------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 3, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: Today WND features the first of a three-part
report by Sherrie Gossett, who went inside a
recent "mainstream" Muslim conference in
Florida to discover the true attitudes and
ideas of the leaders of the Islamic movement
in the U.S. Gossett attended portions of the
conference after all other media
representatives had packed up and left the
event.
In Part 1, Gossett analyzes the words and
backgrounds of some of the keynote speakers
at the conference – imams and sheikhs who
openly voice their disdain for America, Jews
and "unbelievers" in general, and who defend
the practice of suicide bombing. On Monday,
Part 2 will further explore who the heroes
are in the world of U.S. Muslim activists
and what kind of activities they fund.
The soothing baritone rises effortlessly to
navigate an exotic series of microtones and
complex rhythmic cadences.
The voice is that of Abdul Malik, imam of
Oakland, California's Masjid Al-Islam
mosque.
He is delivering a prayerful invocation
in perfect Arabic before followers of one of
the most ancient religions of mankind –
Islam.
Soon he'll address a very contemporary
subject: Media.
Shatan's (Satan's) media, that is.
The imam isn't alone in his criticism of
media coverage of Islam in America.
Out of the conflict and criticism have
come loaded words like "prejudice,"
"intolerance," "civil rights," "terrorism,"
"militant," "radical" and "extremist." These
terms have a powerful emotional pull, as
they are tethered to values close to
American's hearts – values like freedom,
diversity, tolerance, national security and
patriotism.
Critics from diverse camps blame media
for reporting either public-relations fluff
or hysterical fear-mongering. Right-wing
media blames mainstream media. Mainstream
media wonders why right-wing media is in
such a huff. Left-wing media blames
right-wing media. And Malik? Well, he just
blames them all.
Shatan's work, they're doing, he says.
Extinguishing the light of Islam.
"Know that God is displeased and hates
the unbeliever," he warns.
Now, even as a handful of Islamic groups
holding themselves out as the true
"mainstream" have come to dominate the media
landscape, critics contend the groups are
little more than white-washed extremists,
equipped with PR savvy, an intolerant
political agenda and a knack for
marginalizing the "real" moderates.
Is it a case of terrorism or intolerance?
Or perhaps misunderstood and ignored
complexities? To answer some of these
questions, WorldNetDaily traveled to an
Islamic conference in Orlando, Fla., that
generated significant controversy before it
even opened. This is the report of that
event, its broader implications, and the
interlocking ideologies and causes that
traverse continents and provide unifying
principles primed for political _expression.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Just as a Florida
Islamic conference was trying to recover
from one media controversy, they were mired
in another when Islamic speakers who have
voiced support for suicide bombers and
referred to Jews as "Jewish crackers,"
"apes" and "pigs" freely addressed the crowd
and were warmly embraced by conference
leaders.
The speakers addressed the crowd just
hours after Islamic leader Dr. Sayed M.
Saeed assured media that those present
represented "mainstream" Islam, and radical
rhetoric or "misguided imams" would not be
tolerated. The controversial leaders
addressed the crowd after all media (except
for WND) had left. One addressed the
attendees in only Arabic in a separate room.
The Universal Heritage Foundation,
organizers of the December conference, first
ran into controversy when media learned a
planned three-day conference called "Islam
for Humanity" was advertising it would
feature a Saudi Arabian sheikh famous for
virulent, racist rhetoric.
Last April, while addressing 2 million
followers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca,
chief cleric Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais
prayed to God to "terminate" the Jews, who
he called "the scum of humanity, the rats of
the world, prophet killers ... pigs and
monkeys."
Al-Sudais also urged Arabs and Muslims to
abandon peace initiatives with Israel. His
comments were carried worldwide by Reuters
and the Associated Press. The racist
characterization of Jews was not a singular
occurrence, as suggested by some media.
Al-Sudais has variously described Jews as
"evil," a "continuum of deceit,"
"tyrannical" and "treacherous"
Al-Sudais, was listed as a "specially
invited guest" of the conference, which was
slated to be held at the 31-acre Kissimmee
campus of Universal Heritage Foundation,
near Disney World, but was later moved to
the nearby county-owned Silver Spurs Arena.
Following media exposure, al-Sudais' name
disappeared from conference materials.
Later, Imam Siraj Wahhaj's name also was
dropped from a new issue of the program.
