Cleric to promote Islam

Knight Ridder News Service ^ | Aug. 20, 2003 | Joyce M. Davis

[Dubya]

WASHINGTON - An Iranian cleric is in Washington with the blessing of his government to drum up support for an international Islamic conference to promote Islam as a religion of peace.

Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad is among a growing number of moderate Islamic scholars who are concerned about the popularity of extremists such as Osama bin Laden, especially among disillusioned Muslim youths. These extremists use some Islamic texts to recruit young men and women into terrorism.

Muslim extremists often point to Surah 2, verses 190-191, in the Quran, Islam's holy book, to justify their call for attacks on the United States and other Western targets: "And slay them where ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter."

Damad and other Islamic scholars say that militants misinterpret such verses and distort Islam. Islam has no one central authority on its teachings, and Muslim scholars differ on their interpretations of holy texts. Islam also unites more than 1 billion people of varied races, cultures and languages. Such differences will make it difficult for Muslims to agree on the religion's teachings, even if they accept Damad's call for an international conference.

Damad, the head of the Islamic studies department at the Academy of Scientists in Iran, is calling for Muslim scholars to unite to agree on a moderate, tolerant interpretation of Islamic texts, especially those that militants use to justify jihad -- holy war -- against the West.

[Dubya]

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Islamic conference to promote Islam as a religion of peace.

[Capt. Tom]

Damad, the head of the Islamic studies department at the Academy of Scientists in Iran, is calling for Muslim scholars to unite to agree on a moderate, tolerant interpretation of Islamic texts, especially those that militants use to justify jihad -- holy war -- against the West.

The Koran says what it says.

What's next for this Islamic heretic? Join the alleged Christians in the acceptance of sexual deviancy. - Tom

[fatidic]

"Islam has no one central authority on its teachings, and Muslim scholars differ on their interpretations of holy texts"
--Yet all Muslims, beginning with Mohammed, are prone to violence and hate freedom. An evil and irrational mindset permeates every believer in Allah.

[capydick]

His name should be Ayatollah Trojan Horse. The question is, who will buy into this? Just watch some RAT propose to spend some of our tax dollars to support this effort.

[Dubya]

Grassroots Action Site at GeorgeWBush.com

[Made In The USA]

If they want to prove themselves as a religion of peace, they damn sure ought to show it in their actions. How about stopping terrorists from within their ranks? How about publicly shaming persons who support terrorism? How about helping prosecute terrorists? How about building bridges with other faiths, particularly Judiasm? How about showing some humility and asking for forgiveness from all those that have been terrorised? I could go on...

The obvious point here is that until they start DOING something to convince the world it's a peaceful religion, they're just another dangerous cult.

[Dubya]

Very good way to say it. They are all hat and no cattle.

[tbpiper]

His name should be Ayatollah Trojan Horse.

The Iranian mullahs are probably sweating bullets right now, thinking, rightly that they're next on the list. This looks like an effort to buy time so they can get their nuclear weapons program up. I wouldn't believe a damn thing he said untill they start lopping heads off their own for terrorism.

[joesnuffy]

Moderate Islam is a Trojan Horse
The diversity,tolerance, and inclusivness crowd love to promote any religion
that is anti-Christ..
They love it that islam and the Wahhabi Lobby -CAIR have so many politicans in their pockets
and are building mosques and islamic centers accross America
Heck the Army Corps of Engineers famous for harrassing US citizens on their own property
is helping to build an Islamic summer camp (training area) in the heartland of America
in the north of Iowa

[capydick]

Yea, this guy's mission is to either try to buy time for his side or, try to pull the wool (further down) over as many eyes as possible.

[Dubya]

I agree with you 100% Joe.

[Dubya]

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2003 - Two separate attacks today have
claimed the lives of two Americans in Iraq.

In one incident, a soldier from the 3rd Corps Support
Command, operating out of Kuwait, was killed when his heavy
transport hauler was attacked with small-arms fire
southeast of the town of Ad Diwaniyah, U.S. Central Command
officials said.

The vehicle struck another when it came under fire,
officials said. Another 3rd COSCOM soldier was injured in
the incident as well. That soldier has been treated and
returned to duty.

In a separate incident today in Tikrit, an American
civilian contract employee working as an interpreter died
and two American soldiers were injured in an attack with
small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, according to
CENTCOM officials.

The two wounded soldiers, whose units and condition have
not been released, were taken to the Army's 28th Combat
Support Hospital in Baghdad for treatment.

Officials haven't released the names of those killed or
wounded today. However, officials note, both incidents are
under investigation.

[Monty22]

" An Iranian cleric is in Washington with the blessing of his government to drum up support for an international Islamic conference to promote Islam as a religion of..."

What's he gonna do, blow up a bus?

[Dubya]

I hope he don't blow up a bus, but he sure might.

[Dubya]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug 22, 2003 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry) DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today that Staff Sgt. Bobby C. Franklin, 38, of Mineral Bluff, Ga., was killed on Aug. 20 in Baghdad, Iraq. Franklin died of injuries sustained by an improvised explosive device. Franklin was assigned to the 210th Military Police Company, U.S. Army National Guard, Murphy N.C.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FROM MUSLIMS?

[Dubya]

There is none.

BUNCH OF KILLERS.

[Guillermo]

"Islam is a religion of peace, and we have to make sure every Infidel is slaughtered, if they refuse an opportunity to convert."

[Dubya]

Islam vs. Christianity: The Age-Old Conflict Continues
By Paul M. Weyrich
CNSNews.com Commentary
August 22, 2003

It's not just because Prem Awaes has come to this country as a legal immigrant that Americans should welcome him. No. He has a message that does not make for easy listening, but it is one that Americans, particularly those who are anxious to cast Islam as a peaceful and tolerant religion, need to hear.

Awaes has come to America thanks to the sponsorship of the Virginia Council of Churches and the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg. He had been trained as a missionary by the Salvation Army and had operated a Christian school for in Pakistan.

Because Pakistan is a Muslim republic, Awaes' work as a Christian missionary made him run afoul of the government's laws. Believers in the Christian religion are often persecuted; the police seldom do much to ensure the protection of religious minorities. Indeed, as Awaes pointed out in an interview with the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, they will often be the attackers.

Recalling the violence inflicted on his village in an attack six years ago, Awaes said: "They threw hand grenades at houses. Muslims robbed the houses and took everyone's things."

After living constantly on the run in Pakistan, Awaes fled to Asia, living there for awhile before being granted refugee status by the United Nations and finding sponsorship in the United States. He expects to be reunited with his family soon.

More Americans are coming to realize that while many Muslims lead peaceful and tolerant lives, those who truly believe that the Qur'an represents the divine words spoken by Allah will not be tolerant or peaceful toward the "People of the Book": the Qur'an's designation for Jews and Christians.

As Sura 9:29 of the Qur'an declares: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay the Jizya (a special higher tax rate) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

Many contemporary theologians depict the Crusades as Christianity's war against Islam, but they have it dead wrong. For Islam was on the march centuries before the Crusades, having conquered the Christian lands of Egypt, Syria, North Africa, and Spain by the time Pope Urban II had declared the first Crusade.

To this day, the enmity continues. Just last year, a Muslim cleric in Indonesia called upon his fellow believers to fight "belligerent infidels" who are Christians.

Christians who believe that all people are equal in dignity before God need to realize that this idea is not taught in traditional Islam. Muslims who do believe in this equality of dignity have been influenced by the West, but within the Muslim community they are typically shouted down by the more fervent and louder voices of Islamic militants.

My colleague, Robert Spencer, writes in Islam vs. Christianity: The Age-Old Conflict Continues that Americans need to wake up to the fact that not all religions or their followers share the Western values of tolerance.

Indeed, more Americans are waking up to this. A poll released last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showed 44% of the American public now understands that Islam is more likely than other religions "to encourage violence among its believers." Only a quarter of Americans realized this in March 2002.

September 11 should have alerted every American to that fact. Unfortunately, the innate American sense of trust and decency, our best values, leave us ill-equipped to confront an enemy like Islam -- just as it was difficult in 1940 for many Americans to grasp that a civilized country like Germany could discard true Christian beliefs.

Now, as the second anniversary approaches of that terrible day, conservatives need to make sure every American realizes the true nature of the threat we face from Islam's fervent believers.

We should not have to depend on al Qaeda to provide a reminder.

(Paul M. Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.)

[Dubya]

American is killed in Afghan firefight

By Matthew Pennington
The Associated Press


U.S. SOLIDERS KILLED

KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. special operations soldier was killed in action in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said Friday.

In a neighboring province, coalition troops arrested four people and seized weapons that insurgents had stored in caves.

Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Tapper, 32, of Camden County, N.J., died of injuries suffered Wednesday, the Defense Department said in Washington. The U.S. military's Central Command said Tapper was injured during a "hostile fire incident" around Orgun in Paktika province.

On Thursday, the military said a coalition soldier had been slightly wounded by a bomb while on patrol in the same region. Whether the two incidents were linked was unclear.

About 11,500 troops of the U.S.-led coalition are in Afghanistan hunting remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and its allies. Thirty-one U.S. soldiers have been killed in action in Afghanistan, and 162 have been wounded in hostilities, the U.S. military said.

Taliban attacks have increased, with a string of strikes in the south and east, including two deadly raids that targeted Afghan police in Paktika last weekend. The raids reportedly involved hundreds of guerrillas traveling in pickups from the direction of neighboring Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror.

The increased violence comes amid reports that Mullah Mohammed Omar, who led the Taliban regime ousted in 2001, has reorganized his fighters into regional commands around the country to carry out attacks.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Friday in Kabul that Pakistan must do more to keep Taliban allies from staging cross-border attacks against coalition soldiers.

McCain, with a U.S. congressional delegation visiting Afghanistan, said lawmakers will raise the issue Saturday when they meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan.

Pakistan withdrew its support for the Taliban after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has been a U.S. ally since. The Taliban had provided sanctuary to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters.