Meaning of Islam...

Do not buy in to the Myth that
CAIR-OK
and The
OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR’S ETHNIC AMERICAN ADVISORY COUNCIL
push:

Muslims sometimes claim that the root word of Islam is “al-Salaam,” which is “peace” in Arabic.

The Truth:

An Arabic word only has one root. The root word for Islam is “al-Silm,” which means “submission” or “surrender.” There is no controversy about this among Islamic scholars. al-Silm (submission) does not mean the same thing as al-Salaam (peace), otherwise they would be the same word.

Submission and peace can be very different concepts, even if a form of peace is often brought about through forcing others into submission. As the modern-day Islamic scholar, Ibrahim Sulaiman, puts it, "Jihad is not inhumane, despite its necessary violence and bloodshed, its ultimate desire is peace which is protected and enhanced by the rule of law."

In truth, the Qur’an not only calls Muslims to submit to Allah, it also commands them to subdue people of other religions until they are in a full state of submission to Islamic rule. This has inspired the aggressive history of Islam and its success in conquering other cultures.

Two Became Twenty

Two Became Twenty

by

Margy Pezdirtz

It was a quiet Friday, one in which I wanted to study and prepare for the coming Shabbat, when my phone rang. Renee said, "Did you get the flyer? The one about the CAIR anti-Israel rally this afternoon at 4:30? I thought you might want to do something about it."

"No, I didn’t get the flyer. What’s happening." And that began the end of a quiet afternoon.

CAIR - Council on American-Islamic Relations - was sponsoring a rally from 4:30 to 6:00 to "to decry Israel’s attack on humanitarian aid ship share." Probably the last thing in the world I wanted to do on this very hot June afternoon was to stand on a street corner and protest the protestors. I thought about it for a moment. Could I, in all honesty and integrity, sit back in my comfortable, air conditioned home and do nothing? And what about my ten-year-old granddaughter who was with me until her parents got off work. Should I take her to a rally like this that could conceivably turn dangerous?

I thought about it for a moment and knew I had to act. If not me, then who? If not now, then when? I quickly forwarded the article on to my email list asking anyone and everyone that could to join me at 4:00 at the intersection. I called people whom I knew wouldn’t receive the email prior to getting home and told them of our intentions and asked them to call as many people as they could and to please join us.

My sister was across town with her daughter who is due to have a baby any day now. I called her and said, "Is the baby coming?" "No," she responded. "Then I have something more important for you to do." I gave her instructions and was happy when she said, "OK." I wasn’t sure I would leave my daughter in that situation, but she is as committed to Israel as I am and she knew I wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t significant.

I grabbed a box of Israeli window flags from my garage and threw them in the car along with a generous supply of ice water. An hour and a half in the sun could be a very long time and water would be necessary, not only for myself but for others who might show up. I donned white pants and my blue tee that showed crossed Israeli and America flags and said, "United We Stand...Divided We Fall" and backed out of the driveway. My heart and head were racing, and I wondered if I was walking into trouble. My granddaughter and I prayed as we drove towards the site of the rally where my son would pick her up. Rushing toward the freeway, I explained words to her like ‘flotilla’, ‘humanitarian’ and once again, "God’s love for the land and people of Israel."

In the beginning Renee and I were the only ones at the intersection where the rally was supposed to be held. We took our stand across the street from the anti-Israel bunch and began waving Israeli flags at passers by. At her suggestion, I called the local talk radio show, a conservative station, and told host Lee Matthews what we were doing. He put it on the air and soon, cars were passing by and honking in agreement with the two of us. I had told the Lee that I had Israeli flags I would give out to anyone who pulled over and asked for one.

A man in a white pickup truck was stopped at the traffic light, going in the opposite direction. He sat watching us as he waited on the light and I hollered, "Would you like a flag?" He nodded yes and I ran one across two traffic lanes to him. He took the flag and said, "I’m going to park and come help you." His name was David.

Every fifteen minutes, the radio station called for a report on what was happening. I was delighted to tell them people were listening and responding to us. He wanted to know how many there were at the CAIR site and I told him I could see seven, which later turned to eleven. As we talked on the radio, I continued to wave flags and smile at people.

Others came and joined us. One couple, Mike and Betty, said they were sitting on their porch in El Reno - a town approximately thirty miles away, when they heard on the radio about the anti-anti-Israel rally. Mike looked at his wife and said, "We better get down there."

Another couple heard about it on the radio as they were driving home from work and they detoured to our location to join us.

