Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

In Search Of The "Peace-Loving Muslims" -- Again
Townhall.com ^ | September 30, 2007 | Austin Hill

Posted on 09/30/2007 5:33:04 AM PDT by Kaslin

What is it with the combination of being a medical doctor and a “Muslim? That’s a very legitimate question to ask, in light of a certain event that unfolded at the end of last week in Virginia.

Dr. Esam Omeish, who in addition to being an “M.D.” was, up until last Thursday, a member of the Virginia State Commission on Immigration. He also happens to be president of the Muslim American Society. By all accounts an accomplished professional and a responsible contributor to his community, Dr. Omeish’s world changed, seemingly overnight, when some very damning video was discovered at Youtube Dot Com.

Turns out that back in August of 2006, Dr. Omeish delivered a speech before an Islamic rally in Washington D.C., and made some statements that, by any objective measure, are rather troubling.

First, the part that has people really upset. Dr. Omeish is seen on the video tape saying to his Muslim audience, "...you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land."

Is this something that has been taken out of context? Sure it is. I’m only providing a partial quote here. But can we just be very candid and honest here, and admit that hearing a Muslim in America - - or anywhere else- - utter the word “jihad,” is rather unnerving?

Since the discovery of the video, Dr. Omeish has explained that this jihad flap is all a big misunderstanding. Responding to the outcry, Dr. Omeish stated “in Islam, jihad is a broad word that means constant struggle - struggling spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically - in all respects. So my words were in support of people who are resisting occupation and people who are trying to ... remove oppression from their land.”

Okay…so all us “non-Muslims” need to keep an open mind, and think in terms of a broader definition of “jihad.”

But what about some of the other rhetoric that appears on Dr. Omeish’s You Tube debut? Elsewhere on the recording Omeish states that the ‘invasion” of Lebanon and “support of the Israeli war machine” are criminal, and should end now. And that Israel is “illegally occupying Palestine.” And that the United States Congress has an “agenda” to support Israel, and that agenda is ‘controlling” U.S. foreign policy.

Oh, really? And since when has it become socially acceptable in the United States to assert conspiracy theories about the undue influence of Jews (isn‘t this as “old school“ and as offensive as saying that “the Jews control Hollywood?”). And how much further should this kind of rhetoric progress before we are legitimately concerned about “anti-Semitism?”

This incident certainly raises concerns about Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine’s vetting process, for appointing members to his state commission. But it also bares at least some resemblance to a set of circumstances that unfolded earlier this year in Europe.

Recall that on July 1 of this year, authorities in both England and Scottland reported the discovery of a terror plot involving Muslim physicians and their plans to wreak havoc at airports in both London and Glasgow. Fortunately the plot was thwarted. But it was bad enough to raise concerns at 10 Downing Street about the adequacy of background checks that were being conducted on so-called “professional immigrants” into the U.K.

Similarly, the “discovery” of Dr. Omeish’s inflamed rhetoric in front of his Muslim “brothers” should raise concerns here in the United States. It should, once again, cause Americans to question where the true, peace-loving Muslims are. It should cause us to ask why, among the voices of hostility and hatred, we are not hearing from those who call themselves by the name of “Allah,” yet are also able to agreeably disagree with those who do not share their faith tradition, and not wish them harm.

I dared to raise these questions myself, just last Friday in Washington, D.C. While guest hosting a talk show on ABC radio’s 630 WMAL (a station where I frequently “fill-in”), I asked these very same questions, even as the news of Dr. Omeish was breaking. And quite quickly, I was inundated with some very enlightening email and telephone calls, labeling me as a “Nazi,” “a pawn in the big Zionist propaganda machine,” and a “hate monger who is painting with a broad brush every Muslim on the planet.”

I hadn’t asserted anything - - I merely asked a couple of questions. If you’re going to ask the questions, be prepared to be so-labeled.

But the questions are still worth asking.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: 21stcenturycrusades; holywar; islamicimperialism; islamicsupremacists; jihadinamerica; kaine; muslimamericans; muslimlands; muslimterritory; omeish; religiousintolerance; virginia
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last
To: Kaslin
Dr. Omeish stated “in Islam, jihad is a broad word that means constant struggle - struggling spiritually, emotionally...

I understand. It's like a moral crusade.

21 posted on 09/30/2007 6:59:59 AM PDT by FreePoster (Duncan Hunter in 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
You can stop looking for "peace loving muslims" now....

"Peace loving muslim" is an oxymoron, just like "government intelligence" and "bureaucratic efficiency".

THEY DON'T EXIST!

22 posted on 09/30/2007 7:03:41 AM PDT by dirtbiker (I'm a liberal's worst nightmare: a redneck with a pickup, a library card, and a conceal carry permit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nuc1
Love your tag line. May I use the “Maple Curtain” identification?

Sure, I stole it from a radio host here in VT.

23 posted on 09/30/2007 7:09:28 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Moderate Muslim are like the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot... thought by some to possibly exist, but never really seen.


24 posted on 09/30/2007 7:12:23 AM PDT by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Beckwith
The only good Muslim is . . .

I remember when you could finish this statement in America.

With allah and his 72 virginians?

Oxymoron...peace loving mooselimb

25 posted on 09/30/2007 7:21:10 AM PDT by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages - In Honor of Standing Wolf)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I know some peace loving Iranian Muslims and they live in my community. It is interesting talking to them. They are supportive of the war and feel the US needs to be there and hope we do not pull out. They feel things would be a lot worse in the region if it weren’t for our presence.

These are the adults, who knows about the college age kids.


26 posted on 09/30/2007 7:38:09 AM PDT by Kimmers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Beckwith

I saw a Peace loving Muslim once....he was next to Bigfoot while watching the Loch Ness Monster.....


27 posted on 09/30/2007 7:39:56 AM PDT by Yorlik803 ( When are we going to draw a line a say"this far and no farther")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Straight Vermonter

True, and the more free the flow of information, the easier it will be to make this distinction. Threatening, name calling emails in response to questions or discussions of particular individuals actions impairs this important conversation.


28 posted on 09/30/2007 8:08:21 AM PDT by sgtyork (The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage. Thucydides)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Talk about Trojan Horses, we have thousands of them here.


29 posted on 09/30/2007 8:22:04 AM PDT by ANGGAPO (LayteGulfBeachClub)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Popman
Remember when Hitler wanted peace, a piece of every country in Europe. Well the Muslims just want every country in Europe. And we are next.
30 posted on 09/30/2007 8:29:15 AM PDT by ANGGAPO (LayteGulfBeachClub)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Straight Vermonter
It needs to be remembered that moslems in Israel, Iraq, Iran, and in the west are working against terrorists. We have thoughtful citizens reporting weapoms caches and roadside bombs everyday in Iraq. Let’s not paint with too broad of a brush.

In most cases, Muslims who work against terrorists are doing so only because the terrorists are killing other Muslims in Muslim lands. If the terrorists were only killing infidels, we would not find too many Muslims fighting the good fight.

31 posted on 09/30/2007 8:30:32 AM PDT by Maceman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Yorlik803
I saw a Peace loving Muslim once....he was next to Bigfoot while watching the Loch Ness Monster.....

Sadly, it all comes down to education!

Their whole teaching is that martyrdom is their reward and preparation of going to heaven to a much better life than what they have here on earth!!

Very difficulty to change that "religion"!!!

How else can you explain that 19 "intelligent" young men are willing to sacrifice their own lives and at the same time killing 3000 innocent people and willing to fly into WTC and Pentagon???

32 posted on 09/30/2007 8:37:00 AM PDT by danamco (Now, I would LOVE to hear your solution as to how to remove 12 to 30 million people from this countr)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: ANGGAPO
Ray Mendez, mole-rat specialist, quoted from the documentary Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control (1997):

“The whole concept of stability is a concept of death.
It’s part of my problem with the Bambi concept of natural history, where everything is beautiful and cute and benign. It’s not the world. The world isn’t like that at all.

You’re either ‘prey, you’re an ‘enemy’, or you’re ‘ignored’.

Now think about all the islands. Island wildlife was wiped out because people could walk up to them with a stick and hit it on the head because it’s much easier to kill something that doesn’t see you as an enemy. By the time they realized it, they were extinct.”


33 posted on 09/30/2007 8:39:30 AM PDT by weegee (NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: dirtbiker

Megadittos!

I wish the people who are adamant about searching out the ‘Peaceful Muslims’( damn, if they’re so numerous, why is the search so difficult?), would seek out the Neo-Nazi groups and find the ones who are not anti-Semites, anti black, etc.
A much smaller group- so finding the ‘good Neo-Nazi’s’ should be easier to do, wouldn’t you think?
What’s that we hear? Neo-Nazi’s are defined by Nazism, which means there aren’t any ‘good Nazi’s’???
So are all Muslims defined by Islam.
Islam’s basic tenet is ‘submit or die’. Islam is proving what it is every day on the news. Muslims are defined by Islam. One cannot embrace an evil ideology and call themselves ‘good’. Angels do not dance with Satan.


34 posted on 09/30/2007 8:50:19 AM PDT by ClearBlueSky (Whenever someone says it's not about Islam-it's about Islam. Jesus loves you, Allah wants you dead!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Peace-Loving Moose-limbs

Nam Vet

35 posted on 09/30/2007 8:55:06 AM PDT by Nam Vet (Timely reporting from Attila's right flank)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: danamco

It is the supremacist ideology that they are taught. The kufir are subhuman. In some corners they/we are talked of as the crossbreeding of pigs and monkeys.

Regardless, they see us as second class (or lower) entities. We can be bartered/sold as slaves or killed as you might slaugther a cow or fish.

In Islamic countries there is a distinction under the law between a muslim and a non-muslim.

It can be like looking for a peaceful Klansman. Robert Byrd may not be lynching anyone but he still uses the N-word with all of its intensity. He claims he can do this because there are “white n****** too”. The supremacist thoughts remain.


36 posted on 09/30/2007 8:57:39 AM PDT by weegee (NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
I hadn’t asserted anything - - I merely asked a couple of questions. If you’re going to ask the questions, be prepared to be so-labeled.

But the questions are still worth asking.

More to the point, after all the childish namecalling and non-sequiturs, the universal muslim logic, the questions remain unanswered...

37 posted on 09/30/2007 8:58:54 AM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearBlueSky

We are told that this whole culture clash can be ended if the kufir/”West” will just leave “muslim lands”.

Except this does the native non-muslim population out in the cold because THEY TOO ARE REJECTED. And if you are a muslim who converts away from the faith, you’ve committed a greater offense against Islam than one who never bowed to Mohammed. The Apostate who has left Islam “was saved” whereas the kufir never was.

And what were “muslim lands” before Mohammed The Warlord and his followers led their conquests? Is Lebanon “mulsim land”? How about Turkey? Spain? Michigan? Indonesia?


38 posted on 09/30/2007 9:03:17 AM PDT by weegee (NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Straight Vermonter
Let’s not paint with too broad of a brush.

You live with your delusions, I'll live with mine.

I am upgrading to the broadest brush made, as soon as it becomes available.

I discovered, many many years ago, that a 000 brush is a waste of time in the muslim context.

That moslems in Iran and Iraq are "working" (whatever that means) against terrorist is reassuring < /sarc >.

It is possible, you know, to be "working" against terrorists and simultaneously killing Americans.

39 posted on 09/30/2007 9:06:02 AM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
(isn‘t this as “old school“ and as offensive as saying that “the Jews control Hollywood?”).

People gave the Iranian Nutjob a pass when he made antisemitic comments at Columbia last week. They drew the distinction that he was speaking out against Zionism, not all Jews.

Except they ignored comments he made such as the ones about the "Zionist controlled media". Someone should have asked him if he accepted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as "genuine".

40 posted on 09/30/2007 9:06:51 AM PDT by weegee (NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson