside-u-s/> > about the MOA communes. > > “These people live there, they have their own mosque there. They don’t > bother us. I’ve gotten a couple calls this week from West Virginia where > they’re reading on the Internet what a militant place we have here and > that’s not what it is,” Lacks said. “They’ve been here a good while, > probably 10 to 15 years. It’s not a city, it’s a residential area, probably > 15 or 20 mobile homes there and a mosque. We go there all the time. It > might be a civil paper we’re serving or it might be to unlock a vehicle. > Routine stuff.” > > *‘Nosy people’ are the problem* > > Lacks said he’s never been inside the mosque, but he has entered the > commune. > > “I have an officer that lives within a mile and a half of that community. > There are no complaints. The only complaints I get are from people who read > articles that are not true. We’re a rural county but we have residents > living near there and have no complaints,” he continued. “The biggest > problem we have is people driving here from outside the area being nosy, > trying to find out what we have here. They give us more problems than the > Muslims.” > > Lacks had harsh words for the Christian Action Network and its > investigative work. > > “They’ve been banned from here. They fly over and drop numerous pamphlets. > One of them got charged. I believe it was for littering. They’ve got it in > their minds that these people are militant and wanting to kill everybody,” > Lacks said. “Well, that’s not been our experience here.” > > Mawyer stands by the accuracy of his 2012 book, “Twilight of America > <http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-America-Islamic-Terrorist-Training/dp/0985026707>,” > > which he co-authored with Patti Pierucci, and their documentary film, > “Homegrown > Jihad > <http://superstore.wnd.com/video/Homegrown-Jihad-The-Terrorist-Camps-around-the-US-DVD>.” > > He said one of the group’s members was charged with littering but the > charge was quickly thrown out of court. > > When his film crew showed up at the compound in Red House they were > greeted by hostile Muslim of Americas members. The leader of the group > confronted the crew as they exited their car. > > “Leave,” he said. “Don’t say another word. Leave, period. You understand?” > > As the crew drove off, the Muslim leader struck their car window with his > cane (watch film clip below). > > “We toured a lot of these camps and by and large all the camps have a > pretty good working relationship with the police department or the sheriff > that is in the immediate area,” Mawyer told WND. “Whenever we’ve tried to > meet with any of these police agencies and present our findings they won’t > let us in to show any of the evidence. Maybe it’s just to keep their heads > buried in the sand because they certainly don’t approach this group with > any degree of seriousness.” > > He said local sheriffs refused to take a serious look at evidence > indicating that MOA has its roots in the jihadist ideology of its Pakistani > leader and, according to Mawyer’s research, is a ticking bomb “ready to go > off.” > > Graphic courtesy ConservativePapers.com > > When Mawyer approached residents living near the encampments, he says he > found plenty of nervous neighbors. > > “If you talk to the people that live there they will express a great deal > of fear of these people for the most part, although you always have some > that will tell you they have no problem with what’s going on,” he said. > “You can imagine how much more heightened that fear would be if the local > sheriff said they have a terrorist camp in their county. > > “So I think that is why the sheriffs are reluctant to criticize this > group.” > > Mawyer also believes Gilani selected the remote, rural outposts for a > reason. > > “They know these are small communities that don’t have the resources to > regularly monitor what’s going on,” he said. > > *Group not on federal radar, at least not officially* > > In the 1990s, the U.S. State Department listed Jamaat al-Fuqra under > “other terrorist organizations” in a document called “Patterns of Global > Terrorism.” > > That was after a raid on a Colorado camp turned up a stash of AK-47 > assault rifles and pipe bombs that were primed and ready to fire. More > troubling, however, was a recruitment video captured in the raid in which > Sheikh Gilani boasts, “We have an advanced training course in Islamic > military warfare.” > > At some point around 1997 Gilani and his network of camps dropped off the > federal watch list. > > “We did away with that section many years ago and only list the groups > that are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” said Rhonda Shore, > press secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism, in > an email to WND. > > The administration of President Barack Obama has preferred to deal with > domestic terrorist threats in terms of more generic “violent extremism,” > avoiding at all cost the term “Islamic” or “terrorist” when describing > incidents