A beautifully dressed young woman who lives in Northwest Oklahoma City heard about it on the radio, pulled into the Walgreen’s parking lot across the street and waited for the very long light to change so she could literally run across the street to join us. She grabbed a flag and began standing watch with us.

And they continued to come. They were individuals. They were couples. Some were on their way home from work. Some were just driving by. Others heard about it on the radio and were moved to action. They were Christians and they knew this was late on a Friday afternoon when Jews were preparing for Shabbat and most likely wouldn’t be able to come join in the rally, so they responded to the invitation and stood on the hot corner, waving flags and shouting "support Israel." My spirits were lifted. I was thrilled to see the response and to hear the conversations of the people who joined us. They cheerfully pulled flags out of the bag and started waving them and giving them out and when we ran out, I ran back to the car and brought all I had.

We had a sign that said, "Honk for Israel" and people put the flags on their car windows and drove around the block two, three and four times honking for Israel. When the anti-Israel CAIR bunch mimicked our sign with one that said, "honk for Islam," people on our side of the street honked even louder and longer.

Our group had grown considerably. There were suddenly twelve and then twenty and more came as some left. One woman, riding on a large motorbike flying an American flag pulled into the intersection, parked the bike and said, "I came to join you." I laughed and said, "Welcome Biker Babe" and we continued to wave flags, hold up signs supporting Israel. I couldn’t help but give praise to God that the response from those joining us and those passing by with honking horns, were so supportive.

The CAIR group watched us and even sent someone over, dressed in intimidating black, with an camera to take our pictures from all angles. I made sure he got excellent pictures of us – what his rationale was didn’t matter. What mattered was that they – the CAIR – people saw not everyone bought their story of Israel’s unfairness to so-called humanitarian ships.

The hour and a half passed quickly and our spirits continued in spite of the hot sun. We were tired and thirsty but we shouted with the greatest of joy when one of Oklahoma City’s beautiful, large fire engines drove by and tapped out a tune of support to us on their air horn. We heard it loud and clear and I’m sure the CAIR people did as well, but there was no doubt whom the firefighters were supporting.

The rally was supposed to be over at 6:00 p.m. The hour came and went and the CAIR people stayed on. We were determined that we would win this demonstration by sheer will power, if nothing else, and we continued to stand on the corner, waving flags, shouting for Israel and laughing. Finally, at 6:30, the CAIR crowd had diminished to one person against our dozen or so remaining. We waited and watched as they packed up their last person, their signs and flags into a vehicle and drove off. Only then, did we call an end to our rally. One person in our group was determined to stay on the corner until he had given out his last flag and we left him there waving his flag and showing determination to all, reaffirming his – and our – solidarity with Israel.

*************************************

For more Background please read

Former Oklahoman National CAIR Board Member Deported

Terror in Oklahoma

CAIR-OK to Host Town Hall, Crying about Profiling of Muslims at Airports

Some pictures from today CAIR-OK 'Peace' Vigil

Obama campaign meets with Islamic Radicals

OK-5 Candidate Kevin Calvey to Protest OKC Area Meeting of Terrorist Front Group

For more background click here

Fifth District Congressional Candidate Kevin Calvey (R-Oklahoma City) today announced a protest of tomorrow’s scheduled meeting of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Oklahoma City area.

“CAIR has been identified by several law enforcement sources as a front group or propagandist for terrorists, including Hamas, and CAIR has been frequently denounced by the Anti-Defamation League for their anti-Semitic and anti-American statements,” said Calvey, who prosecuted terrorists while deployed with the Army National Guard in Iraq in 2007-2008.

Calvey was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his service in Iraq. “Oklahomans should be outraged that a group like CAIR is operating in our midst,” said Calvey.

“I urge fellow Oklahomans to join me in peacefully protesting the CAIR meeting tomorrow night.”

CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the US Justice Department’s terrorist-financing case against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation.



The FBI broke official ties to CAIR a little over a year ago due to concerns about CAIR’s ties to Hamas.

See:
http://www.adl.org/Israel/cair/default.asp

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/11/fbi-ties-cair-remain- strained-obama-administration/

CAIR, which styles itself as the nation’s largest Islamic advocacy group, announced it will host a “Town Hall” meeting on the subject of airport profiling and security. The meeting will be held tomorrow, Friday, January 15, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. at Home Creations, 2280 North Broadway, Moore, Oklahoma.

Calvey urged protesters to arrive early to make their views about terrorism known.