Wahhaj was deemed a potential unindicted
co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing and sits on the board of
directors of the Islamic Society of North
America, or ISNA, and the advisory board of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
or CAIR.
On the opening night of the conference,
Dec. 19, Dr. S.M. Syeed, secretary general
of the ISNA, addressed the controversy
directly, with media present.
Syeed said the conference presented and
"extraordinary opportunity" since the public
and media are "waiting to see what we're
saying."
"We would never allow such statements to
be made on our stage," Syeed said. "That
kind of rhetoric has no place in our
conference, projects or programs. We need to
be sensitive and we should certainly
distance ourselves from them."
Referring to the prior media controversy,
Saeed said, "This does not represent the
Islam mainstream … these misguided imams.
…We should clearly announce they are not
representing us or the message of the
prophet as mercy to mankind."
The Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel
and Fox Channel 35 filed reports that night.
'Allah bless those martyrs'
Early the next day, the moderator
announced that an address by Egyptian cleric
Sheikh Wagdy Ghunaim would be re-scheduled
from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The moderator said
Ghunaim was "in town" but was not present at
the Silver Spurs Arena.
The sheikh had previously referred to
Jews as "monkeys" and "pigs" during a
Brooklyn College conference of the American
Muslim Alliance on May 24, 1998.
Before leading the audience in
anti-Jewish verse, Ghuneim said: "The Jews
distort words from their meanings. ... They
killed the prophets and worshipped idols.
... Allah says he who equips a warrior of
jihad is like the one who makes jihad
himself."
The Brooklyn event, entitled "Palestine:
50 Years of Occupation," was sponsored by
the Islamic Association for Palestine, the
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and
Development, CAIR, ISNA and the Islamic
Circle of North America, or ICNA, among
others.
Advertisements for the Orlando conference
program also featured leaders of CAIR, ICNA
and ISNA, organizations that are mainstays
of the American Islamic "conference
circuit."
An Arabic audiotape from the Dec. 29,
1997, annual conference of the Muslim Arab
Youth Association, in Ontario, Calif.,
documents another Ghuneim speech, which
referred to four suicide bombings that took
place in Israel in 1996.
"Those young people who explode
themselves to kill the Jews were not
committing suicide but jihad," Ghuneim said,
"They are mujahedeen because there is no way
to struggle and fight the Jews except that
way. Allah bless those martyrs."
Ghuneim CDs were on sale at the Orlando
conference despite Dr. Syeed's previous
statements about the need to be "sensitive"
about CDs and books that were on sale.
'That ain't suicide; that's martyrdom'
By noon on Saturday, Dec. 20, conference
leaders also presented Imam Malik of Masjid
Al-Islam.
(Malik is also referred to as Abdul Malik
Ali, Abd Al-Malik and Amir Abdel Malik Ali.
Note: This individual is not Imam Abdul R.
Malik Ali.)
Malik said he had just come from
addressing diplomats at the United Nations
the day before. (Malik was on the conference
schedule the night before but was not
present.)
The imam has previously voiced empathy
and support for suicide bombers, denied
Muslims were involved in 9-11, characterized
the war on terror as a conspiratorial
Zionist plot designed to destroy Islam and
Muslims, and blamed attacks on affirmative
action on "the rise of the Jewish cracker,"
according to media reports and audio/video
recordings obtained by WND.
Last year, the Golden Gate Xpress, San
Francisco State University's online student
newspaper, and the Jewish Bulletin News of
Northern California reported Malik, while
speaking at Malcolm X Plaza, urged a crowd
of roughly 500 to 800 to "stop calling them
suicide bombers . When a person commits
suicide, they are oppressed, without hope,
depressed. Palestinian mothers are
supporting their children who are suicide
bombers, saying, 'Go honey, go!'"
The Golden Gate Xpress, quoted Ali as
saying, "That ain't suicide; that's
martyrdom."
The Muslim religious leader and San
Francisco State graduate also was quoted by
both the school newspaper and Hillel saying
that Israelis ought to return "to Germany,
to Poland to Russia. The Germans should hook
y'all up. You should go back to Germany."
The statements were made within earshot
of a Holocaust remembrance table being
manned by 50 Jewish students and Hillel
staff.
Witnesses say some members of the
audience gasped, while others applauded
Malik's statements.