such as the Fort Hood shooting by Maj. Nidal Hason that claimed > 13 lives. That incident, like others, have been designated as “work place > violence.” > > The White House announced last week > <http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/01/white-house-sets-delayed-antiextremism-conference-200891.html> > > it will now move forward with plans to host a previously delayed summit on > “violent extremism” on Feb. 18. > > While the federal government treads gingerly through the weeds of Islamic > radicals, it has expressed no such reticence in calling out “radical right > wing” extremists such as pro-life people and disgruntled veterans, citing > them in a 2009 report > <http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/041609_extremism.pdf> as potential > terrorists. This trend has its roots in the federal siege of the Branch > Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, during the Clinton administration in > 1993, and the FBI’s fatal shooting a year earlier of Randy Weaver’s wife, > son and dog at Ruby Ridge under President George H.W. Bush. > > The White House later pulled the 2009 report following a strong backlash > from conservatives in Congress. > > Frank Spano, executive director of the Counter Terrorism Institute, said > in a 2013 interview with WUSA9, a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., that > the differences in the federal government’s approach to right wing > extremism and Islamic extremism are stark. > > “It’s almost to the point now where we buy their story upfront: ‘Oh, we’re > just a group of individuals, like-minded, who choose to live together and > defend ourselves,’” Spano said. “Well, that was the same case with the > Branch Davidians at Waco.” > > Spano said that outlook is “dangerous.” > > “That’s the terrorist next door,” he said. “That’s where the U.S. really > needs to reconsider how we address these organizations.” > > *A known ‘jihadist’ organization* > > Because Jamaat al-Fuqra and Muslims of America are not on the State > Department’s foreign terrorist list, state and local law enforcement have > less freedom to monitor them, said Clare Lopez, vice president of > research and analysis for the Center for Security Policy > <http://lopez.pundicity.com/about/> in Washington, D.C. > > “I don’t know if Jamaat al-Fuqra has ties to al-Qaida, but they are known > to be a jihadist organization,” Lopez said. “They’re definitely jihadist in > their ideology, and what’s concerning is they are in the U.S.” > > Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was investigating Jamaat > al-Fuqra in 2002 and was on his way to interview Gilani in Pakistan when he > was kidnapped and beheaded. > > “And the one who did the beheading was Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (the > al-Qaida operative considered the architect of the 9/11 attacks),” Lopez > said. “A lot of these groups are not formally connected. But they are > jihadist and any group with a jihadi ideology is linked by Islam. Sometimes > they do cooperate across organizational structures.” > > Iran helps fund Hamas, for instance, even though Iran is Shiite and Hamas > is Sunni Muslim. > > “It’s the fundamental ideology that binds them even when the sectarian > differences might divide them,” Lopez said. “All of Islamic doctrine > divides the world into Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-Harb, and it’s the Dar > al-Harb that becomes the target either through conquest or through > civilizational jihad… so they do cooperate against the enemy, which is us.” > > Three criteria must be met for a group to get placed on the State > Department’s foreign terrorist list: The group must be foreign based, it > must have committed violent acts, and it must be deemed a national-security > threat. The State Department reviews its list every two years. > > The Center for Security Policy released a study Jan. 16 > <http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/01/16/national-security-tiger-team-presents-the-secure-freedom-strategy-for-victory-over-the-global-jihad-movement/> > > that outlines a new strategy Lopez says would provide a more systematic and > thorough assessment of the global jihadist threat, both at home and abroad. > > *Sleeper cells waiting to wake up?