“This is not about protesting Islam. This is about protesting terrorism. There are many Muslims who cooperate with America and our allies in the fight against terrorism,” said Calvey. “This is about protesting one group that appears intent on pushing propaganda for terrorists and hampering America in the fight against terrorism.”

Kevin Calvey is a small businessman and a conservative former State Representative from Del City.

Kevin volunteered to deploy to Iraq as a Captain in the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 2007, and his mission in Iraq was to prosecute al Qaeda leaders and other terrorists in the Iraqi court system. Kevin was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service.
Kevin and his wife, Toni, live in Oklahoma City with their baby, Anastasia.

CAIR-OK to Host Town Hall, Crying about Profiling of Muslims at Airports

On January 15, the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) will hold a town hall meeting at Home Creations in Moore to discuss issues of concern to the Muslim community such as airport profiling, youth empowerment and civic engagement.

WHAT: CAIR-Oklahoma Town Hall Meeting

WHEN: Friday, January 15, 2010, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Home Creations
2280 North Broadway St.
Moore, OK 73160
CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-415-6851 or 405-248-5853, E-mail: rhashmi@cair.com

“It is important for the community to know more about one of the fastest growing civil rights groups in the metro area that is serving the needs of the Muslim and greater community alike,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi.

A commentary distributed by CAIR challenged calls for profiling and suggested security-enhancing alternatives to ineffective religious profiling: “First look at behavior, not at faith or skin color. Then spend what it takes to obtain more bomb-sniffing dogs, to install more sophisticated bomb-detection equipment and to train security personnel in identifying the behavior of real terror suspects.”

CAIR is urging American Muslim individuals and institutions to review advice on security procedures contained in its "Muslim Community Safety Kit.”

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

- END -

CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-415-6851 or 405-248-5853, E-mail: rhashmi@cair.com; CAIR-OK Chair Michael Aziz Gipson, E-Mail: mgipson@cair.com; CAIR-OK Operations Coordinator Huda Abdul-Razzak, E-Mail: habdulrazzak@cair.com

Islamic 'Facebook terrorists' pose new challenges, warns general

'Facebook terrorists' pose new challenges,
warns general

By Urmee Khan

Radicalised Islamic terrorists from the "Facebook generation" are working across national borders and creating unprecedented challenges for security forces, MPs have been warned.

A Bangladeshi military general has revealed that new generations of extremists are using social networks for terrorist activity.

Major General Muniruzzaman, a former military advisor and Chief of Staff to the President of Bangladesh, told MPs at a Parliamentary meeting on Tuesday evening that the young people from Asian communities in Britain are often more radicalised that their counterparts in South Asia.

He revealed that he would be writing a report next year examining ‘cross pollination’ with communities now living in the western nations and will be specifically studying the British Bangladeshi community and any possible links.

"What we have seen is that many of the diaspora population living in the West have become perhaps more radicalised than their home roots.
“So we are not only seeing roots exporting radicalism to diaspora living in other countries but we are also trying to see whether the diaspora of those living in other areas on other continents is taking radical thoughts back to their roots.

“So we need to see the cross-pollination routes - what level of radical ideology can be taken back, what has been transferred. We are also seeing a disturbing trend now - the typical theory of the madrassas no longer exists. The London bombers did not go to madrassas, the Glasgow bombers were highly educated. 9/11 terrorists were educated in North American universities. So a paradigm shift has taken place in the profiling of the terrorists.

"We are interested in studying the Facebook generation, to see how the Facebook generation is shifting radical thoughts from one country to another, " he said.

President elect Barack Obama said on Monday - following the attack by Islamic militants on India's financial center of Mumbai which killed 183 people - that militants based in the “safe havens” of South Asia represented the biggest threat to the United States.

General Muniruzzaman warned that his own country Bangladesh should not be ignored in any threat assessment, and he pointed to its growing political Islam and militant wahabism, and the “social stress” of the country, which is currently governed by a military-backed interim government . Elections have been scheduled or December 29 but have already been delayed several times.

He identified extremists groups operating in Bangladesh such as Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI), Hizb ut Tahrir, and referred to Fazlur Rahman, of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh (JMB) who was a signatory to the 1998 Al Qaeda declaration of war.

Although General Muniruzzaman refused to disclose any information about any front organizations those groups have in the UK, he said: “we haven’t had clear idea how money is funne l led into Bangladesh through various means. We haven’t really regulated the inflow of money.