Following in the footsteps of Malcolm
X
Malik is also a leader in the "Sabiqun
Movement," also referred to as the
As-Sabuqin Movement.
His mosque belongs to the Masjid Al-Islam
affiliation constituting several mosques
that state as their central tenet the
establishment of the religion of Allah
(Iqaamatul-Deen/"Actions and Efforts in the
Way of Allah"). Toward that end, they are
focused in the development of an organized
"Islamic Movement" in America capable of
producing individuals and institutions in
"total, complete and uncompromised service
of Allah."
Sabiqun Movement draws inspiration from
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabbat (Malcolm X). A
now-defunct website featured a portrait of
Malcolm X performing salaat.
Like Malcolm X, Malik's oratory skill,
lifestyle and passion have attracted youth
towards the movement. An electrifying
presence, Abdul Malik Ali preaches what he
views as an uncompromising Islamic message
of striving for one's personal best through
discipline, hard work, fasting, studying,
honoring women and abstinence from "sins"
like promiscuous sex and drug use.
"In Muslim countries next to the Masjids
you have places of sport and play where
people are drinking and belly-dancing and
gambling and opening up casinos and
downloading by satellite pornography in some
of the holiest places of Islam!" Malik
thunders from the podium in Orlando. "Who do
you blame for that? You can't blame America.
You can't blame Europe.
"You have to blame those in authority in
Islam who would allow the young minds of
young Muslims to be corrupted!"
Malik sees a future where devout young
Muslims will have a profound impact on
observers, generating respect, then social
justice and political impact for his brand
of Islam. He also strongly emphasizes
independence for Muslim communities, who he
says should strive to build their own
hospitals, schools, study centers and take
care of the needy among them.
Young Muslims seem to see in the message
a route to esteem, pride, a sense of purpose
and an invitation to a compelling spiritual
destiny as they are called to sacrifice all
to reclaim the ancient "glory of Islam."
Reports from England seem to document a
similar movement among disaffected youth who
are leaving behind the traditional Islam of
their parents.
The teachings also seem to emphasize the
immediacy of this particular epoch in
history, which is expected to see a
worldwide victory of Islam as Judaism and
Christianity, along with all other "false"
religions, fall by the wayside in the
struggle and nations merge into a
pan-Islamic government serving Allah alone.
"House slaves' in WASP America
Malik's rhetoric evokes strong racial
overtones as he warns young people about
moderate American Muslims who he says have
compromised their integrity to be "liked,"
becoming nothing more than "house slaves" in
the mansion of a racist, imperialistic and
destructive America.
The remarks seemed in line with repeated
warnings conference goers heard from Dr.
Ihsan Bagby against losing distinctiveness
through "assimilation" into the "WASP"
culture of America. Babgy characterized
Muslim life in the U.S. today as being
similar to persecutions of Irish Catholics
who were killed and whose churches were
burned.
A recurring theme is a cataclysmic crisis
of Islam, which has its roots in racism, as
the colonial oppressor – the U.S. – is
pitted against Muslims worldwide.
Malik also has cited news coverage of the
Oklahoma City bombing as evidence of racist
bias against Muslims in the U.S. He viewed
the early suggestions of an Islamic radical
connection, followed by the dissemination of
a photo of a firefighter holding a
"blond-haired, blue-eyed child," as hostile
editorial decisions intentionally designed
to provoke violent antagonism toward the
Muslim community.
"It's bad enough when they're coming
after your wives," said Malik, "but when
they come after your babies …"
Supporting Hamas
In July 1999, Malik was one of the
principal organizers of and speakers at a
San Francisco rally that praised the
terrorist group Hamas.
At the rally, Imam Abdul-Alim Musa, head
of the Sabiqun Movement and leader of the
Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, D.C.,
displayed a cashier's check made out to
"Hamas, Palestine," to protest the "unjust"
1996 U.S. law which declared Hamas a
terrorist organization.
"Muslims must reject such a designation,"
he told the rally crowd, "since Hamas is
involved in a legitimate struggle for
freedom and it performs numerous
humanitarian and social functions, such as
providing support to widows and orphans."
Hamas also pays for the simple material
required for a suicide bomber to carry out
an attack. It includes: the cost of
tailoring a custom fit belt wide enough to
hold six or eight pockets full of explosives
and the explosive device itself, which
consists of nails, sometimes ball bearings,
gunpowder, mercury, acetone, a battery, an
electrical switch and a short cable. The
largest expense item is providing
transportation to an Israeli site of the
bombing.