* > > A group like Jamaat al-Fuqra could be a sleeper cell that lies dormant for > years, only to be activated one day by its leader, analysts such as Lopez > and Spano surmise. It has not carried out any organized acts of violence > for more than a decade. > > “It’s troubling, because we’ve got this network of dozens of encampments > across the U.S. and of course it’s not like the no-go zones in Europe > because these are out in the countryside and neighbors report that they > have heard gunfire inside the encampments but gun ownership in America is > legal,” Lopez said. “So you would need a warrant, probable cause, all these > things. It’s just been difficult for law enforcement.” > > Even if a local sheriff wanted to thoroughly investigate MOA, there is no > legal basis for doing so because they operate on private property and have > separated themselves from society under the premise that they are > practicing their religion. > > “That is pretty clever of the group,” Lopez said. “Our Jan. 16 report is a > national strategy to defeat the global jihad movement, recognizing it is > not only a religion, because a religion is pietistic. It involves worship > of a deity, maybe has a diet, rules for living, and that’s completely > covered by the First Amendment and if that was all Islam was then we > wouldn’t be having this conversation.” > > Islam also has its own legal system, shariah law, which Lopez said could > be seen as a violation of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution. > > “So we have to stop talking about it as a religion only. It is a > totalitarian political system and supremacist in nature, and as part of the > belief system itself obligates Muslims to conquest,” she said. “Now, > happily, a big percentage of Muslims don’t want anything to do with that.” > > Lopez cites a 2013 Pew Research survey of the Muslim world > <http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/>, > > which includes 1.6 billion adherents. In this survey, a surprising 19 > percent of U.S. Muslims > <http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-app-a/> > > did not agree that suicide bombings were never justified. > > “Even if a majority of the 1.6 billion never pick up a gun or a bomb they > still go to mosque and still make donations, and one-eighth of the donation > goes to jihad. That’s according to the law of Islam. They’re supporting it, > they’re perpetrating it,” Lopez said. “So it’s not just the ones that pick > up the guns and the bombs. It’s every single parent that allows them to go > to an Islamic school. I can understand why people don’t want to take that > on. It seems pretty daunting. But if one-fifth of world’s population is > Muslim think of the other side, four-fifths are not Muslim. So we’re going > to be concerned about a backlash from the one-fifth?” > > *Watch the local CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.’s report on the 22 > communes operated by Muslims of America:* > > WND informed Lacks that several reputable researchers, media outlets and > even the FBI itself, have documented the terrorist ties of Gilani’s group. > Comments from Gilani himself make reference to America being the “enemy” of > Islam and that he was “establishing training camps” for the “Soldiers of > Allah.” > > Lacks said he had to go answer another phone call and abruptly ended the > interview with WND before he could be asked if he was aware of specific > incidents, such as the 1992 raid on MOA’s Beuna Vista, Colorado, compound > that found a cache of assault rifles and explosives, or about the > firebombing of a Hindu temple in Colorado by MOA members. The camp in > Colorado was also where a recruitment video was captured in which Gilani > touted the “Soldiers of Allah” and showed members engaging in military-type > drills, marching with rifles, setting off explosives and assaulting > fictional enemies. > > *One police chief not convinced group is ‘peace loving’* > > But not all law enforcement officers are dismissive of the group and its > potential as a terrorist sleeper cell within the U.S. > > John W. Gaissert, the police chief of Commerce, Georgia, near the MOA camp > in Franklin County, is a retired Navy commander who has spent a career in > law enforcement, working directly on military and civilian > counter-terrorism issues. > > Gaissert was a security consultant for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta > and also testified in 2010 to a U.S. House Subcommittee on Intelligence. He > believes it would be a mistake to dismiss Jamaat Fuqra and Muslims of > America as merely pietistic Muslims trying to live in peace out in the > countryside. > > “Their spiritual mentor is Sheikh Gilani and his concept is to make your > enemy your friend and then kill them,” Gaissert said. > > Gilani came to America in 1979 and got his start in a mosque in New York. > > “And of course the U.S. always seems to back the wrong hound, and when the > Afghans were fighting the Russians he recruited 100 men who trained in > Pakistan and then fought under Osama bin Laden,” Gaissert said. “In any > event he is a radical clerical.” > > Yet, the compound on Madinah Road outside of Commerce in a remote area of > north Georgia has not had any reported acts of violence. > > “You could probably surmise that all these groups are probably on a > federal radar screen, but there is no department of pre crime. We act on > intelligence but until someone commits a crime there is not much to do, we > still have a free country,” Gaissert told WND. “We’ve had no overt acts of > violence. That is not to say they are benign because if you research Jamaat > Fuqra in other parts of the country we have had acts of violence. We have > not had any violent acts from the group here but you have