Qaeda leader calls on Muslims to kidnap Westerners

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October 27, 2012
Read the article at Hinustantimes.com

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Egyptians to restart their revolution to press for Islamic law and called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, the SITE Intelligence Group said on Friday.

In a video released on jihadist forums and translated by the US monitoring service, Zawahiri also lashed out at US President Barack Obama, calling him a liar and demanding he admit defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa.

Criticizing the new Egyptian government — led by a president drawn from the Muslim Brotherhood — as corrupt, he said a battle is being waged in Egypt between a secular minority and Muslims seeking implementation of Shariah law.

The Egyptian doctor, the former deputy to slain al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, said these Egyptians want to see their government liberated from US influence, and Palestinian victory over Israel, SITE reported.

“The battle isn’t over, but it has started,” Zawahiri said, urging “every sincere person in Egypt” to “wage a popular campaign to incite and preach in order to complete the revolution, which was aborted.

“The revolution in Egypt must continue and the Muslim Ummah must offer sacrifices until it achieves what it wants and until it snatches from the corrupt forces … the dignity and honor of Egypt.”

Massive protests erupted on January 25, 2011 and toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak after more than 30 years of iron-fisted rule. He was replaced by the Islamist Mohamed Morsi after elections earlier in 2012.

Zawahiri said liberating Omar Abdul Rahman, an Egyptian cleric jailed in the United States for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and inmates at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay was an “obligatory duty for every Muslim.”

“I call upon Muslims to capture citizens of the countries that wage wars against Muslims,” he said.

“Our captives or Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman will not be liberated except through force, for it is the only language that they understand.”

In that vein, he made a reference to Warren Weinstein, a relief worker with USAID who was captured in Lahore, Pakistan in August 2011.

Zawahiri also called Obama a “professional liar.”

“Obama must admit he and his allies are standing in the defeated line, and that Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy on him, and the rest of the Mujahedeen and the Muslim Ummah are standing in the victorious line, whether anyone likes it or not.”

In a second, 58-minute video, also summarized and translated by SITE, Zawahiri called upon Egyptians to take part in protests “against the Israeli embassy and against normalization and the peace treaty with Israel, and against the Israeli occupation of the land of Palestine, and against any concession and surrender to it, and against every siege in Gaza.”

He also asked Morsi — whom he described as a president with no authority — specific questions, including what his positions were on “the jihad to liberate Palestine,” as well as Sharia rule and Egypt’s participation in the US “war on terror”.

Secretary Clinton should bar Imran Khan from entering the U.S.

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NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

 

Secretary Clinton should bar Imran Khan from entering the U.S.

Anti-American politician should not have access to U.S. to fundraise for Islamist Extremism

WASHINGTON, DC (October 23, 2012) — The American Islamic Leadership Coalition released the following statement in response to the announced visit of Pakistani politician Imran Khan to the U.S.:

“Secretary Hillary Clinton needs to revoke the U.S. visa granted to Imran Khan, founder of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Imran Khan is an anti-American politician who regularly defends the Taliban and justifies its action as “Jihad.” In June 2011 he stated that “Confronting the U.S. won’t destroy us (Pakistan). Look at Iran. What have they been able to do with Iran, a country that does not even have nuclear weapons?”

Khan is scheduled to speak at a fundraising dinner and Eid celebration in New York on October 26. In a promotional e-mail, the American organizers of the event claim “All the money raised will be used to change the political as well as social structure of Pakistan by implementing the law across the board, Insha’Allah (Allah be willing).”

The “law” Imran Khan wishes to implement in Pakistan is a medieval interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence, whose application is often devoid of spirituality and compassion.   For example, Imran Khan is on record stating “As Muslims we are bound by Sharia and if the Taliban are enforcing that, we should welcome it, not be fearful of it.”

The U.S. Embassy made a significant error in granting this Islamist leader a visa and Secretary Clinton should exert the power of her position and revoke the visa immediately.  Granting individuals like Khan access to the U.S. to fundraise is against the interest of the people of Pakistan and the national security interests of the U.S.”

About the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC)

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) is a diverse coalition of liberty-minded, North American Muslim leaders and organizations. AILC’s mission advocates for defending the US Constitution, upholding religious pluralism, protecting American security and cherishing genuine diversity in the faith and practice of Islam. AILC provides a stark alternative to the Islamist organizations that claim to speak for what are diverse American Muslim communities. For more information on AILC, please visit our website at http://www.americanislamicleadership.org/.

