Protestors hang Bin Laden effigy outside Culver City mosque (CA)

OC Register ^ | Sep 11, 2006 | ANDREW DALTON

[TheDon]

My summary: About 100 protestors supported the United American Committee rally across the street from the King Fahd Mosque, during which they hung Osama Bin Laden in effigy.

[TheDon]

The story is under the "State News", under the bottom left side of the page, in the "Top California Headlines" section.

[goldfinch]

Hope they weren't carrying any American flags. Harassing people at their house of worship is repulsive and NOT one of the values our country stands for.

[cripplecreek]

Harassing people at their house of worship is repulsive and NOT one of the values our country stands for.

How can it be harrassment? Muslims in this country hate Bin Laden don't they?

[RightWingAtheist]

I agree. It'd be no different than burning Gerry Adams in effigy in front of a Catholic church, or (even though he's just a jerk, and not a terrorist) burning Fred Phelps in effigy in front of a Baptist church.

[rface]

Protestors hang Bin Laden effigy outside Culver City mosque
ANDREW DALTON Associated Press

CULVER CITY, Calif. - Activists hanged an effigy of Osama Bin Laden across the street from a Southern California mosque Sunday to protest radical Islam on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

With a crowd of about 100 people shouting "Remember 9-11!" and "No more Jihad!" two men on the back of a pickup truck slipped a noose around the neck of a dummy wearing a Bin Laden mask and strung it up, while the crowd pelted the effigy with shoes.

The protest was organized by the United American Committee, a group that says it promotes awareness of internal threats facing America.

About 70 counter-protesters described the King Fahd Mosque as a peaceful center for area Muslims and yelled "racists go home!" during the ritual. A group of clergy joined hands with some of the mosque's worshippers and stood in a circle in front of the mosque.

"I think it's crazy," said mosque spokesman Usman Madha. "We have never encouraged extremism. We were the first mosque that condemned the Sept.11 atrocities and we kicked out a few people that protested that condemnation."

The United American Committee claimed the mosque supports radical Islam. A report from the Sept. 11 commission said investigators believed two of the hijackers had visited the mosque after arriving in the United States in 2000.

"We are here in love, we are here for the Muslim people," said Peter James, a member of the United American Committee who was dressed in a black bathrobe to resemble an executioner. "We want to give you some free PR. This is a chance to distance yourself from terror."

There were several heated exchanges as protesters crossed the street to confront one another, but no violence and no arrests, Culver City police said.

In 2003, Jewish Defense League activist Earl Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb the mosque along with the office of San Diego congressman Darrell Issa. Krugel was killed in prison last year.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I'm very anti-Muslim, and I used to live 1 town over from Culver City. I'm not a supporter of this type of activity. If Muslims want to burn flags and effigies, that's fine for them. I'd prefer we not do it.

[rface]

.....two men on the back of a pickup truck slipped a noose around the neck of a dummy wearing a Bin Laden mask...

[ivy]

The problem with your analogy is that most Catholics don't support terrorism, and most Baptists aren't part of the "God gates fags" crowd.

Now Muslims, otoh, are virtually all for Shariah law, and I can pretty much guarante you that Muslims who congregate at the "King Fahd" mosque are of the Wahhabist bent, which is for the strictest kind of Shariah law.

[brytlea]

Hmmm both of those sounds like good ideas too...
susie

[brytlea]

Freedom of expression, especially political expression is EXACTLY what our country stands for, like it or not.
susie

[goldfinch]

How can it be harrassment? Muslims in this country hate Bin Laden don't they?

People should be able to go to their house of worship without being confronted by people blaming them for an action they had no direct part in. If you want to burn bin Laden, do it at anti-war rallies...not at places of worship.

And no. I am not Muslim. I believe it is a false religion created by a false prophet. I think Muslims should make greater efforts to integrate and to denounce terrorism. But protesting in front of a mosque does more harm than good.

[RightWingAtheist]

Unless you have met every single Muslim in the world, you can't say that they're all for sharia law. I've known plenty who aren't, and who strongly believe in the Western belief of religious tolerance and pluralism. Don't misunderstand me; I fully realize we are up against a dangerous enemy, and I have met Muslims who still haven't understood that in deciding to emigrate to the West, they must choose to live according to its laws and accept the fact that they have to live amongst people who are different from them. But we can't stoop to the "they're all like that" attitude if we're going to win.

[gaijin]

I'm shocked, mystified, and disappointed the mosque congregation didn't come out and JOIN the demonstration!

They should have seen it as a lucky coincidence, and a CHANCE to show how much they abhor extremism.

Cuz they're NOT.

Riiiight........?

[goldfinch]

Freedom of expression, especially political expression is EXACTLY what our country stands for, like it or not. susie

Yes. I am in favor of political free speech...and I am not suggesting that burning a bin Laden in front of a mosque should be illegal. That, however, does not make it a good thing to do. There is nothing to be gained by harassing Muslims at their house of worship. You are not going to change any minds...and the only people you will attract to your cause are the KKK type.

[Truthsearcher]

This was not a random mosque. This is a mosque where 2 of the 9/11 perps came from, and a mosque that is til this day preaching the same hateful anti-American ideology that produced them. There is no more appropriate place in the U.S. for such a protest.

[DTogo]

ping!

[cripplecreek]

My great grandparents who were German immigrants would have asked to join in on burning hitler in effigy.

[ivy]

The Koran and Hadiths all call for Shariah law.

Now, if a Muslim isn't for Shariah law, then they are going against what their religious texts say, making them a MINO (Muslim in name only).

Saudi Arabia funds thousands of Mosques in the West, and you can bet your bottom dollar the Imams employed by these Mosques preach Wahhabism.

[brytlea]

I disagree, however you have a right to your opinion, which is what makes this such a great country! :)

[goldfinch]

They should have seen it as a lucky coincidence, and a CHANCE to show how much they abhor extremism.

That's right. They should have walked over and joined a extremist crowd yelling at them in front of their house of worship. But then, you would not want them to do that. What you really want is to demonize them.

I just hope these 'protesters' didn't drape themselves in the American flag.

[radar101]

A man uses a shoe to beat an Osama bin Laden effigy that has just been hung, an event organized by the United American Committee, across the street from the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles. Protesters against the hanging can be seen in the background. Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

Ted Hayes, with the United American Committee , holds the rope to a noose that holds an Osama bin Laden effigy, across the street from the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

[2ndClassCitizen]

It was across the street.

osama yo mama should be hung and burned across the street from every mosque in America. The good muslims should join in the celebration.

[magslinger]

My great grandparents who were German immigrants would have asked to join in on burning hitler in effigy.

My grandfather would probably have steered clear of the demonstration. OTOH three sons in uniform speaks louder than attendance at a demonstration.

[JOHANNES801]

Read their book,they are all the enemy if they beleive what is in the koran.

[goldfinch]

This was not a random mosque. This is a mosque where 2 of the 9/11 perps came from, and a mosque that is til this day preaching the same hateful anti-American ideology that produced them. There is no more appropriate place in the U.S. for such a protest.

Thank you for trying to shine some light on the subject. I strongly disagree with your statement that there is no more appropriate place for your protest. What are you trying to accomplish with your protest? Do you think your method is/will be effective? If so, why?

[nyconse]

I don't know. Sometimes I think it does some good to shake these people up. They think we are helpless against them because of our western ways...I don't know. I keep thinking about a recent post where Mulsims at an airport deliberately acted suspiciously so they could scream racism and allow some questionable 'friends' to get by security while security was tied up with them. If Muslims in this country thought their radical 'brothers' endangered them by their actions, they might turn them in more often.

[TheDon]

I've never seen this many apologists for terrorists on a FREEPer thread before. Did CAIR infiltrate?

[gaijin]

Puzzling, isn't it?

Yesterday there was some push-over crying to the rafters for the US to pack up it's bags, and charge off to Sudan to intervene. His reason was, "then, muslims will really LIKE us".

Too mushy to sound like an actual freeper, right?

I mean...WHO CARES if they like us?

They're killing us, and we're worried if the china is chipped for an impending tea with them.

[goldfinch]

I've never seen this many apologists for terrorists on a FREEPer thread before. Did CAIR infiltrate?

Terrorist apologists? No one on this thread made any apologies for terrorists. However, some people on this thread (including me) do not see anything admirable about holding protests outside a house of worship...even a religion we disagree with.