The total cost of a single suicide
bombing averages $142.29.
Following the attack, Hamas provides for
the material needs of the bomber's family by
giving each family between $2,800 and
$5,000.
Hamas has obtained much of the money it
pays for killing abroad right here in the
United States, money originally raised by
the Holy Land Foundation – a tax-exempt
charity based in Richardson, Texas, that
raised $13 million from people in America in
2001 alone before its assets were frozen by
President Bush.
At the San Francisco rally, Musa also
announced he planned to distribute copies of
the cashier's check at the next rally in Los
Angeles held Aug. 27, 1999, to draw
attention to the fact that he does "not
believe in obeying an unjust law."
"We want the authorities to know that we
are supporting Hamas because it is fighting
for its rights," he said. "For the U.S.
government to take a position against Hamas
is to betray its own principles and violate
its constitution."
Hamas: Martyrs or terrorists?
Hamas views all Israelis as occupying
"troops" and "usurpers" of the land and
therefore potential targets for murder.
Children who are killed are "collateral
damage." Muslims and Americans have also
died in suicide bombings. (Hamas is the
Arabic acronym for Harakat Al-Muqawama
Al-Islamiya – The Islamic Resistance
Movement.)
The group has claimed responsibility for
numerous suicide bombings and shootings in
Israel, which have killed hundreds of
Israelis.
Referring to operatives who carry out
suicide bombings as shuhada, or "martyrs,"
and to the suicide bombings as 'amaliyat
istishadiya, or "acts of martyrdom," Hamas
lauds its operatives who carry out such
attacks and provides them with full Muslim
burial rites.
Experts say truly mainstream Islam in
America forbids suicide bombings and
moderate American Islamic groups like
the Islamic Supreme Council of America
vehemently denounce and oppose such
teachings as abhorrent and heretical.
Supporters of the San Francisco rally
said the immediate effect of Imam Musa's
campaign had been to give a boost to the
self-confidence of Muslims, especially those
of immigrant background.
"They now feel that they are not alone,"
said Tahir Mahmoud of Crescent
International, a publication that describes
itself as the "newsmagazine of the global
Islamic movement."
Malik has yet to respond to WND's
question "How do you reconcile your
preaching of support for widows and orphans
with the Sabiqun Movement's support for a
group (Hamas) that creates widows and
orphans through suicide bombings?"
Nor did he respond to WND's questioning
about whether he and/or his organization was
currently funding Hamas.
'Global victory'
While acceptance in America for Hamas as
legitimate war fighters is usually relegated
to the Islamic radicals and the hard left, a
recent book on the history of warfare
suggests adopting a new paradigm similar to
that used by terrorist apologists and
present in the rhetoric of the Islamic
conference circuit.
In "Battle: A History of Combat and
Culture," John A. Lynn, a professor of
history at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign advises against labeling
terrorism as "evil" and insists it should be
included in the "realm of war."
He says, "A case can be made that
terrorism is essentially a poor man's form
of warfare."
Col. Robert A. Doughty, a professor and
head of the department of history at the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point, praised
"Battle" as an "extremely interesting and
provocative book," adding, "A really good
book is not one that accords completely with
readers' views but one that challenges
readers to consider old issues in new ways
and to think through long-held views."
Often missing in media and academic
analyses is the global scale of Hamas'
ideology as well as that of other jihad
groups. Middle East experts told WND that in
contradiction to mainstream Islam, which
accepts Jews as fellow believers in
monotheism, Hamas is characterized by a
theological anti-Semitism that regards
Israel and Jews as an embodiment of evil in
the world that will, in time, be destroyed
as part of the divine plan.
Hamas, like its precursor, the Muslim
Brotherhood, views Jews and Christians as
"infidels" or "disbelievers," or enemies of
the divine revelation received by Muhammad.
In time, however, the "disbelievers" will be
vanquished in a cataclysmic war, or jihad,
which will result in the global victory of
Muslim forces.
Iranian political analyst
Amir Taheri notes a similar impetus for
Hezbollah, explaining that the ideology is
fundamentally Manichean and is based on the
division of all phenomena into good and
evil. Mankind is also divided between the
Partisans of Allah and those who support
Shatan or Satan; the war between the two
must continue until the complete victory of
the Partisans of Allah. Every aspect of
Satan's presence must be removed, by
violence if necessary, so divine society can
become a reality.
