Lodi al Qaida Terror Cell, an American Insurgency?

LTC Joseph Myers, US Army, and former senior DIA analyst, offered some interesting ideas and comments on the Lodi case and al Qaida as a nascent insugency in the US, drawing lessons from Colombia's insurgency and the role of civilian subversive organizations and whether the FBI and our laws are ready to face this threat...

Great Quote on the Farooqia Center: I dissent from that view, and would put it this way: "Seemingly legitimate organizations are created for sinister reasons, for insurgent activity"

His interview will restream on your computer every 2hrs [+ or - 2hrs from 1030 eastern time] onward through Monday.

"Proliferation Terror Time for a New Deterrence Strategy" http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/breaking2453439.html

"Does al Qaida have nukes?" http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44251

TRYING TO DO THE MUSLIM MATHS

by Terry Mattingly

Researchers at Hartford Seminary's Institute for Religious Research began with seven different lists of mosques in the United States.

They eliminated all duplicates, before attempting to verify the existence of each institution. This produced a list of 1,209 mosques. Interviews at 416 found that about 340 Muslims regularly prayed in a typical mosque, but 1,629 or so might be associated in one way or another with its religious life.

Then the researchers did what researchers do -- the math. The numbers suggested that there might be 1,969,000 or so Muslims linked to U.S. mosques in 2000.

But there was a problem. Another study found 2,000 "mosques, schools and Islamic centers" and yet another 3,000, including "prayer locations." These numbers would push the population total higher. And what about all the Americanized, "cultural" Muslims who don't go to worship? What about mosques that only count the men?

"The data we have on how many people are going to mosques is actually pretty good, I believe," according to Mohamed Nimer of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "The problem is what happens when you try to postulate up from that number to some kind of estimate for the total Muslim population in this country.

"At that point, all kinds of things can happen to the numbers. No one agrees on how to make that leap."

This is serious business in the tense, highly politicized atmosphere following Sept. 11, 2001. Muslim leaders are striving to portray their community as a solidly mainstream presence in American culture. Everyone knows Islam is winning converts and becoming more visible, especially during seasons such as Ramadan, which is expected to end Dec. 6.

But how many Muslims are there in America? The Glenmary Research Center says 1.6 million, while CAIR and other Muslim advocacy groups say 7 million. Other reports jump all over the statistical map. Meanwhile, U.S. Census officials cannot ask questions about religion.

Writing in Public Opinion Quarterly, researcher Tom W. Smith is blunt: "None of the 23 specific estimates during the past five years is based on a scientifically sound or explicit methodology as far as one can tell from the published reports. All can probably be characterized as guesses or assertions." He concludes that the best estimates fall between 1.9 and 2.8 million, while most media reports continue to say 6 to 7 million.

While some researchers begin with data from mosques, others use telephone surveys. But Nimer said this fails to take into account immigrants whose English is weak. Others may hesitate to talk about their faith with strangers on the telephone. Finally, other surveys turn to immigration data focusing on ancestry and country of origin.

But immigrants are often hard to count, said journalist Joyce Davis, author of "Between Jihad and Salaam." Some are constantly moving to visit relatives in different parts of the nation, seeking the right place to settle. Some are unsure of their status with authorities. Some are trying to blend into this new culture.

"A significant number of Muslims simply do not want people to be able to trace them through a mosque," she said. "This was true before 9/11 and it certainly is true now. The assumption is that the FBI is paying close attention to those membership lists. Many Muslims -- for a variety of reasons -- may not want to join anything right now.

There are layers of other complications. Nimer is convinced only one out of three U.S. Muslims actively practices his or her faith. It's hard to know precisely how many African Americans are converting. Some surveys are notorious for missing Muslims from Southeast Asia, where Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

There is no clear bottom line. But Nimer said he believes conservative estimates of Muslims in America should fall between 2.5 and 4 million.

"It is crucial to realize that this is an issue that applies to all religious groups, not just Muslims," he said. "It is hard, as a rule, to count religious people. ... Are you counting people who are born into a particular faith or those who practice it? Do you want to count Arabs or do you want to count Muslims? Or do you want to count Arabs who are Muslims?"

Terry Mattingly (http://www.tmatt.net) teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic University and is senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

Not all Muslims are terrorists.
All terrorists are Muslims.
Hence Islam breeds terrorists.
Wiping out terrorists will not end terrorism.
Wiping out Islam will eradicate (Islamic) terrorism.

Now lets try this with another scourge.
Not all people are perverts.
All perverts are people.
Hence people breed perverts.
We are not about to wipe out all people to rid ourselves of perverts.

The flaw with the second argument is that we have not sufficiently reduced the universe of the kinds of people to a relevant argument.

Ergo, we do not universally teach perversion to people (only in public schools in liberal neighborhood).

Muslims do teach in quite an overt way that Christians and Jews and all Infidels for that matter are the enemy.

The challenge is to examine Islam to see if it can be further reduced to a relevant but smaller universe. Maybe the problem is with the Wahabbists? We don’t know for sure because we don’t hear real complaints about them from the other Muslims

If Islam doesn’t begin to examine itself in a helpful way, argument number one is going to look more useful to the western mind. Remember, the American saying, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” For the young reader, know that this referred to Native Americans and not Asian Indians. It’s up to Islam to reform itself. There is one small aspect of Islam that is useful. They know what to think of and do about perverts.

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