Pfc Nasser Abdo is an unmitigated traitor to the United States

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Pfc Nasser Abdo is an unmitigated traitor to the United States

Abdo’s conviction should result in the harshest punishment and a moratorium on CO status for Muslims

 

PHOENIX (May 24, 2012) – The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) released the following statement from its founder and president Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser regarding the verdict at Pfc. Nasser Abdo’s trial:

“The American Islamic Forum for Democracy is pleased at the jury’s decision to convict Pfc Nasser Abdo on all counts. Abdo is simply a traitor to the United States of America, and his actions are a direct insult both to the uniform of the U.S. Army and in particular to all American Muslim service members. The decision to convict needs to be followed by a sentence that levels the harshest punishment possible, including the military immediately rescinding his Conscientious Objector status. American Muslim soldiers deserve that courtesy.

AIFD would like to take this opportunity to make it explicitly clear that Abdo has departed from mainstream non-Islamist interpretations of Islam and our duties to the United States of America. In fact his interpretation is dangerous and part of a radical Islamist ideology. His statement that “religion is the reason” for his planned attack on Fort Hood is a twisted view of the Islamic faith that should be refuted by all American Muslim organizations. However, it is also a view that should not be ignored and should be confronted in its many manifestations along the path of radicalization. At the time of his arrest in 2011 Dr. Jasser wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Our armed forces are becoming ground zero for American Muslims in the ideological struggle between Americanism and Islamism. U.S. Army Pvt. Naser Abdo points to that serious conflict.”

Abdo disgraces the pride of being an American which we instill in our American Muslim children. His use of CO (conscientious objector) status is not only false it is un-Islamic. Abdo’s obsession with “Islamophobia” is the same logic that drove the murderous rampage of Maj Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood which he tried to emulate. Abdo’s adherence to the global Islamist ideology above his American loyalty runs to the core of what we Muslims need to fight in real counterterrorism. Abdo’s actions are an affront to every American Muslim who has proudly donned a US military uniform. His assertions are not built on modern Islamic teachings but on a feeble adherence to the global political ideology of Islamism that threatens our security and radicalizes our Muslim youth. His comment to his mother on video played during the trial that, “the reason is religion, mom” speaks volumes, yet again, to the deep need for the Abdo case to spark a move by leading American Muslims to dissect and defeat the theo-political movement (political Islam) that can often end in a militant version of Islamism. American security hangs in the balance.”

 

About the American Islamic Foundation for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

 

MEDIA CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

Military lecturer on Islam wrong but U.S. cannot afford to overreact

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Military lecturer on Islam wrong but U.S. cannot afford to overreact

Polarization of Islamic issues damaging efforts at understanding the Islamist threat and the need for Islamic reform

 

PHOENIX, AZ (May 17, 2012) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of theAmerican Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) issued the following statement regarding the current controversy over a training course at the Military’s Joint Forces Staff College at Norfolk, VA as reported by Wiredand multiple media outlets. AIFD’s comments also fit within the bigger picture of materials and experts our government uses to understand the ideological threat we face.

“The Joint Forces Staff College at Norfolk, VA is an important institution in the U.S. military and serves a vital role of preparing the next generation of military leaders. Having had the pleasure of guest lecturing at the college in 2007 and 2008, I can attest to the professionalism of the institution and my respect for the training it gives the men and women of the U.S. Military officer corps heading into theater and who will be leading our military for years to come.

At AIFD we believe the Staff College presents an invaluable and all too rare opportunity for our officer corps to get a firm foundation and understanding of the war of ideas against militant Islamist extremism and all of its nuanced components. Recent revelations that some of the lecturers presented slides arguing for an “all -out war” against Islam among other troubling assertions are disappointing on many levels. As a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, I believe tactically such a sentiment and course of action is completely untenable and creates a sizable enemy that the U.S. simply does not have today. It also alienates our most valuable allies – reformers within the Muslim community who are ready to openly take on the radical ideologies discussed in those slides.

As an American Muslim some of the lecturer’s slides and statements fly in the face of the central premises of the hard work that we are doing at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy to bring true reform to the practice of Islam. In short some of the slides and teaching materials from Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley’s lecture that have been displayed in the media are not only inaccurate with regards to the Islam every Muslim we work with practices but when taught as “the” Islam can create a sense in our military leaders that no Muslims are our allies- a sense that has no place in the training of our military. In the end they make bringing the real solution from within the “House of Islam” that much more difficult.