 

MEDIA CONTACT:           Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

###

Jasser, Pipes win debate with argument against “Better Elected Islamists than Dictators”

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Oct. 5, 2012, 3:32 p.m. EDT

Intelligence Squared U.S. Audience Does Not Agree “Better Elected Islamists Than Dictators”

 Oct 5, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — Daniel Pipes and M. Zuhdi Jasser Win Debate Over Reuel Marc Gerecht and Brian Katulis

Debate Will Air on NPR Stations Nationwide and Telecast on WNET/Thirteen on November 3rd at 3 PM

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Intelligence Squared U.S. continued its Fall 2012 season with a sold out debate and a victory against the motion “Better Elected Islamists than Dictators.” In the final tally, Daniel Pipes and M. Zuhdi Jasser won the Oxford-style debate by convincing 16% of the audience to change their minds and oppose the motion. After the debate, 47% of audience members agreed that elected Islamists would not evolve Middle Eastern political systems, up from 31% pre-debate.

Watch the full debate here:

Arguing for the motion, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Brian Katulis sought to prove that elected Islamists, rather than dictators will lead to the dissolution of violence and radical ideologies of groups like al-Qaida that threaten the West. But at the end of the evening it was Daniel Pipes’ and M. Zuhdi Jasser’s arguments that elections will not influence centuries-old Islamist supremacist beliefs that convinced the audience to vote against the motion.

This latest intellectual match up was IQ2US’s 64th debate and was streamed live on WSJ Live.

Key Excerpts For the Motion:

REUEL MARC GERECHT:

“The only way you’re going to get a more liberal order in the Middle East is through people of faith. It is through the fundamentalists participating in the system that you’re actually going to develop the jousting ethic that is going to allow liberals to have greater chances. It’s only through them participating that you’re going to have people become responsible for politics.”

BRIAN KATULIS:

“Elected Islamists, not dictators, will defeat the radical ideologies of groups like al-Qaida. …al-Qaida, over the last three decades, essentially, has tried to build its ideological platform on two core pillars. Number one, tapping the popular discontent with dictators. Number two, anti-Americanism. That’s a combustible mix, and breaking that, and having the people in the region break that, I think, is extremely powerful. The fact that al-Qaida and its affiliates had virtually nothing to do with the removal of leaders in places like Egypt and Tunisia and the widespread calls for political reform and the battles that are still going, I think, is telling. The fact that Ayman Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaida, wrote a book attacking the Muslim Brotherhood for actually participating in democratic politics is telling. Looking ahead, it seems that al-Qaida’s popular appeal, I think, will remain low, given that many of the protesters are out there supporting democratic reforms. People are going to the ballot box, the very thing that radical jihadists are opposed to.

Key Excerpts Against the Motion:

DANIEL PIPES:

“Expect the worst of the Islamist regimes. These are people who are not going to let go of power. One man, one vote, one time or maybe two times is what you can expect. And therefore I say, better the greedy dictators that we can push around that we can change than the Islamist dictators who are our deepest enemies who we cannot change, who will be there for decades to come, who will do enormous — inflict enormous damage on their own populations, be aggressors toward their neighbors and deeply mired in anti-Americanism.”

M. ZUHDI JASSER:

“I’ll tell you, as a Muslim, I’m insulted at people who believe that Islamism is progress for me as a Muslim, that somehow the theocrats and those with robes that memorize their scripture, that somehow know how to run democracy, when, in fact, it’s an illusion. I think one of the things our opposition hasn’t even begun to tell you is how they can trust one word that the Islamists tell them. They’re deceptive theocrats who will do anything to monopolize and control our societies. This is far more dangerous than a simple dictator…. And once you understand that Islamism is no different than what our Founding Fathers fought against when we fought against theocracy in this country, you’ll realize that fighting against theocracy is the only way to achieve liberty.”

Before the debate, the IQ2US audience voted as follows:

* 38% of audience agreed with the resolution

* 31% of audience against the resolution

* 31% undecided

After careful consideration of the points by the audience, Daniel Pipes and M. Zuhdi Jasser won the debate: the team that moves the most votes at the end of the evening is determined the winner.

* 44% of audience agreeing with the resolution (+6%)

* 47% of audience against the resolution (+16%)

* 9% undecided (-22%)

To learn more about the debate and review a detailed breakdown of how the audience voted pre- and post-debate, please visit us at: http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/762-better-elected-islamists-than-dictators&tab=2

The showdown at Kaufman Center in New York City puts the leading public intellectuals in the limelight in front of a live audience for nearly two hours of heated debate.

