From Taco Bell to terror: How a S. Floridian ended up in al-Qaida

South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | 6/12/02 | Christy McKerney and Tanya Weinberg

[browardchad]

Jos

[browardchad]

The Darul Uloom Institute in Hollywood/Pembroke Pines is the same mosque attended by the Pakistani arrested in March for plotting to blow up a power plant.

Link to that story: Pakistani Plotted to Bomb Florida Power Plants, Officials Say

[lormand]

There are way too many examples of people turning to Islam, only to become extremely hate filled, be it Nation of Islam or other forms of Islam.

Malcom X
Johnny Jihad Walker Lindh
Jose Padilla
Calipso Louis Farakhan
Kalid Mohammed...etc

Can someone name a person who converted to Islam and became a humanitarian?

[Frances_Marion]

So now cons aren't just "finding jesus" to lend themselves some modicum of repectability, they're "finding mohammed" as well...isn't everyone happy that violent criminals have found a new religion to exploit?

[Frances_Marion]

"In Florida, Padilla spent a year in jail for aggravated assault and may have been exposed to Islam in jail. However, there are no records to confirm that. Imam Rafiq Mahdi of Masjid Al-Iman mosque in Sunrise and Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne held a news conference Tuesday to announce that there was no record of Padilla attending any services."

Why is it that journalists and so many others like to play "connect-the-dots" with petty political hack pieces, but not where it really counts? From an inteview with Islamic Supreme Council president and Sufi Muslim scholar Sheiykh Hisham Kabbani, conducted by Michael Savage (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/5/11503.shtml)

SAVAGE: "Shaykh Kabbani, I read several months ago that because you've spoken out so beautifully and eloquently on behalf of the peacefulness of Islam, your life has been threatened and you are now under Secret Service guard. Is that true?"

KABBANI: "Yes, they've threatened me many times and are still threatening me and many times they have tried to do something, but I am a person who believes in God and believes in His messages, so I believe that God is protecting me and I hope that my life is not in danger because of God's protection."

"But I would like to mention something very important that perhaps not many people are hearing about. We correspond with prisoners in the prison system; they ask us about books and seek our guidance and so on. And we have been told by some of them that some chaplains in the prisons are confiscating our books, they are confiscating any kind of book about tolerance. They are only introducing certain Wahabbi books, even in the prison system. And that is against the law, that even in the prison system these books are being introduced."

[aristeides]

Padilla’s wife, Cherie Stultz, who worked with Padilla at the restaurant, also converted, taking the name Marwa. She left the job in March 1994, three months after Padilla, according to Taco Bell corporate records.

So Jose Padilla left his job in or around Dec. '93. Today's Boston Globe says Padilla disappeared after he left this job. Yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times said he went to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 90's. Surely he did not go until after his conversion to Islam, which would mean Dec. '93 is the earliest he could have done it. If he went to training camps in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan in Dec. '93 or so, he had plenty of time to become an explosives expert by 4/19/95, the date of the OKC bombing.

[RayBob]

I'll probably get some sh*t for this, but...

Shouldn't the preparation and serving of Taco Bell food, in and of itself, be considered a terrorist act?

[tsomer]

"And we (sufis) have been told by some of them that some chaplains in the prisons are confiscating our books, they are confiscating any kind of book about tolerance. They are only introducing certain Wahabbi books..."

Great point!

It bears repeating again and again and again...

Eventually enough people will understand this enemy, and how it works.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Can someone name a person who converted to Islam and became a humanitarian?

Well, there's...ummm.....errr....

Ok, I guess you made your point.

[browardchad]

Why is it that journalists and so many others like to play "connect-the-dots" with petty political hack pieces, but not where it really counts?

If they don't play the politically-correct "Islam is peace" game, they get flack from the American Muslim groups, IMO. The backlash has been mentioned by more than one writer, and I imagine it's much worse on TV, as evidenced by Lou Dobbs' being blasted from all sides about his "miltant Islamics" comment on CNN. I think, in general, we underestimate the influence of these groups, not only with the press, but with politicians -- including those Congress and the White House.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Shouldn't the preparation and serving of Taco Bell food, in and of itself, be considered a terrorist act?

