Ten Years — We Are Still Missing the Lessons of 9/11

By Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser

Published September 10, 2011 | FoxNews.com

In recent years and even weeks, the lessons of September 11, 2001 have been lost to constant distraction, the most recent being Mayor Bloomberg‘s unfathomable decision to forbid people of faith a role at the tenth anniversary commemoration.

Faith was the impetus for the attack, faith was the instrument for healing, and faith is the only hope we have to defeat the ideology that attacked us ten years ago.

Bloomberg’s stance encapsulates our greatest liabilities as a nation ten years after 9/11. We, now, more than ever, lack the political will, the national skill sets, and the prominent American Muslim leadership willing to identify, engage, and defeat Islamism.

While many Muslims take the bait of victimology preached by supposed Muslim civil rights groups in America, as American Muslims the rest of us cannot continue to deny the connection no matter how unfair between certain interpretations of our faith and Al Qaeda‘s brutal attack.

Usama bin Laden did not just represent a handful of militant extremists. He was a standard bearer for an end stage of a global ideology – political Islam (Islamism) – that has buried its roots deep within interpretations of our faith. Islamism is a theo-political construct that believes in the supremacy of the Islamic state and that is the antithesis of what makes America unique and exceptional. It can only be defeated by Muslims who step beyond the distractions and denials and champion an ideological path that binds our identity and faith to liberty and individual freedom.

If American Muslim leaders want to do anything to combat fear of Islamism and any unfair association of all Muslims that may exist, the most effective move would be to form an offensive strategy against Islamists and their ideas from within.

My family came to the U.S. in the 1960’s escaping Syria‘s Baathist oppression in order to be free, more free than they ever dreamed of being in Muslim majority nations.

Yet, it is unconscionable that 10 years after 9/11, the United States is still dithering over the root cause of Islamist terror.

Islamists detest the very fabric of American society. September 11 was not the first attack and it was not the last. If we do not engage in a full throated ideological fight we will continue to witness an ever increasing threat to our homeland.

Sadly, the America I know that I chose to serve as a naval officer has spent an uncharacteristically sheepish decade asleep against the greatest existential threat to our survival. We must now develop and implement a coherent tactical plan to defeat the ideological root of militant Islamism- political Islam and the dreams for some Muslims of the Islamic state.

The threat to the United States has grown exponentially in ten years. A report from the Department of Justice in March of 2010 showed that of 228 terror-related arrests 186 of them were Muslim. That is over 80 percent from a Muslim community that represents less than 2 percent of the U.S. population.

What this report does not tell us is that of the 186 Muslim arrests almost certainly all of them were Muslims that believed in and adhered to an Islamist ideology. Since this report we have seen upwards of another 28 terror-related arrests of Muslims including the likes of Faisal Shahzad — the Times Square bomber — and Pvt. Naser Abdo who was preparing a second attack on Fort Hood who both claimed to be “Muslim soldiers” fighting for the ummah (Muslim nation).

The threat is increasing because the ideological message has largely gone unchecked. To change that we need to empower reform-minded liberal Muslim leaders. We need the political will from the Administration and Congress to identify political Islam as the problem and devout reformist Muslims and enlightened Islam as the solution. We need our government, media, and academe to have the skill set to not cower when terms like “Islamophobia” are leveled against those who are smart enough and brave enough to call out political Islam as the problem and we need for Muslims to separate religion and state to defeat Islamism. Unless we do that, our “whack-a-mole” approach to security will eventually miss one.

Western pluralistic societies that embrace individual liberty are not in conflict with the faith of Islam as practiced by most Muslims. This is not a war against a religion. We cannot allow our ideological enemy to use faith to tie our hands in this fight. Hear that Mayor Bloomberg? Mr. President? PC police? We must break the shackles of political correctness and step beyond the fear that paralyzes us against matters that happen to touch on faith.

The founding fathers never intended for faith to be sacrosanct and beyond public discourse. Perhaps the greatest outcome of the American experiment is that the U.S. Constitution reclaimed faith from the hands of the monarch and the clergy and vested it in the hands of the people as it was always intended. Now faced with an existential theo-political threat, we are failing that vision and need to rededicate ourselves to our founding principles.