In the words of Sheikh Ibrahim al-Amin,
one of the Hezbollahs' leaders: "We want to
see Islam prevail throughout the world."
Victims of 'ameriKKKa'?
In addition to supporting Hamas, Malik's
Sabiqun Movement, along with other groups
represented at the Orlando conference, like
ISNA and CAIR, have all spoken out against
the arrest and conviction of Imam Jamil
al-Amin (formerly Black Panther H. Rap
Brown) on charges related to the shooting
death of a sheriff's deputy.
Al-Amin held one of four seats on ISNA's
Shura Council.
Sabiqun also provided
telephone scripts to activists as part
of a community action effort geared to
educate others and generate support for
al-Amin.
Jamil al-Amin is said to have never been
shy about invoking Islam in his struggle
against white "ameriKKKa." And like Orlando
conference speakers Malik and Bagby, he has
chastised American blacks for being too
integrated into their country's life.
"Islam is under attack on a global scale
by those who wish to control the world,"
al-Amin wrote after his 1995 arrest. The
words resonate with the teachings of foreign
fundamentalist Islamic groups like the
Jama'at-I-Islami of Pakistan and were
reminiscent of warnings Malik has given to
Muslims in America.
In 1995, two members of al-Amin's Atlanta
mosque were convicted of illegally shipping
more than 900 firearms to groups in Detroit
and Philadelphia, and to an Islamic gang
linked to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the
"blind sheikh" of New York, according to
media reports.
Officials with these groups also see
Rahman as having been "railroaded" and
framed for the 1993 World Trade Center
bombings. Malik's speeches abound with
references to CIA and law-enforcement
corruption. The stance on Rahman is
identical to that emanating from leaders of
foreign Islamic fundamentalist groups.
Meanwhile, leaked transcripts of wiretaps
of prison conversations between Rahman and
indicted hard-left lawyer Lynn Stewart show
Rahman issuing fatwas to Egyptian brethren,
commanding them to end to a cease-fire and
ordering them to
"fight the Jews and kill them wherever they
are."
Rahman is the spiritual leader of Gamaa
al-Islamiyya, Egypt's largest militant
Islamic group, which was responsible for
November 1997 attacks at Luxor that killed
58 foreign tourists and a June 1995 attempt
to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Senior
members of Gamaa signed Osama bin Ladin's
fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks
against the United States. And in early
2001, leader Rifa'i Taha Musa published a
book in which he attempted to justify
terrorist attacks that would cause mass
casualties. It is now a party split between
those who want to forgo violence and those
still dedicated to violent jihad and whose
primary goal is to overthrow the Egyptian
government and replace it with an Islamic
state.
Al-Amin has been praised by CAIR for his
"moral character."
Speakers at the Orlando conference, like
Saeed, Dr. Muzzamil Siddiqui, Altaf Ali, Dr.
Zulqifar Ali Shah, Dr. Muhammed Yunus and
Dr. Mokhtar Maghroui, are all leaders of or
veterans of the Islamic conference circuit.
The conferences engage in fund-raising,
education and recruitment and teach how to
get and use media coverage for political
leverage.
'An extremist fringe'
"The conference is certainly not
mainstream but constitutes an extremist
fringe,"
Khalid Durلn told WND. Durلn is a
well-known scholar of the history, sociology
and politics of the Islamic world.
An author of five books on world affairs,
Durلn has conducted field tests of Muslim
societies in transition and is also known
for his work as a scholar with the Foreign
Policy Research Institute (Philadelphia) and
the Institute for International Studies
(Washington, D.C.).
"There is so much contradiction," Durلn
said regarding those involved with the
Orlando conference. "The same people have
many times said that nowhere in the world
are Muslims having it so good as here. They
would not be able to hold this conference in
Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco or Pakistan. Many of
the speakers are barred from those states."
Continued Durلn, "Many participants, such
as Dr. Syeed, belonged to an extremist party
based in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
called Jama'at-I-Islami. It is the parent
group of several organizations indicted as
terrorist such as Lashkare Tayyiba.
"Jama'at-I-Islami helped Osama bin Laden
in the creation of al-Qaida, and he wrote
that from 1980-84 he used to frequent their
headquarters in Lahore to hand over
donations."