Why do you think this kind of 'protest' is a good idea?

[s_asher]

Naw, they just don't like to degrade themselves to mobocracy.

Some might cheer at an angry mob beating up muslims and burning down the mosque today. But once it's made a precedent and spread to become acceptable behavior, you won't like the end result when angry mobs switch targets.

The muslims themselves make good examples of this. Look at this arabs and iranians, they're very passionate and prone to angry mob mentality, putting emotion before reason and truth. Would you want to live in a society like that?

[Luigi Vasellini]

My only gripe is that you didnt express your freedom of speech to the wahabbi lobby on Friday afternoon when that terrorist training center was packed full!!!

[Truthsearcher]

I wasn't in LA and was not part of the protest. But as for what was trying to accomplish. How about a show of how strongly we feel about OBL and his ideology.

These are the people who think they will defeat us because they are committed and we are weak-willed. Demonstrations like this is intended to show them the error of that assumption.

[Chaguito]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1699146/posts

[munin]

lol If you talk to the demonstrators, next time could they do the burning inside the mosque?

[MattinNJ]

....and so it begins.

[RonDog]

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[TheDon]

Yeah, these folks are realllllly pushing it to the limit aren't they?

[TheDon]

What's ironic, is the demonstrators would have been thrilled if folks from the mosque would have joined the demonstrators. That they didn't is, I'm sure, more due to their fear of the demonstrators, than their feelings for OBL.

[TheDon]

LOL! Here's your mob.

[TheDon]

And here's your innocent muslim counter demonstrators.

[gaijin]

No one is looking at the after-action photos: they show muslims and people holding Iranian flags, and those people are clearly PERSIAN.

There is NO RACIAL PREDJUDICE apparent in "the mob".

People here are just deciding they are intolerant.

Hey, if people should demonstrate in front of the PCR embassy after Tiannamen, does that make them INTOLERANT?

after-action photos:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1699146/posts

[Jorge]

That's right. They should have walked over and joined a extremist crowd yelling at them in front of their house of worship. But then, you would not want them to do that. What you really want is to demonize them.

Exactly.....

[gaijin]

Muslims at the anti-OBL rally cowering, scared, and obviously having a terrible time amidst the intolerance of red-neck bigots:

[FreeAtlanta]

House of worship, or war rooms?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I have no problem with "shaking them up". Frankly, I have no problem with deporting them or even killing them when directly warranted. But does this effigy-burning activity achieve "shaking them up"? I think not, in fact, exactly the opposite. Americans are Christians, Presbyterians, Jews, Baptists, Catholics, etc etc. Yes, and in exquisitely rare cases, even Muslims. We are divided in that sense; the obvious difference being, we in the overwhelming majority of cases respect (or at least ignore) each others' beliefs and religious practices. I think we in this country have to understand (and by "understand", I mean "be aware of", not "give credence to") the notion that these folks pray 5x a day to what is, to them, their unifying deity. They are therefore likely more unified than we will ever be, like it or not. To us, it is a venal sub-religion, probably better described as a cult; and seemingly ALL of the most murderous and vile wretches who mean to kill or harm us anywhere in the world are from this so-called faith. All I am saying is that to my way of thinking, it doesn't do us any good to drive them further into their "faith", which is what this type of thing IMO does. It shows that when given the opportunity, the freedom of speech we cherish over the repression universally present in every one of their native countries can degenerate into the same type of raucous horses**t that goes on in their own countries, many of which are truly miserable crapholes. So on that basis...I'd just as soon not have it happen. Please note that I'm absolutely not advocating kumbaya sessions and diversity training: that's THEIR job to fit in with US, just like it would be the job of ANY alien to fit in (or clash) with ANY culture they decided to transplant themselves to.

[Scotsman will be Free]

You are right. That is a terrible thing to do. To forestall such heinous activity we should immediately deport all muslims. They are the enemy. End of story.

[Ladycalif]

One guy with an Iranian Flag helped to hang Osama and the little girl threw shoes at him.

[ViLaLuz]

Sorry, Fred Phelps is not Baptist, let alone Christian.

[muawiyah]

Phelps doesn't belong to any Baptist convention. I'd suggest the only place to hang him in effigy would be in front of his own church ~ not someone else's.