“So in terms of counter terrorism financing we have lack of capacity, so I only hope there are loopholes that we have not been able to stop and we need to find them. “

Major General Muniruzzaman, who is President of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) has extensive field experience in United Nations Peace Support Operations and was selected by the UN Secretary General to lead the post election UN mission in Cambodia.

Obama campaign meets with Islamic Radicals

Hat Tip to Erick @ RedState

NBC News is reporting the Obama campaign in September had several meetings with "several controversial Muslim activists."

The meeting included Mahdi Bray, a supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas. "In a 2004 interview, he called the Israeli assassination of a Hamas spiritual leader an 'unlawful, cowardly and dangerous act of state-sponsored terrorism.'"

Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) attended.

Likewise,

Chicago-based lawyer Mazen Asbahi also attended the meeting. He is the Obama campaign’s former Muslim outreach coordinator, who abruptly resigned in August after the Wall Street Journal and websites that track fundamentalist Islam began questioning Asbahi’s involvement in an Islamic investment fund and various Islamic groups.

And here we were worried about Obama's ACORN ties.

What the Drive by Media not telling you about Afghanistan

Banditry has always been a big problem in Afghanistan.

There has never been an effective national police force, and army operations merely caused the bandits to scatter back to their villages.

The basic problem is that there is not one Afghanistan, but hundreds. Each tribe and warlord has its own army which polices its neighborhood. Everything outside that area is considered potentially hostile territory. Men are free to go outside the tribal area and become bandits. Loot taken in battle (or armed robbery) has always been a big deal in Pushtun tribal culture.

So while most Afghans can understand the usefulness of keeping the main road from Kabul to Kandahar open, many of those same Afghans condone their kinsmen robbing people on that highway, as long as it's done to "strangers" (not from our tribe or, even better, foreigners.)

While a lot of Afghans, especially those living in urban areas, try to get away from these medieval attitudes, the majority of those in the countryside are more traditional in their attitudes. This is where a lot of the violence comes from.

Journalists tend to blame it all on the "Taliban," but in fact, most of it is just those gun totting country boys doing what they've always done. More are on the payroll of some drug gang, than a Taliban outfit.

Life would be so much easier, so the conventional wisdom goes, if peace could be obtained by just destroying the "Taliban." But the real enemy is a set of cultural attitudes that aid and abet the lawlessness. It's a much more elusive target.

Cities like Kabul have become very different parts of Afghanistan. You see lots of women without veils (even as Western media report "Taliban terror creeping into Kabul"), and men without beards. Videos and music are freely available, as are alcoholic drinks.

A lot of these city slickers are fresh from the country, where the restrictive lifestyle of "tradition" continues to drive the more adventurous away. This is the sort of thing that offends tribal and religious leaders. These guys don't want change, because it tends to mean less power and money for them. That's why the Taliban has such a following in the countryside, and not in the cities.

News reports about Pakistani troops exchanging fire with NATO and U.S. helicopters at the border appear to be more stories than news. Many of the border guards (a force recruited from local tribes) are pro-Taliban (or on the Taliban payroll), and quick to fire on aircraft and any armed men they are not familiar with.

That's been going on for decades, and was the cause of tension with the Russians in the 1980s.

Real violence between Pakistan and the United States is unlikely, because the U.S. is the major financial and military supplier for Pakistan. Thus without U.S. support, military upgrades don't happen and the economy tanks. Religion is one thing, defense and economics are something else (that is more important to more Pakistanis).

Meanwhile, the government makes the right noises about "defending Pakistan's borders" while doing nothing to actually interfere with American operations on either side of the border.

Over 20,000 Pushtuns have fled from Pakistan into Afghanistan to avoid the violence between Taliban gunmen and the Pakistani army.

The Pakistani Taliban are under attack in several areas (Waziristan, Swat Valley and Bajaur) and losing in all of them. The head of the Pakistani Taliban has just died, after being ill for several months, leaving behind a power struggle. The Pakistani Taliban is in disarray and falling apart. This is being felt in Afghanistan, where fewer "volunteers" are coming across to help out the Taliban there.

In the face of this, the Afghan Taliban say they will keep fighting throughout the Winter. NATO responds by announcing another Winter offensive. This will get interesting, because NATO forces are more mobile in Winter.

Traditionally, Afghans stay indoors during the Winter. Getting a chill can be fatal, and the rain, snow and ice make it difficult to get around.

The government has again openly called for Taliban leader Mullah Omar to come negotiate with the government. This comes in the wake of several years worth of successful negotiations with lower level Taliban leaders.

Many of these guys have left the Taliban as a result. There are also reports, denied by the government, that Saudi Arabia is sponsoring secret peace talks between the government and the Taliban.