The only way to win is to stop playing defense and create an offensive strategy which empowers liberty-minded Muslims whose identity is tied to Americanism and our Establishment Clause, rather than Islamism, shar’iah, and victimhood. We must tackle the fallacy of the Islamic state and demonstrate to Muslims the religious strength that comes from individual liberty.

We have yet to operationalize these lessons of 9/11. We will not win this struggle and therefore never have true national security without confronting the hard issues of Islamist ideology. Our enemy does not suffer the same malady and in fact utilizes ideology as their primary weapon in this battle.

We must do the same. Our dedication to the concepts of liberty and unyielding belief in the inalienable rights of man as endowed by our creator are the key to our victory.

Dr. Jasser is president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a former U.S. Navy Lt. Commander and a physician in private practice based in Phoenix, Ariz. He can be reached at info@aifdemocracy.org.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/10/ten-years-are-still-missing-lessons-11/#ixzz1XXx7jsPO

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy joined a coalition of free speech advocates in signing the following statement released to the public today, September 6, 2011:

“On September 7, 2011, the Second Global Conference on World’s Religions after 9/11 will take place in Montreal. It is organized with the active cooperation of McGill University and the Université de Montréal. The Dalai Lama will open the conference and many personalities have confirmed that they will attend.

In a communiqué released at the beginning of May, the organizing committee of the event stated that the following question would be submitted to the participants:

Should violating the sanctity of the scripture of any religion be considered tantamount to violating the sanctity of the scriptures of all religions?

The original English version of the communiqué is still available on the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions website.

Yet, before the Montreal meeting has taken place, the organizing committee of the event has published on its website a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions that answers the question mentioned above. According to the program of the conference , this Declaration will be at the heart of the participants’ discussions.

Article 12.4 – Everyone has the right not to have one’s religion denigrated in the media or the academia.

Article 12.5 – It is the duty of the follower of every religion to ensure that no religion is denigrated in the media or the academia.

If this principle were to be adopted and turned into law, it would open the door to a wide range of blasphemy-type criminal and other legal proceedings. This is because it would suffice to claim that a criticism of religion was “denigrating” to justify legal action. In effect, this Declaration immunizes religion from criticism.

These measures embrace the line promoted for many years by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC represents 56 Muslim majority countries and it pressures non-Muslim countries at the United Nations and in other international forums to prosecute their own citizens for blasphemy if they criticize Islam. Article 22a of the OIC Declaration on Human Rights in Islam reads as follows: “Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari’ah.”

If certain of the principles found in the Declaration that will be discussed in Montreal were ever to become law, it could be impossible to criticize even the severe punishments meted out in some jurisdictions to those who abandon their religion. Those Islamic religious authorities calling for the punishing of “apostates”, (1) for example, could claim that such punishments are protected from criticism and public-policy discussion by their ostensibly “religious” quality. The same thing could be said of the sharia law provision according to which parents who kill their children may not be charged criminally, a situation implicitly endorsing honour killing (2).

The principles espoused in the Declaration are totally incompatible with basic human rights and the ideals that universities should be endorsing in a free and democratic society.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee asserted in July 2011 that “Freedom of expression is a necessary condition for the realisation of the principles of transparency and accountability that are, in turn, essential for the promotion and protection of human rights.”

In these circumstances, we the undersigned, enjoin the authorities of McGill University and the Université de Montréal to endorse freedom of expression by publicly dissociating themselves from the censorship towards which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions leads.”

(1) Section o8.1-2, Umdat al-Salik (Reliance of the Traveller), Beltsville (MD), Amana Publications, 1994
(2) Section o1.2.4, Umdat al-Salik (Reliance of the Traveller)

Sonja Eggerickx, President – International Humanist and Ethical Union

Roy Brown, IHEU Representative, United Nations Geneva

Tarek Fatah, Writer

Tahir Aslam Gora, Secretary General – Muslim Canadian Congress

AC Grayling, Philosopher

Farzana Hassan, Author

M. Zuhdi Jasser, President – American Islamic Forum for Democracy

Salim Mansur, Ass. Professor of Political Science – University of Western Ontario

PZ Myers, Scientist

Taslima Nasrin, Writer

Raheel Raza, Writer and Interfaith advocate

Soheil Raza, Director – Forum for Learning

Terry Sanderson, President – UK National Secular Society

Ibn Warraq, Writer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AIFD today joined a broad based coalition of American Muslim leaders of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) to send a letter to President Barack Obama urging immediate action to protect the Syrian people. We urge you to forward this to your contacts in order to prompt the immediate attention of the Obama adminsitration and its need to act to help stop the atrocities in Syria.