However, the corrective course of action we take at this point is just as crucial to protect our military members from the equally suffocating harness of political correctness. This ping pong match between the extremes of “all Muslims are our enemy” and “all Muslims are victims” is stifling the conversations that need to be had to fix the very real threat that Muslims who adhere to a militant form of Islamism present. At AIFD we do in fact recognize that the “Islam” of jihad, violence, Al Qaeda, Wahhabism, and political Islam is A version of Islam but it is NOT our Islam. That distinction, that central hope does not seem to be given in the slides released and as usual it is missing from the uproar from groups such as CAIR, the Arab American Association, Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Center for American Progress.

In the wake of the revelations regarding Lt. Col. Dooley’s slides we are already hearing cries for the retraining of all of the service members who have gone through the course and unscrupulous connections being made between this course and the Quran burning incident and the troops who desecrated the remains of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. CAIR has recklessly pedaled this incendiary information on Al Jazeera which is often quite unfriendly media to our military and American interests. The Muslim grievance mill of CAIR combined with some of their colleagues on the left have wasted no time in using this incident as an opportunity to smear the military and to fear monger within the Muslim community that there is a vast right wing conspiracy plotting against American Muslims. Lawrence Korb from the Center for American Progress went as far as to recklessly claim on the BBC that this event occurred because the U.S. military has elements that are overly influenced by Christian Evangelicals who believe that the U.S. is at war with Islam. Korb asserted that the military is more conservative than the broader public and that is what created the atmosphere for this type of course to be able to exist.

The reaction of some of these groups to the information released completely ignores the fact that there is a very real theo-political threat to our country. While some of the materials have proven to be inappropriate and reckless, these critics completely miss that those concepts simply are an equal and opposite reaction to the dangerous Islamist apologetics of denial that have filled the media and government policy advisories. How quickly Islamist groups and many in the media forget the case of Louay Safi who was relieved from training service members at Fort Bliss in Texas? Based on reporting from the Dallas Morning News, the Army suspended his contract because of his connections to theAmerican Islamist movement. Safi had been in charge of certifying Muslim chaplains for the US Military on behalf of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), while teaching at Fort Bliss. In an internet posting after the Fort Hood massacre he whitewashed Islamism and blamed Hasan’s extremism on “the systematic demonization of marginalized groups.”

Whether Islamists like Safi who dismiss Islamism and paint Muslims as victims or lecturers like Lt. Col. Dooley who target an entire faith and its adherents, both approaches are doomed to certain failure. The politically correct atmosphere in the military and in our country, however, has prevented an adequate balanced public vetting of the core threats our service members and citizens face domestically and abroad.

We need to have a happy medium. The military should not use material or lecturers that see all Muslims as the enemy and should not use the lowest hanging fruit of Muslim organizations which are Islamists or apologists for Islamist movements. They should instead begin to work with Muslim organizations that truly have our national security interests at heart, such as the growingAmerican Islamic Leadership Coalition. Great Britain did the same when they found that they were working with the wrong organizations. They realized that their PREVENT program failed because they worked predominantly with Islamist groups and didn’t side with organizations that were liberal and secular minded. Prime Minister Cameron has since called for a “muscular liberalism” when working with Muslims.

As our government addresses these training issues both within the military and similarly with questions that have been raised regarding the FBI and NYPD training programs, it is imperative that these evaluations are not done in a vacuum and that they are not directed by organizations that look at this problem through the lens of Islamism and Muslim victimhood.

Similar to how Chairman Peter King addressed the House Committee on Homeland Security hearings on Muslim radicalization, we desperately need to develop a national strategy that understands the theo-political movement (Islamism) that threatens us while also balancing the fact that the solution to this threat comes from within the Muslim community and by supporting Muslim organizations who embrace secular, liberty minded governance.

About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

 

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

American Muslim organization urges Governor Brownback to sign Kansas American Laws for American Courts Bill

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NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Muslim organization urges Governor Brownback to sign

Kansas American Laws for American Courts Bill

 

PHOENIX, AZ (May 17, 2012) – The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), a national American Muslim organization urges Governor Sam Brownback to sign the Kansas American Laws for American Courts bill(H Sub SB79) which the Governor received from the Kansas Legislature on May 15. In a letter sent to the Governor, AIFD president and founder Dr. Zuhdi Jasser stated that “this legislation is vital to protecting the sanctity of the American legal system, by barring Kansas courts from enforcing any foreign law, if doing so violates any rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and/or the Kansas Constitution.”

Like many Americans, AIFD has been observing the efforts of a growing number of state legislatures which are seeking to address the incompatibility of various shari’ah court systems around the world with the principles and foundations of our Constitutional republic and its laws. As American Muslims, we believe that the law should treat people of all faiths equally, while protecting Muslims and non-Muslims alike from extremist attempts to use the legal instrument of shari’ah (also known as Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh) to incubate, within the West, a highly politicized and dangerous understanding of Islam that is generally known as “Islamism” or “political Islam.” AIFD supports properly worded legislation across the country, such as the Kansas law, which does not single out any specific religion.