One has to ask, why would the Taliban want to negotiate? Put simply, while the drug gangs are doing well (despite heroin production falling 20 percent from last year), the Taliban are on everyone's hit list, and are taking a lot of hits.

Now defeated al Qaeda operatives are moving in from Iraq and elsewhere, and blowing people up. That generates more hostility than support, and this hurts the Taliban as well.

Within the Taliban, a debate is on over how to deal with the lack of progress. The Taliban have been able to generate more violence, and dire headlines in the West, but not much else.

True believers are getting discouraged.

U.S. and NATO commanders believe they can largely shut down the Taliban and al Qaeda if they have some more troops. The U.S. has agreed to send three more brigades next year. NATO nations, urged on by France, are trying to muster more troops for Afghanistan.

By next year, changes in Pakistan, and growing attacks on Afghan drug gangs are expected to weaken the Taliban even more.

The new government in Pakistan is behind the recent army offensives against the Taliban, and has just replaced the head of their intelligence agency, the ISI, which originally invented the Taliban back in the 1990s.

The ISI has long been full of Islamic conservatives, but the new head is different. How different will become apparent by early next year.

Where Al Qaeda Excels

The movement of al Qaeda's main effort from Iraq to Pakistan does not involve large numbers, and the numbers have declined since the terrorists began urging new recruits to head for Pakistan. For several years, about a hundred foreign volunteers (usually for suicide type attacks) entered Iraq each month, brought in via an al Qaeda network in some Arab and European countries. Money is collected there, often under the guise of an Islamic charity, to pay for airfare, fees (some of the operatives along the way are basically mercenaries) and bribes (to get past border controls of countries trying to stop this traffic).

Now, only a few dozen al Qaeda recruits are getting to Pakistan each month. It's more expensive to get to Pakistan, compared to Iraq, and the government does not make it easy. There's also been a decline in cash contributions. Al Qaeda was beaten in Iraq, after years of saying they were winning. Al Qaedas mass murder campaign in Iraq killed mostly Moslems, and this was unpopular among potential donors. The violence in Iraq used the idea of "al Qaeda" to unite many very different Islamic militant groups, and the same concept is being used in Pakistan. Here there are tribal militias, operating as vigilantes against real or imagined sins against Islam. In the cities there are many different groups. Some are at war with another Islamic faction, others simply wish to impose their religious beliefs and practices on all other Moslems. But many do not want to be associated with al Qaeda, because of the groups reputation of violence towards Moslem women and children.

Local politicians (in Pakistan and Afghanistan) would like to blame much of the unrest on outsiders, and al Qaeda certainly fits the bill. But al Qaeda is a relatively small operation, and most of the Islamic radicals in the area are locals. Using religion as a tool to gain political and military advantage is an old problem, especially in Moslem countries. In general, Moslems like to play down this aspect of their religion, preferring to call Islam, "the religion of peace." But too many Moslem clerics, and ambitious politicians, are all too willing to exploit the militant and violent aspects of Islam. This is especially true along the Pakistan-Afghan border. But al Qaeda is a much smaller player in the region than its media coverage wound indicate. Al Qaeda is much better at playing the press than it is at doing anything else.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Penn)
speaking about "The Gathering Storm of the
21st Century: America's War Against Islamic
Fascism"

A mediasnack at a time...


Ok, I had some people email me
and say that a 1 hour video was to long.
So I made mediasnack out of it.

7 parts, on a YouTube play list

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6C9B3A8FB647DE8A

http://tinyurl.com/2rh3y7

The video are from 7 min to just over 9 min long, just bookmark the
playlist. One bite at a time.

BTW: What's a mediasnacker?
Folks who consume small bits of information,
data or entertainment when, where, and how
they want.

One bite at a time...

Rick Santorum to speak at OU

Please note this special announcement.

This Wednesday evening former U.S. Senator Rick
Santorum (R-Penn) will be speaking about "The
Gathering Storm of the 21st Century: America's
War Against Islamic Fascism."The speech is open
to the public and will begin at 7:00 p.m.

The location will be at the University of Oklahoma
in the Oklahoma Memorial Union's Molly Shi Boren
Ballroom (900 Asp Avenue) in Norman. While the
speech is open to the public, seating is limited to
about 200 so early arrival is recommended.

Senator Santorum is being brought to OU by the
College Republicans and the Intercollegiate Studies
Institute (ISI), an organization which educates college
students in the principles of Western civilization.