to look at the > roots. We have enough information to know there are specific facts that can > be stated about this particular organization.” > > FBI documents show the group’s members have been tied to 10 murders, three > firebombings and one attempted firebombing, as well as welfare fraud. > > “We know al-Qaida and ISIS have called for lone-wolf attacks against law > enforcement and now we’ve seen object lessons in Europe, and we’ve also > seen them in Fort Hood, Texas, and in Oklahoma, and in Boston and in New > York. This is not something to take lightly. The notion that it can’t > happen here and it can’t happen to me is pretty myopic in terms of a world > view. That’s a fatal philosophy for police.” > > Mawyer said he believes the favorable treatment from local law enforcement > boils down to politics. > > “You can speculate about why the local law enforcement community always > puts out such positive stuff about these groups, but put yourself in their > position. They don’t have any legal means to do anything with these camps, > and to try to face re-election every four years with the possibility that > you have a terrorist training camp in your jurisdiction, it’s just easier > to try to say these are not terrorist camps, just peace-loving people > trying to educate their own kids and do their own farming,” he said. > “There’s a lot of political pressure on these sheriffs.” > > Gaissert said one thing is certain – that political correctness has seemed > into law enforcement at the federal level and some of that has leaked down > to the state and local levels. > > “It seems that if an attack is sponsored or directed by a terrorist > organization they will label it a terrorist act. But if an act or event is > jihadist inspired, that is by someone who was radicalized by a teaching in > a mosque or over the Internet, they will not call it an act of terrorism,” > he said. “But a rose by any other name is still a rose. Why would you want > to cloud the issue or deny the reality of it?” > > Sheriff Stevie Thomas of Franklin County, where the larger of the two > Georgia camps has operated for years, near Commerce, did not return > repeated phone calls from WND. Sheriff Bruce Bryant of York County, S.C., > which also has a large MOA enclave, also did not return calls. > > “So for any sheriff to claim that we put out false information, they will > never put a finger on anything we’ve shown that is in anyway false because > they can’t. It’s all very well researched,” Mawyer said. “We hear this all > the time, not just from sheriff’s departments. Is the video false? Are > Gilani’s own words false?” > > Mawyer points to Gilani’s diatribe in the captured video from Colorado as > the most damning evidence. > > “He said, ‘We are establishing the most advanced Islamic warfare training > camps and we’re in upstate New York, we’re in Georgia, we’re in Michigan > and you can reach out to join us. And America is the enemy.’” > > Mawyer said he has no message for the local sheriffs who ignore or > denigrate his research. > > “They have a duty to perform in their communities,” he said. “I hope they > do it well.” > > “Why Sheriff Jones (of Charlotte County) feels these are nice peaceful > people, I don’t know,” he continued. “Our entire goal was just to say > ‘Look, they are here and here’s what they’ve done in the past, and here’s > what they are capable of doing now.’” > > What happened in Colorado in 1992 should stand as a lesson, he said. > > “They had their Colorado compound raided and shut down, and if you were to > read all the newspaper pieces from back prior to that raid it would sound > the same way — these are nice peaceful people — and then they found cashes > of weapons and explosives.” > > *Little chance of congressional hearings* > > Mawyer said he asked one congressman, “who will remain nameless,” about > holding hearings on Jamaat Fuqra and Muslims of America. His response was > jolting. > > “How far would I get if I tried to advance hearings on Capitol Hill into a > group dealing with a lot of women in its camps, most are black, and a > minority religion, how far would I get?’” the congressman asked him. > > “It’s like three strikes and you’re out. You’re not going to hold a > hearing on these people, because you’d be depicted as racists and > Islamophobes and anti-women,” Mawyer said. “All the facts are in the > documentary, and the book, it speaks for itself. If people want to take the > word of their sheriff’s department over what this group puts out > themselves, then so be it.” > ------------------------------ > > Article printed from WND: *http://www.wnd.com <http://www.wnd.com>* > > URL to article: > *http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/sheriffs-sound-off-on-jihad-training-camps-in-u-s/ > > <http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/sheriffs-sound-off-on-jihad-training-camps-in-u-s/>* > > > > > __._,_.___ > ... -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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