Posted on 06/13/2006 4:51:14 AM PDT by Buffettfan
US Marines Build Shrine To Islam
By Paul Sperry
FrontPageMagazine.com
June 13, 2006 http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22845
We are at war with militant Islam, but you wouldn't know it from the Pentagon, which is busy erecting a shrine to Islam just five short years after Islamic terrorists destroyed a good chunk of its own building and killed more than 100 of its occupants. Worse, it's consulting on the project with a Wahhabi-educated cleric posing as a moderate.
Last week, military brass -- along with representatives from the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations -- dedicated the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines as a symbol of the military's "religious tolerance" and "respect" for the faith the enemy uses to attack us. Already, plans are in the works to build by 2009 a bigger mosque at the Marine base in Quantico so Muslim service members can have a "proper place" to worship, and one that "honors their religious heritage," officials say, not realizing that the mosque can also be used by the enemy to build a Fifth Column inside the Marines.
The idea for the center came from Navy Lt. Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam, a young, smooth-talking Muslim chaplain, who wanted a permanent place of worship -- and "education" -- for the growing number of soldiers who are interested in -- and converting to -- Islam.
Quantico has only 24 Muslims on base, so the mosque -- the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps -- will also serve to introduce and draw other Marines to the faith. Large posters explaining how "Muslims love and respect Jesus" (but only as a minor prophet and not the son of God, which they view as blasphemous to Allah) line the inside of the white building. This is one way imam Saifulislam -- known on base simply as "Saif" -- bridges the faiths to reach out to Christian soldiers. Blacks are particularly susceptible to his pitch.
Apparently, whatever Saifulislam wants, he gets -- even at the terrorist prison camp at Gitmo, where he was first assigned after 9-11. There, he recommended that al-Qaida detainees be served halal meals -- including traditional dates and lamb -- prepared according to Islamic dietary law. The Gitmo menu now boasts 113 Muslim-appropriate meals for the benefit of finicky terrorist tummies.
That's not all. Thanks to Saifulislam's advice, our enemy now wakes to the sound of Muslim chaplains calling them to prayer instead of barking dogs or guards, who are now trained in Muslim sensitivity. Also thanks to Saifulislam, detainees can brush up on jihad by reading paperback Pentagon-issued copies of the Quran. They can even finger prayer beads and wear makeshift turbans and skull caps.
While at Gitmo, the Navy imam privately counseled al-Qaida prisoners in their native tongues of Urdu and Arabic. "I must give hope for them to cope," Saifulislam said. How thoughtful of him.
It turns out Saifulislam also ministered to Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a fellow Muslim charged with desertion, just before he went AWOL again last year. Hassoun deserted his post in Iraq where he served as an Arabic translator. After he was captured, and after he met with the Quantico imam, he deserted again.
Saifulislam is clean-cut with a Colgate smile. The Pentagon gives him great latitude because he claims to be moderate.
However, Saifulislam studied Islam at a hardline Wahhabi school in Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9-11. And one of his mentors is Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. Federal court records allege he gave at least $50,000 in jihad money "to support suicide bombings" in Israel.
Saifulislam, born in Bangladesh, insists he is only a Sunni Muslim and does not adhere to the faith's more orthodox and militant Wahhabi sect practiced by Osama bin Laden and his ilk. Still, his pro-jihad academic background should raise flags at the Pentagon.
Instead, it's giving him a permanent taxpayer-supported platform from which to convert grunts to Islam. With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy texts the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of war. This is tantamount to the Marines setting up a Mein Kampf reading room during WWII.
The timing of the dedication ceremony is ironic by half. As the deputy secretary of defense and Marine commandant respectfully removed their shoes to enter the mosque and intoned pleasant PC platitudes about being one big happy "family" with Muslims, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of 17 Muslim men who had allegedly plotted to explode fertilizer-based bombs at important sites in Canada. Their plans also called for attacking parliament and even beheading the prime minister. Almost half of them had attended the same mosque in Toronto.
Several military officers chose to sit out the Quantico ceremony than hear deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England mouth "salaams" to the Muslims in attendance. They think the mosque is misplaced, and don't trust its imam.
"I have great concern about this young Muslim chaplain," said Lt. Comm. Gary P. Stewart, also a Navy chaplain. "I don't trust him."
The Pentagon's over-the-top gesture is only the latest sign that political correctness is running amok inside the military. Chief chaplains for the Navy, Army and Air Force routinely meet with top leaders from the Islamic Society of North America for PC powwows, even though ISNA is a Saudi-backed group with ties to terrorists. No matter, the Pentagon distributes ISNA literature on Islam and Muslims to help increase troops' "sensitivity" toward Islam.
The first principle of war is knowing your enemy and what motivates him. The PC-addled Pentagon seems to have forgotten that rule. Click Here to support Frontpagemag.com
It will look like Mithraism looks today.
Much as I'm a Rummy fan, I don't approve of this at ALL.
Bleh! I work across the street from this newly dedicated building.
It's my understanding that most of the Muslims are foreign officers attending the Marine Corps University or EWS.
It's one thing to give them space to worship it's another to build a new Mosque.
Where does it stop?
The same way Ferdinand and Isabella did on 2 January 1492: by destroying the cult of Mohammed. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit will bring the followers of Islam back into the Christian fold.
See also Reconquista.
I'm looking forward to the 20/20, Dateline, 48 hours, 60 mins on this.
Thank you for rescuing me from that with rational and logical comments.
I can't believe how some people treat our troops. They deserve far better then this kind of crap.
Are you serious there CWO?
Do you see any conflict, any conflict whatsoever, with the following line out of Amendment 1 of the BoR/Constitution and Islam and the Koran?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Here's a clue. The Koran states the following as a mere sampling of much, much more:
[2.193] And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah
[4.95] The holders back from among the believers, not having any injury, and those who strive hard in Allah's way with their property and their persons are not equal
[5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
[8.39] And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do.
[9.5] So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
[9.11] But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith
[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
Now, do you see any conflict there CWO with the First Amendment, ... anything, ... anything at all?!
Yes, I see conflict. The conflict is that you would treat U.S. Freakin Marines as third rate citizens! They deserve far better then you.
Boy, did I call you, didn't I. Hit and run. You bitch about me not answering your question, I answer it, then you begin your 5-year-old girl routine.
We're finished here. It's tough to discuss with rocks.
I'd direct you to post 71, but since you have so much difficulty simply being intellectually honest, it won't do much good.
We're finished here. So much for discussing ideas. Back to DU with ya.
They certainly do.
It's bad enough they have to deal with ignorance from the media, but we don't need it in our faces on here as well.
It sure is. WHAT are they thinking? So does the Air Force Academy in Colorado get to build a big ol' church on their grounds now? And while we're at it, sheepdips at Quantico, if you're going to be so pathetically PC, I want a synagogue built right next to that mosque.
Maybe you too would like to take a crack at post #71.
Can I get anyone supporting this to address those points?
I imagine not.
Excellent public relations. Maybe "Time" and "Newsweek" will run a cover story. Not.
Any time a Mosque is damaged, the marines should come in and restore it...
and "bug" the hell out it ,literally.
I'm telling you what I know - mostly foreign officers attend....very few US military.
Sure gives the US Muslim chaplain leverage for promoting conversions, etc...
Tell my why a Mosque should be built (on a military base) when they now have a space dedicated to meet and there are so few attending.
I really object to a new facility when there's adequate space being provided.
They sacrifice so much in their daily lives and now you people would even deny them the right to worship the religion of their choice because it isn't your choice. Where in the hell has the spirit of American gone?
Yes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.