— AIFD

Full PDF version here

Syrian calls for Liberty demand immediate U.S. attention

Assad’s continued attack on the people of Syria is barbaric

Washington, DC (August 9, 2011) – In the wake of continued violence against the Syrian people by the Assad regime, the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC), a diverse coalition of over 25 liberty-minded Muslim groups and activists, drafted the following letter to President Barack Obama.

August 9, 2011

President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Ave

Washington, DC 20500

RE: American Islamic Leadership Coalition calls for U.S. action to protect the Syrian People

Dear President Obama:

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition calls upon your administration to take immediate action to end the Assad dictatorship in Syria. We believe that American credibility and our moral mandate to stand for universal human rights requires us to do everything possible to enable the democratic uprising in that unhappy country to succeed.

The death toll has climbed above 2,000. As you have said, the ‘true character’ of the Assad regime is now clear and it is appalling. On the other side, the citizens of Syria have mustered extraordinary courage to stand up to this evil.

We must stand with them. We must help the liberal opposition. We must say clearly and repeatedly that all of the Assad regime must go now. You have called for the downfall of the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt and the Qaddafi dictatorship in Libya. Logic, consistency, and morality all require that you do the same regarding Assad in Syria.

The end of the Assad tyranny will greatly help America throughout the turbulent Middle East. A free Syria will significantly weaken Iran, Hizballah, and other radical Islamist interests and could shake the power structures in the Middle East for generations.

A broad spectrum of Muslim leaders in the U.S. and Canada calls upon you to do the following:

1. Clearly and consistently state that Assad must go;

2. Bring full and intense economic sanctions against all trade with Syria, including the energy sector, except for food and humanitarian relief;

3. Remove our diplomats in Damascus and dismiss all Syrian diplomats on our soil, as Italy has done. If Assad is truly “no longer legitimate” then his diplomats are also no longer legitimate and our diplomats can no longer legitimize him;

4. Demand the opening of Syrian society to media, NGO’s and international observers for accountability instead of Assad’s lies;

5. Support the legitimate, pro-democracy opposition, both inside and outside Syria. In this effort the full weight of U.S. support must be focused on the correct alternative to Assad and not on organizations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood or other groups that are not committed to the principles of genuine liberty.

Syria stands at a crossroads. The defeat of Assad would be a double victory, for both the Syrian people, and for the free world.

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/.

AILC Coalition Signatories

Bahman Batmanghelidj, Founding Member, Alliance for Democracy in Iran, Virginia, USA

Khurshed Chowdhury, Ph.D., Maryland, USA

Manda Zand Ervin, President, Alliance of Iranian Women, Maryland, USA

Tarek Fatah, Founder, Muslim Canadian Congress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Jamal Hasan, Council for Democracy and Tolerance, Baltimore, MD

Farzana Hassan, Ed.D., Past President, Muslim Canadian Congress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Phoenix, AZ

Hasan Mahmud, Member, Advisory Board, World Muslim Congress, Dallas, TX

C. Holland Taylor, Chairman & CEO, LibForAll Foundation, Winston-Salem, NC

Malek Muhammad Towghi (Baluch), Ph.D., Liaison, Baluch Human Rights International

Jalal Zuberi, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA

PHOENIX (July 18, 2011) – The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) takes deep exception with the U.S. Army’s recent decision to grant PFC Nasser Abdo Conscientious Objector status. Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of AIFD and a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, released the following statement condemning the Army’s decision:

“Recent allegations of child pornography by Pfc. Nasser Abdo have brought to light the grossly misguided decision by Secretary of the Army John McHugh to grant Abdo Conscientious Objector (CO) status. As with the Pentagon report on the massacre at Fort Hood, the U.S Army has once again fallen victim to the insidious influence of political correctness. Abdo’s assertion that his faith precludes him from serving ‘in Afghanistan, Iraq or any war the U.S. Army would conceivably participate in.’ is patently false. It is a slap in the face and extraordinarily offensive to every Muslim who has served the U.S. military honorably, like me. American Muslims serve with distinction throughout all commands every day and it is appalling that the U.S. Army did not recognize that granting Abdo CO status would have a direct impact on their service.

This decision has implications that are far reaching. Our country faces our greatest potential security threat from radical Islamists. That threat has been exponentially increasing since 9/11. In the words of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square Bomber, and Major Nidal Hasan, perpetrator of the Fort Hood Massacre which killed 13 and injured over 30, they are “Muslim Soldiers.” Islamism (political Islam ) fuels Islamist terror groups by instilling the ideology among Muslims that the “ummah” is a single global political unit and nation state that stands against all non-Muslim states. This decision directly feeds that false narrative that Muslims are unable to participate in war against other Muslims. History tells us quite differently and our citizenship oath demands otherwise. The Army took the politically correct, easy way out and appeased a traitor who had a yearlong campaign against our nation and our military. Nasser Abdo is exploiting his Muslim identity and faith for his own political agenda. He represents a fringe group of radical Muslims who take their Muslim identity over their American identity. His argument that the Qur’an only allows Muslims to participate in “just wars” against non-Muslims is bigoted and inaccurate.

Abdo’s claims of conscientious objection clearly violate the requirements for CO status as delineated by DOD directive 1300.06. On August 21, 2010, he treasonously told the foreign Islamist media arm, Al Jazeera, “I don’t believe I can involve myself in an army that wages war against Muslims. I don’t believe I could sleep at night if I take part, in any way, in the killing of a Muslim.” In his own published web statement he further states that “being a soldier in the U.S. Army may not be permissible according to Islamic doctrine. It did not take me long to find an abundance of religious sources on the matter… fighting in an unjust war particularly against a fellow Muslim brother would be considered to be a form of disbelief or kufr”

According to DOD directive 1300.06 (May 31, 2007), CO status is given to those enlisted who have “a firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or the bearing of arms, by reason of religious training and/or belief.” CO status cannot be selective for any particular war. It is only against all war or any military service. The Military has made the application for CO status extremely clear so that soldiers, sailors and marines can not abuse the system and run from their military responsibility. Abdo entered the Army in April 2009 freely and knowing full well that he stood a significant chance of being deployed in one of two theaters of war. Abdo’s statements clearly demonstrate that not only does he exploit the CO provision, but he is a traitor who clearly is serving his Islamist loyalties and beliefs about the “ummah” above his sworn loyalties to the United States and our security. His actions are a cowardly attempt to use his faith to make a political statement about wars in Muslim majority nations.

Lest any Muslim be perceived as a future Nasser Abdo, AIFD would like to take this opportunity to make it explicitly clear that Mr. Abdo is not only a traitor but has departed from mainstream interpretations of Islam and our duties to the United States of America. In fact his interpretation is dangerous and part of radical Islam globally. It fuels a profound resentment against Muslims in America. It is imperative that other American Muslim organizations speak truth to emphatically denounce this decision by the Secretary McHugh. Abdo has essentially made it so every American Muslim serving in uniform should be questioned for their loyalty to service. As such Muslim organizations need to stand with American Muslims who have the courage to step on the battlefield to defend all of our liberties. Fore Muslim leaders there is no equivocating here. Abdo’s condemnation of their service is pathetic and deserving of condemnation, not CO status.

Abdo disgraces the pride of being an American which we instill in our American Muslim children. His use of CO 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 on Nov. 5, 2009 at Fort Hood. 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 Islamic teachings but on a feeble adherence to the global political ideology of Islamism that threatens our security and radicalizes our Muslim youth.”

MEDIA CONTACTS:

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

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/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

M. Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD President, will be called to testify at a Hearing of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Judiciary Committee, tomorrow, Friday, June 24, 2011 at 10 AM as noted below.

Check the committee’s website for possible availability of live video feed tomorrow.

Dr. Jasser’s full submitted testimony will be available at our website immediately upon conclusion of the hearing tomorrow

Hearing on: H.R. 963, the “See Something, Say Something Act of 2011”

Friday 6/24/2011 – 10:00 a.m.

2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Subcommittee on the Constitution

By Direction of the Chairman

Witness List

Lawrence Haas Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy American Foreign Policy Council

Chris Burbank Chief of Police Salt Lake City Police Department

M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. President and Founder American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD)