Posted on 01/18/2003 1:02:17 PM PST by conservativecorner
A spokesman for a pro-Muslim group offered greetings to tens of thousands of anti-war protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. on Saturday in the name of the "Mujahadeen," a term that has come to be closely associated with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
Dr. Ghazi Khaksan, spokesman for the for the Council on American Islamic Relations, took to the podium near the end of the rally to read a poem packed with criticism of the Bush administration.
"Tell Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Tony Blair to stop colonizing Middle East oil through blood and warfare," he told the crowd. "We're all against weapons of mass destruction. But let's compare. Who has them stockpiled in the Middle East - only Israel, I declare."
Near the end of his poem, Khaksan announced, "I bring to you salaams and greetings from the Mujahadeen at CAIR," an apparent reference to the Council on American Islamic Relations, whose spokesman Ibrahim Hooper defended bin Laden two months ago as being no worse than Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Websters Collegiate dictionary defines Mujahadeen as: "a person who wages jihad, Islamic guerilla fighters esp. in the Middle East."
In December top Al Qaeda official Sulaiman Abu Ghaith invoked the Mujahadeen to threaten further terrorist attacks on the West.
"The Christian-Jewish alliance will not, God willing, be safe from attacks by the mujahadeen," he warned, according to the New York Post. "The alliance's installations and facilities everywhere will be subject to attacks."
After his reference to the Mujahadeen, Khaksan added somewhat incongruously, "Ten million Muslims and Arab American, like you, are truly patriotic and deeply care for America's welfare."
In a November interview with WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, Hooper defended bin Laden, saying he were no worse than Falwell and Robertson.
"They're the equivalent of our Osama bin Laden," he charged, before asking rhetorically, "Why did Osama bin Laden send planes into the World Trade Center? What possible reason? The only thing you can think of is that he wanted to create a permanent divide between the Muslim world and the West. And that's the same thing these guys want to do."
Hooper then added, "Given the right circumstance, (Falwell and Robertson) would do the same in the opposite direction."
Minutes before Khaksan offered greetings from the bin Laden connected group, Imam Mousa Masjid Al-Islam called for the overthrow of the U.S. government, before leading the peace protesters in an Islamic chant.
"It's revolution time, brothers and sisters. We gotta get rid of this system," Al-Islam said. "The people of the world (are) waiting on us," he added, warning that the world's problems "will never be solved as long as we have these greedy murderers and imperialists like George Bush and George Bush, Jr. sitting in the White House "
Then the Imam led the crowd in an Islamic chant specifically addressed to what he called "the 1.5 billion people in the world" who would understand its meaning.
"When I say Takbia, you say Alhaam hu Akhbar," he exhorted the protesters, who repeated the phrase several times. It could not be immediately learned what the Imam's coded message to the world's Muslims meant.
Other luminaries addressing the anti-U.S. demonstration included Black Panther-turned New York City Councilman Charles Barron, Democratic Congressman John Conyers and presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton.
I have just finished watching local news and NBC news coverage of the event. No mention of the sponsors, the Muslim greetings, the call for revolution.
Worst of all, they're giving crowd totals for all cities lumped together. They're makiing it sound like there are hundreds of thousands in every city.
These people have every right to be stupid, but it's appalling what the media is doing. I usually don't watch (which is a right that I hope more of us exercise!) but I couldn't resist seeing what the coverage was.
Legally yes. Morally no. (See Jefferson and founders for more info.)
That said, these protestors are fruitcakes.
Beyond Clueless.
"Wouldn't it be something if Martin Sheen could be our president in real life?" – Allison Janney, West Wing co-star.
Oh my. Even a lobotomy wouldn't help - she wouldn't notice.
Anyone know anything about this Clymer? I googled him, but since these ragheads and wanna-bes all recycle the same three names, I didn't find anything.
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