I think the fact that people are willingly purchasing the "food" keeps it from being a terrorist act. However, if you were to prepare the "food" and hand it out free of charge, then that could be considered a terrorist act.

[Utopia]

Can someone name a person who converted to Islam and became a humanitarian?

Mohammed Ali

[windcliff]

Cat Stevens?

[bulldawg]

It was that evil chihuahua that made him do it.

[texasbluebell]

He was involved in a gangland murder when he was 13, according to sources. Just shy of his 15th birthday, Padilla and five others attacked and robbed three men in a Chicago street, records show. The attack left one man fatally stabbed. At 18, Padilla was charged with punching a man in the face when he tried to stop him from stealing a doughnut at a Chicago restaurant.

It certainly does irk me to no end, to see interviews on tv with his former neighbors who say he was such a nice young man, and his lawyer (who knows his criminal record) who said he was so gentle. Maybe the neighbors are terrified of being targets of current gang members, but it just is maddening to hear the swill about him.

[texasbluebell]

"But I would like to mention something very important that perhaps not many people are hearing about. We correspond with prisoners in the prison system; they ask us about books and seek our guidance and so on. And we have been told by some of them that some chaplains in the prisons are confiscating our books, they are confiscating any kind of book about tolerance. They are only introducing certain Wahabbi books, even in the prison system. And that is against the law, that even in the prison system these books are being introduced."

This should be shouted over and over again, till more people hear it!

[Frances_Marion]

"If they don't play the politically-correct "Islam is peace" game, they get flack from the American Muslim groups, IMO. The backlash has been mentioned by more than one writer, and I imagine it's much worse on TV, as evidenced by Lou Dobbs' being blasted from all sides about his "miltant Islamics" comment on CNN. I think, in general, we underestimate the influence of these groups, not only with the press, but with politicians -- including those Congress and the White House."

We all know that Lou Dobbs was right on target, and if Bush had had Lou Dobbs as an advisor he would have less of a pandora's box on his hands. But Bush won't say this is a war on ISLAMIC terrorists, because "our friends the Saudis" and the PC knee-jerkers would've gone apes**t. You're exactly right, groups like CAIR and AMA (Amer Muslim Assoc?) have much sway, and get much Wahhabi money with which to hijack the mouthpiece...and all the while, the U.S. media and Katie Courics hold them in such serious esteem with slack-drawed awe and revery. CAIR has even gotten Daniel Pipes banned from the supposedly "fair and balanced" and tax payer funded NPR, all because they don't agree with the spotlight he shines on the islamofascists. Because Lou Dobbs has dared to do the same, he too is being targeted.

[lormand]

Humanitarian

having concern for or helping to improve the welfare and happiness of people.
of or pertaining to ethical or theological humanitarianism.
pertaining to the saving of human lives or to the alleviation of suffering: Example: a humanitarian crisis.

This definition is from Websters.

Mohammed Ali is a traitor to the US and is an insult to all freedom loving Americans and those who respect the US military. Today, Ali is simply a puppet of his handlers who are trying to put a soft image on a person who turned his back on America in the name of Islam. Ali's mental condition is severely damaged. He just does what he is told to do.

Cat Stevens? Can you name something he has done in the humanitarian realm to convince me otherwise? I'm not too proud to be corrected.

[TexKat]

If he went to training camps in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan in Dec. '93 or so, he had plenty of time to become an explosives expert by 4/19/95, the date of the OKC bombing.

Thank you aristeides, some try to treat the American people as if we are such dummies.

[ohioman]

You are correct. Taco Bell's food should be considered as a terrible form of Gastro-Terrorism.

[windcliff]

I caught a glimpse of a Cat Steven's special on either VH1 or MTV that showed him giving books and free schooling to Muslim children in England and other countries. Who knows what is in the curriculum though.