“Without laws like this, extrajudicial arbitration systems can exist in a vacuum without accountability to the state or the federal constitution,” said Jasser. “We support these laws not because we want to limit the free exercise of religion, but to the contrary we want to protect Muslims and non-Muslims from the oppression of theocratic legal systems that seek sanctuary under the guise of religious freedom.”

AIFD believes that the Governor’s signing of this legislation will not adversely impact the free exercise of a personal pietistic observance of Islam, Judaism, Christianity or any other faith. All people of faith need the government to protect their right to peaceful assembly, mediation and arbitration free of coercion. The Kansas law simply guarantees that it is done within the bounds of American constitutional principles.

Muslim Brotherhood legacy groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamist surrogates in the U.S. are trying their best to portray the Kansas legislation as “racist” and “discrimination against Muslims,” but at AIFD we denounce this as fear-mongering and yet another attempt to mask the Islamists’ highly politicized agenda. AIFD is based on our strong commitment to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and the separation between religion and state. Unfortunately, Islamist groups would like to compromise this separation and provide cover to medieval, misogynistic and homophobic laws that no Muslim is obligated to demand as public law.

“The Kansas American Laws for American Courts bill is good for Muslims in Kansas,” said Jasser. “I urge the Governor to sign this legislation and protect the sanctity of American and Kansas courts and legal system.”

About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

 

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

Dr. Jasser discusses Best Buy’s support for CAIR

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Dr. Jasser joins Fox and Friends to discuss Best Buy’s support for CAIR and the ramifications.

Anniversary of Bin Laden’s death should not be a political ping pong ball

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NEWS

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Anniversary of Bin Laden’s death should not be a political ping pong ball

American Muslim group looks for opportunity to advance real dialogue on threat to U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC (May 1, 2012) – As the U.S. marks the one year anniversary of the death of Usama Bin Laden the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) recognizes the valiant contributions of the brave men and women of America’s armed forces, in particular the members of Seal Team Six who made this anniversary possible. AIFD also hopes and prays that our nation uses this day to come together free of partisanship in the war against Islamist extremists. We should refrain from reflexively exploiting major national security threats as a political ping pong ball between right and left and instead use them as opportunities to foster genuine dialogue on how to advance a real bipartisan American strategy to defeat the threat of Islamist militancy both at home and abroad.

While significant to American morale and a body blow to Al Qaeda, the death of Bin Laden did little to dismantle the threat from Al Qaeda and even less to diminish the threat from Islamist extremism. The U.S. is just beginning down the road of a growing battle of ideas against the ideology of Islamism (political Islam) and the political gamesmanship around Bin Laden’s death distracts us from the very important task of actually addressing root causes. In order to counter the new heads of the Islamist hydra, the US needs to develop a coherent bipartisan domestic and foreign strategy to defeat the ideology that drove Bin Laden to his murderous rampage against the United States.

“In an election year you’ve got the administration again basically saying “Mission Accomplished” and that Al Qaeda is done which is absurd,” said M. Zuhdi Jasser, president and founder of AIFD. “With the ascent of Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ennhada in Tunisia and elsewhere across the Middle East, we need to recognize what the long term conflict is. At one-year since UBL’s death our government still doesn’t get the big picture and denying the reality of Islamism does not help.”

The author of “Battle for the Soul of Islam,” due out this June from Simon & Schuster, Jasser cites the growth of terror groups such as al-Shabab, Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, the Haqqani network and over 35 other violent radical Islamist groups as reason for the administration to hesitate in celebrating the death of Bin Laden as an end note to our war against Islamist militants. The threat of Iran’s growing influence in the region alone should be enough to give pause and redouble our efforts against this insidious ideology that is the antithesis of American values.

According to Jasser, “Al Qaeda may be a shell of what it was at 9-11, but Islamism is a hydra that is continually reshaping itself. The death of Bin Laden and even the defeat of Al Qaeda will just give rise to many other groups unless the root causes of Islamism are addressed.”

The United States desperately needs a guiding policy doctrine in the region. AIFD has long called for the promotion of a Liberty Doctrine that is focused on bringing more than just elections to the region. Elections will only serve the Islamists. For the Middle-East to embrace genuine democratic principles, the U.S. needs to quickly get back in the business of helping stimulate the infrastructure of freedom on the ground much like we did in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, but now in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and hopefully eventually Syria. The promise of the Arab Spring can only be delivered by an America willing to engage in the ideological war on the ground. Without this commitment the brave men of Seal Team Six will unfortunately continue to be called to action to remove yet another head of the Islamist beast.

About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gregg Edgar, Gordon C. James Public Relations, gedgar@gcjpr.com, 602-690-7977