Her ‘Crime’ Was Loving Schools

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By , The New York Times, 10/10/12

Read at The New York Times

Twice the Taliban threw warning letters into the home of Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl who is one of the world’s most persuasive advocates for girls’ education. They told her to stop her advocacy — or else.

She refused to back down, stepped up her campaign and even started a fund to help impoverished Pakistani girls get an education. So, on Tuesday, masked gunmen approached her school bus and asked for her by name. Then they shot her in the head and neck.

“Let this be a lesson,” a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said afterward. He added that if she survives, the Taliban would again try to kill her.

Surgeons have removed a bullet from Malala, and she remains unconscious in critical condition in a hospital in Peshawar. A close family friend, Fazal Moula Zahid, told me that doctors are hopeful that there has been no brain damage and that she will ultimately return to school.

“After recovery, she will continue to get an education,” Fazal said. “She will never, never drop out of school. She will go to the last.”

“Please thank all your people who are supporting us and who stand with us in this war,” he added. “You energize us.”

The day before Malala was shot, far away in Indonesia, another 14-year-old girl seeking an education suffered from a different kind of misogyny. Sex traffickers had reached out to this girl through Facebook, then detained her and raped her for a week. They released her after her disappearance made the local news.

When her private junior high school got wind of what happened, it told her she had “tarnished the school’s image,” according to an account from Indonesia’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The school publicly expelled her — in front of hundreds of classmates — for having been raped.

These events coincide with the first international Day of the Girl on Thursday, and they remind us that the global struggle for gender equality is the paramount moral struggle of this century, equivalent to the campaigns against slavery in the 19th century and against totalitarianism in the 20th century.

Here in the United States, it’s easy to dismiss such incidents as distant barbarities, but we have a blind spot for our own injustices — like sex trafficking. Across America, teenage girls are trafficked by pimps on Web sites like Backpage.com, and then far too often they are treated by police as criminals rather than victims. These girls aren’t just expelled from school; they’re arrested.

Jerry Sandusky’s sex abuse of boys provoked outrage. But similar abuse is routine for trafficked girls across America, and local authorities often shrug with indifference in the same way some people at Penn State evidently did.

We also don’t appreciate the way incidents like the attack on Tuesday in Pakistan represent a broad argument about whether girls deserve human rights and equality of education. Malala was a leader of the camp that said “yes.” After earlier aspiring to be a doctor, more recently she said she wanted to be a politician — modeled on President Obama, one of her heroes — to advance the cause of girls’ education.

Pakistan is a country that has historically suffered from timid and ineffectual leadership, unwilling to stand up to militants. Instead, true leadership emerged from a courageous 14-year-old girl.

On the other side are the Taliban, who understand the stakes perfectly. They shot Malala because girls’ education threatens everything that they stand for. The greatest risk for violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls.

“This is not just Malala’s war,” a 19-year-old female student in Peshawar told me. “It is a war between two ideologies, between the light of education and darkness.”

She said she was happy to be quoted by name. But after what happened to Malala, I don’t dare put her at risk.

For those wanting to honor Malala’s courage, there are excellent organizations building schools in Pakistan, such as Developments in Literacy (dil.org) and The Citizens Foundation (tcfusa.org). I’ve seen their schools and how they transform girls — and communities.

One of my greatest frustrations when I travel to Pakistan is that I routinely spot extremist madrassas, or schools, financed by medieval misogynists from Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. They provide meals, free tuition and sometimes scholarships to lure boys — because their donors understand perfectly that education shapes countries.

In contrast, American aid is mainly about supporting the Pakistani Army. We have tripled aid to Pakistani education to $170 million annually, and that’s terrific. But that’s less than one-tenth of our security aid to Pakistan.

In Malala’s most recent e-mail to a Times colleague, Adam Ellick, she wrote: “I want an access to the world of knowledge.” The Taliban clearly understands the transformative power of girls’ education.

 Do we?

America needs to hear a clear strategy for the Middle East at VP debate

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Statement 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

America needs to hear a clear strategy for the Middle East at VP debate

In the wake of last month’s violence AIFD calls on the two campaigns to step away from partisan politics and define a vision for US relations

 

PHOENIX (October 11, 2012) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith” issued the following statement on behalf of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy on what America needs to see from tonight’s Vice Presidential Debate:

“The American Islamic Forum for Democracy is calling for the two presidential campaigns to step away from partisan politics and use tonight’s Vice Presidential debate as an opportunity to present their foreign policy vision for the Middle East.

To date the United States has squandered the opportunity presented by the “Arab Spring” to define a path towards liberty. The people of the region are looking for true leadership from the west and an advocate for their freedom.

It is in the best interest of the United States to play an active role in redefining this region.  The attacks of September 11, 2012 clearly demonstrate that the threat is stronger than ever.  Our lack of resolve and determination only feeds the Islamist agenda on the ground. While America remains on the sidelines rest assured Iran, the rest of the OIC countries, Russia and China will play an active role in shaping the region

This presidential election is significant for many reasons, not the least of which is the generational shift that is occurring in the Middle East.  If we ever hope to have true national security, we need to elect a President that understands the stakes and the motivations of the actors in the region.

The American people deserve a real discussion of the issues shaping U.S. foreign policy and a clear demonstration of each campaign’s vision for the future of the Middle East.”

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

Watch Dr. Jasser Live in the debate, “BETTER ELECTED ISLAMISTS THAN DICTATORS”

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[AIFD LIVE EVENT ALERT] AT 6:45 EDT TODAY, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, President of AIFD, will participate in a debate “BETTER ELECTED ISLAMISTS THAN DICTATORS.” See the live feed by clicking here to get to the IQ Squared site.

 

 

Thursday October 4, 2012

  • Reception: 5:45-6:30 PM
  • Debate: 6:45-8:30 PM
  • Kaufman Center
    129 West 67th Street
    (b/w Broadway and Amsterdam)
    NY, NY 10023

View the debate LIVE.

In the wake of violent anti-American protests across the globe, our next debate “Better Elected Islamists Than Dictators” is of particular significance to America’s foreign relations. The popular uprisings of the Arab Spring have left a leadership void that Islamists parties have been quick to fill. The U.S. now must face the rise of groups that are less amenable to the West than their autocratic predecessors. Will elected Islamists mean more radicalization and increased anti-Americanism, or will the spread of democratic values liberalize the Arab world?You won’t want to miss this timely debate on Thursday, October 4, at Kaufman Center. Join the debate now – cast your vote online and browse our extensive research librarywith positions from the panel, articles for and against, polls and other news.

 Debate ScheduleTHUR.  OCTOBER 4:
BETTER ELECTED ISLAMISTS THAN
DICTATORSWED. OCTOBER 10 IN CHICAGO:
RATION END-OF-LIFE CAREWED. OCTOBER 24: 
THE RICH ARE TAXED ENOUGHWED.  NOVEMBER 14: 
LEGALIZE DRUGSWED. DECEMBER 5:
SCIENCE REFUTES GOD

NOW LOCATED IN MIDTOWN:
KAUFMAN CENTER
@ 67TH & BROADWAY
For The Motion FOR THE MOTION/ REUEL MARC GERECHT
Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Reuel Marc Gerecht is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-partisan institution focusing on national security and foreign policy. He was a former Middle East Specialist at the CIA’s directorate of operations, and Director of the Project for the New American Century’s Middle East Initiative and a former resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.		 Cast your vote online now
For The Motion FOR THE MOTION/ BRIAN KATULIS 
Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress
Brian Katulis is a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where his work focuses on U.S. national security policy in the Middle East and South Asia. From 1995 to 1998, he lived and worked in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Egypt for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He is co-author of The Prosperity Agenda, a book on U.S. national security. Katulis speaks Arabic.
Against The Motion AGAINST THE MOTION/ DR. M. ZUHDI JASSER 
Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy
M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., is the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). A devout Muslim, Dr. Jasser founded AIFD in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States as an effort to provide an American Muslim voice advocating for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state.
Against The Motion AGAINST THE MOTION/ DANIEL PIPES 
President, Middle East Forum
Daniel Pipes is one of the world’s foremost analysts on the Middle East and Islam. Pipes is President of the Middle East Forum, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1994 whose slogan is “Promoting American Interests.” Pipes’ most recent book is Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics.

Brahimi’s peace plan latest failure in Syria

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brahimi’s peace plan latest failure in Syria

Meanwhile violence spreads across the borders to Lebanon and Jordan while U.S. sits on sidelines

 

PHOENIX (October 23, 2012) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the co-founder of the Save Syria Now! issued the following statement regarding the latest developments in Syria:

“Comments from the Free Syria Army highlight how ludicrously terminal yet another failed attempt is at a UN peace plan for Syria.  U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had proposed a ceasefire to be implemented on Eid al-Adha holiday, Islam’s ‘holiest day’.

Comments from Colonel Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the joint command of the Free Syria Army highlight the fact that the proposal lacked any “mechanism to implement it”. Saadeddine commented to Reuters “Who is going to implement it and who is going to supervise it?”

It is offensive to Muslims and especially all Syrians to throw out one more date for a ceasefire that only prolongs the agony and empowers Assad’s thugs to continue their slaughter. The deaths in Syria have climbed well past 30,000 with now reports of over 2 million homes destroyed and yet there is still no real leadership on how to stop the bloodshed and remove Assad from power.  The Presidential race has essentially ground any efforts by the Obama Administration at helping bring an end to the Assad regime to a complete halt.  The Syrian people can no longer trust any role which this administration would have in helping them bring their own misery to an end.

Violence is spreading across the region with attacks from the Assad regime on opponents in Beirut, Lebanon and terrorist plots from al-Qaeda elements in Jordan that were armed by militants crossing the border into Syria.

Western embassies were potential targets in the Jordanian plot.  American lives were once again in the crosshairs because the Obama administration has failed to develop any strategy, let alone a winning strategy, for the changes taking place in the Middle East and specifically Syria.

Syria has the potential to be the linchpin for change in the region.  A truly free Syria diminishes the reach of Iran, provides a buffer for Israel and removes an ally for Hezbollah and Hamas.

A free Syria is a game changer. But it requires leadership and courage in the face of the enemies of freedom. The Obama Administration has not shown that it has the resolve or the ideological capacity to meet that challenge.”

 

About Save Syria Now!

Save Syria Now! is a group of Americans of Syrian descent organizing to put pressure on the United States to call for immediate action to be taken against the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria and to bring true liberty to the people of Syria.  We stand with the Syrians protesting in the streets to end the tyranny of the Assad family.  For more information please visit our website at http://www.savesyrianow.org/.

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:        Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

 

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Imran Khan pulled off flight at Pearson for questioning

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JENNY YUEN ,TORONTO SUN, October 27, 2012

Read article at TorontoSun.com

TORONTO – Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was yanked from his flight to New York and taken in for questioning at Toronto Pearson International Airport Friday.

Khan, who was in Brampton Thursday night for a politically-charged speech about turmoil in his homeland, boarded an American Airlines plane from Toronto to New York to speak at another fundraising dinner in Long Island City the same day.

“I was taken off from plane and interrogated by U.S. Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop,” Khan tweeted at 3:35 p.m. Friday.

The questioning reportedly lasted up to an hour before Khan was allowed to board a later 4 p.m. flight to New York.

Khan, who is the founder of Pakistan‘s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party took part earlier this month in a protest against U.S. drone strikes on his home turf.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they cannot divulge any information on particular cases due to privacy laws.

“Our dual mission is to facilitate travel in the United States while we secure our borders, our people, and our visitors from those that would do us harm like terrorists and terrorist weapons, criminals, and contraband,” said CBP spokesman Joanne Ferreira.

“Under U.S. immigration law, applicants for admission bear the burden of proof to establish that they are clearly eligible to enter the United States. In order to demonstrate that they are admissible, the applicant must overcome all grounds of inadmissibility.”

Toronto Sun columnist Tarek Fatah said Khan was likely interrogated because of groups protesting his entrance to the U.S.

“They were concerned about anti-Americanism while he’s speaking over there,” Fatah said.

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition from Phoenix, Ariz. wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this week, pressuring her to revoke the U.S. visa granted to Khan because of his sympathetic views towards the Taliban.

“The U.S. Embassy made a significant error in granting this Islamist leader a visa,” the group said in a statement. “Granting individuals like Khan access to the U.S. to fundraise is against the interest of the people of Pakistan and the national security interests of the U.S.”

Masud Raja, the finance secretary of Pakistan‘s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said Khan was taken off the plane with Fauzia Kasur, the president of the women’s wing of the PTI.

Then, immigration officials questioned him about his views on Jihad, whether or not he was going to protest in the U.S. and what his views were on drone attacks.

“Missed flight and sad to miss the fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance. Still looking forward to meet PTI family there,” Khan tweeted after the incident.

 

Stu Bykofsky: American Muslims ‘uniquely qualified’ to sell moderation

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link to story at Philadelphia Daily News

Stu Bykofsky, Daily News Columnist
Philadelphia Daily News

October 15, 2012

AMERICAN MUSLIM Zuhdi Jasser is a jihadist.

A veteran of 11 years in the Navy and a medical doctor, Jasser is on a jihad for democracy, the American-style democracy he has enjoyed since birth as the son of parents who fled Syria.

I believe immigrants – especially those coming to freedom from dark lands of terror and oppression – appreciate America more than most native-born Americans who don’t know how good they got it. Jasser was born here, and his parents taught him to honor both his faith, Islam, and America, with its faith in freedom and democracy.

The Muslims who have trouble with the West are those who do not believe in separation “between mosque and state,” Jasser says. Intheir Islam, state and mosque are intertwined, but that is not the way of America or the West.

Jasser argues the West is not effectively defending its values, and recently told a luncheon meeting with members of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum that “political Islam” is the biggest threat to world peace. The antidote is “moderate Islam,” a product that American Muslims are “uniquely qualified” to sell.

Jasser is president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which he founded with eight other Muslim-Americans in 2003, in response both to 9/11 and to what they felt was inadequate denunciation of the attack on America by U.S. Muslims.

Since its founding, five of the original members have left AIFD, the result of “tribal pressure,” Jasser tells me in a later private sit-down. He is not usually confronted openly by Muslims – with one big exception – but is pressured “behind the scenes” to “stop airing dirty laundry.”

The exception is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Jasser says sows “victimization” among Muslims and is slow to condemn terror.

The compliment is returned by CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper. He says both accusations are “complete fiction” and Jasser is a “sock puppet for Islam haters and Muslim bashers.”

To counter the charge of being slow to condemn terror, Hooper says CAIR, a civil-rights organization, put up a reward for the capture of an arsonist who set a Toledo mosque ablaze. (A suspect has been arrested.)

Tellingly, Hooper’s response focused on terror committed against Muslims, omitting terror committed by Muslims, which is far more common worldwide.

Jasser is as politically conservative as he is religiously liberal, even though he says he is devout and prays five times a day.

Perhaps his most incendiary luncheon statement was that of 3 million American Muslims, 5 to 7 percent are potentially dangerous. Supporting his opinion, he points to a 2011 Pew Research poll stating 8 percent of U.S. Muslims think suicide bombing and other violence against civilians is often or sometimes justified.

Condemnation of his extremist co-religionists is no different than Christians blasting the hate-spewing Westboro Baptist Church, but they are not called anti-Christian, while he is painted as an Islamophobe.

I don’t believe he is an Islamophobe. His American Islamic Forum for Democracy is engaged in the right kind of jihad. He deserves the support of anyone worried about what kind of American Muslims emerge to lead that community.

Their jihad is our jihad.

Public Television Doesn’t Mean Big Bird, It Means Islamist, Russian and Chinese Propaganda

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October 27, 2012 By Daniel Greenfield
Read article at Frontpagemag.com 

Big Bird is in no danger of going anywhere, with hundreds of millions of dollars in its nest egg. Sesame Street makes for a nice public face for public broadcasting, but public broadcasting isn’t anywhere as cozy as that. But it’s actually worse than that.

CCTV, an official propaganda arm of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, is being distributed to public television stations in the U.S. through a public television programming service called MHz Worldview, a project of MHz Networks.

The federally-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funneled $27,580,113 into MHz Networks and its affiliates in fiscal year 2011.

MHz Networks is a division of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, based in Richmond, Virginia, and distributes Al-Jazeera, the voice of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Moscow-funded Russia Today (RT) channel, and CCTV, under the rubric of “Programming for globally-minded people.” MHz Worldview calls itself “alternative programming for U.S. public TV stations and other distributors.”

All of these foreign propaganda channels are being broadcast in English.

Kenney hired a lawyer to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, arguing that the contracts between the public TV stations affiliated with Commonwealth are being improperly used for the purpose of broadcasting foreign propaganda in the U.S. Violations of the rules can result in financial fines and revocation of broadcast licenses. “U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the distribution in the U.S. of another country’s propaganda,” Kenney says.

Kenney has also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the foreign propaganda channels are violating the law by not disclosing in their propaganda broadcasts that they are agents of foreign powers.

That’s 27 million dollars that poor CPB funneled into pushing enemy propaganda broadcasts into the United States.  Here is the actual text of Kenney’s complaint. And maybe Team Big Bird should rename itself Team Putin or Team Qatar.