Jama'at denies the al-Qaida link and
insists criticism is based in
profound misunderstandings between East and
West and U.S. "propaganda" emanating
from, again, a racist perspective.
The 'midwife of the Taliban'
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah was president of
ICNA before becoming chairman and CEO of the
Universal Heritage Foundation Inc. in
Orlando, which produced the inaugural "Islam
for Humanity" conference. Also representing
ICNA at the Orlando conference were Dr.
Talaat Sultan, the current president, and
Dr. Mohammad Yunus.
Like ISNA, ICNA boasts affiliations with
many mosques and groups, and is active in
education and fund-raising relief efforts.
ICNA has already been documented as
voicing support for Hamas, violent jihad and
as engaging in jihad fund-raising. It is
sometimes called the North American branch
of Jama'at-I-Islami or is described as
"allied" or "linked" with JI.
Both ISNA and ICNA have featured
Jama'at-I-Islami speakers and ideology at
their conferences. JI ideology can be found
woven throughout convention speakers'
expositions.
Called the "midwife of the Taliban,"
Jama'at-I-Islami hopes to turn Pakistan into
a fundamentalist Islamic state and is active
in the Kashmiri jihad. The Jama'at views the
Kashmiri cause as a jihad, or holy war,
against India. Experts say the
Jama'at-I-Islami ultimately seeks to
overthrow the Pakistani government and
create a radical Islamic state.
The head of
Jama'at-I-Islami, Qazi Ahmed Hussein,
has been a frequent guest speaker at both
ICNA and ISNA conferences. He has also made
successful moves to convince Americans that
his movement is moderate, appearing at the
Brookings Institute among other venues.
Supporters point out that the JI leader
issued a statement condemning 9-11 as an act
of "blatant terrorism."
Five days later at another meeting,
however, Qazi Hussein sounded less
empathetic, stating that the incidents that
took place in New York and Washington were
an outcome of misdeeds and the wrongs of
U.S. society.
On Sept. 16, 2001, he denied Muslims were
involved, while at a concurrent meeting in
Mansoora, the party's secretary-general,
Syed Munawwar Hasan, was pointing the finger
at "white Americans" and saying bin Laden
was not responsible.
The 'key of Kashmir'
Jama'at-I-Islami was credited with
intelligence sources and worldwide media as
being the primary mover behind a bloody 1992
Islamic jihad that was designed to capture
two-thirds of Kashmir from Indian forces to
turn it into an Islamic state.
The mujahedeen soon lost any sympathy
they had had from rural people when
activities devolved to include the
kidnapping and gang rape of young women and
forced induction into the terrorist ranks.
The events reached the nadir of depravity
when one Mrs. Girja Tiku of Terehgan,
Kupwara, was abducted, gang-raped and her
body left shredded on the ground. In the
end, 1,585 men and women including 981
Muslims, 218 Hindus, 23 Sikhs and 363
security personnel were killed. Among those
killed were 12 political leaders and 510
government officials
Supporters of the mujahedeen blame
Indians for brutal behavior while
inter-governmental reports indicated Indians
found to be acting in such a manner were in
the minority and quickly removed from their
posts. Kashmiri women reported that the
mujahedeen threatened them in order to force
them to accuse Indians of rape.
Pakistani representatives of Islamic
fundamentalist groups have called for the
strategic recruitment of black Americans
into their ranks to offset the "venal
influence" of the "Hindu-Jewish" vote in the
U.S. (also referred to as the "powerful
Indian-Israeli lobby").
One young convert from Jamil al-Amin's
Atlanta mosque joined Islamic separatists in
Kashmir, where he was killed attacking an
Indian army post.
"Kashmir shall go on bleeding until
Kashmiris are given right to decide their
future," namely to establish an Islamic
state, Hussein has told foreign media.
Syed Mahmoodullah, the former Taliban
envoy in Karachi, and a supporter of the
Kashmiri jihad stressed the global
aspiration of the battle in words that echo
declarations by Hamas and Hezbollah: "Jihad
being a continuous process against apostasy
and other anti-Islamic forces, could not
stop at a certain point of time and space
within or beyond one's borders."
Monday: Part 2 – Funding terror
through religion.
© 2004
Sherrie Gossett is a Florida-based
researcher and writer, formerly with the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and a
contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily.