Fox News:

Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation’s Armed Forces at home.

Soldier of Allah: Nidal Hasan Malik

Thanks to Vlad Tepes for making the vid available:

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.

Thirteen people were killed and dozens more wounded at Fort Hood in 2009, and the number of alleged plots targeting the military has grown significantly since then. Lawmakers said there have been 33 plots against the U.S. military since Sept. 11, 2001, and 70 percent of those threats have been since mid-2009.  Major Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, who is being held for the attacks, allegedly was inspired by radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in late September. The two men exchanged as many as 20 emails, according to U.S. officials, and Awlaki declared Hasan a hero.

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the military has become a “direct target of violent Islamist extremism” within the United States.

“The stark reality is that the American service member is increasingly in the terrorists’ scope and not just overseas in a traditional war setting,” Lieberman told Fox News before the start of Wednesday’s hearing.

In June, two men allegedly plotted to attack a Seattle, Wash., military installation using guns and grenades. In July, Army Pvt. Naser Abdo was accused of planning a second attack on Fort Hood. And in November, New York police arrested Jose Pimentel, who alleged sought to kill service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both Pimentel and Abdo also allegedly drew inspiration from al-Awlaki and the online jihadist magazine Inspire, which includes a spread on how to “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”

Rep. Peter King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said military service members are “symbols of America’s power, symbols of America’s might.”

“And if they (military personnel) can be killed, then that is a great propaganda victory for al Qaeda,” King told Fox News.

King said there is also evidence that extremists have joined the services.

“There is a serious threat within the military from people who have enlisted who are radical jihadists,” King said. “The Defense Department is very concerned about them. They feel they’re a threat to the military both for what they can do within the military itself and also because of the weapons skills they acquire while they’re in the military.”

The witnesses testifying before the joint session include Paul N. Stockton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense; Jim Stuteville, U.S. Army senior adviser for counterintelligence operations and liaison to the FBI; Lt. Col. Reid L. Sawyer, director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and Darius Long, whose son, Army Pvt. William Andrew Long, was shot and killed at an Arkansas military recruitment center in 2009.

A second private was also injured in the Arkansas attack. Both victims had just finished basic training and had not been deployed. They were outside the Arkansas recruitment center when the shooter opened fire from a passing truck. The shooter, Carlos Bledsoe, pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this year.

In a letter to the court, Bledsoe said he carried out the attack on behalf of al Qaeda in Yemen – the group that was behind the last two major plots targeting the U.S. airline industry.

“My faith in government is diminished. It invents euphemisms … Little Rock is a drive by and Fort Hood is just workplace violence. The truth is denied,” Long testified.

King said the web is the driver of the new digital jihad.

“It enables people — rather than having to travel to Afghanistan to learn about jihad or to be trained, they can do it right over the Internet,” he said. “And this is a growing role.”

And while Awlaki and his colleague Samir Khan, who was behind the magazine Inspire, were killed in a CIA-led operation in September, King warned against overconfidence that al Qaeda in Yemen was done.

“This is a definite short-term victory for us. There’s no doubt they are going to regroup, that there will be others who will be providing Internet data, inspiration to jihadists in this country, instructions on how to make bombs,” he said.

While King was heavily criticized, in some quarters, for launching his hearings 10 months ago on homegrown terrorism, the congressman said the joint session shows the threat is legitimate, and recognized as such by other members of Congress.

“To me it’s a validation of what I’ve been trying to do all year,” King emphasized. “There’s a definite threat from Islamic radicalization in various parts of our society, including within the military, and we can’t allow political correctness to keep us from exposing this threat for what it is.”
There is more, there is always more:

Rep. Darrell Issa is launching a congressional investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration following claims that the agency helped drug cartels launder money — an operation the lawmaker said bears striking resemblance to the failed “Fast and Furious” anti-gunrunning probe. 

New York Times can’t figure out Fort Hood jihadist’s motive

Neither can Army Chief of Staff General George Casey:

we have to be careful, because we can’t jump to conclusions now based on little snippets of information that come out.” Rather than acknowledge the obvious, General Casey was concerned instead that undue speculation could “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers,” and that while Hasan’s action was a tragedy, “it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well.” (Source)

“Diversity” is Deadly:

Diversity as a casualty would be an “even greater tragedy” than the casualties of this act of war on American soil. I cannot believe what I am reading. It was not a tragedy, it was an terrorist attack. This is Obama’s military command….

Luis Farraklan’s got it all worked out:  the Jooozzz are to blame!

“It is because, my dear brothers and sisters, Islam was making so much progress in the United States that those anti-Islamic forces are trying to stem the tide of the progress of Islam.  Anti-Islamic forces, and some members of the Jewish community, and some members of the Christian community, who have united to condemn Islam and to speak ill of our Prophet Muhammad…..(MEMRI)

• U.S. Army General: Lack of diversity in Army is worse than massmurders …

It’s not enough for them that he shouted “Allahu akbar!” before he started shooting. After all, they know that Islam is a Religion of Peace™ and that jihad is an interior spiritual struggle. “At Hearing on Fort Hood Attack, Few Clues,” by James C. McKinley, Jr., for the New York Times, October 15 (thanks to JW)

“…the official investigation was chaired by two retired Clinton appointees whose dedication to enforcing extreme multicultural policies and hiring quotas suggested a fix from the get go.” (Source)

• Allahu Akbar! Evidence of Fort Hood Killer Shrink’s Shooting Rampage Destroyed
• Business as usual: The whitewashing of jihad by the MSM. See here and here. (Michelle Malkin)
• Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror.
• Word from News Commentary: The Future Life of Major Hasan

Fort Hood jihad: Army officer ordered destruction of video evidence

Can’t have a video circulating of a Muslim shouting “Allahu akbar” and murdering people, now, can we? That would be “Islamophobic”!

“Soldier says ordered to delete Fort Hood videos,” by Angela K. Brown and Michael Graczyk for Associated Press, October 15 (thanks to JW- CNN has the story too)

FORT HOOD, Texas – A soldier who recorded the terror of last year’s deadly shooting rampage in Fort Hood using his cell phone was ordered by an officer to delete both videos, a military court heard Friday. Under cross examination, Pfc. Lance Aviles told an Article 32 hearing that his noncommissioned officer ordered him to destroy the two videos on Nov. 5, the same day a gunman unleashed a volley of bullets inside a processing center at the Texas Army post.

“Can’t have a video circulating of a Muslim shouting “Allahu akbar” and murdering people, now, can we? That would be “Islamophobic”!”  Something tells me there’s a lot more to this story. Could it be that the noncommissioned officer was a fellow Mohammedan?

The footage could have been used as evidence at the military hearing to decide if Maj. Nidal Hasan should stand trial in the shootings. The 40-year-old American-born Muslim has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Twenty-nine witnesses over three days have appeared either in a courtroom or by video link. Prosecutors have not said whether they’ll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Aviles described how he was waiting for medical tests at the center with his battle buddy, Pfc. Kham Xiong, when he heard someone shout. Then the gunshots began.

He said he saw a tanned, balding man wearing an Army combat uniform and carrying a black pistol.

“I saw smoke coming from the pistol,” Aviles told the court.

The pair threw themselves to the floor. Aviles turned to his left to check Xiong and discovered his friend had been shot.

“His head was facing the left and a shard of his skull was sticking up,” Aviles said.

Xiong, a 23-year-old father of three from St. Paul, Minn., was among the 13 who died in the attack. Aviles, the 20th person to provide testimony at the hearing, was not hurt.

Addressing the court via video link from Afghanistan, Spc. Megan Martin said she had been waiting to take medical tests when saw a man to her left stand up and shout “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great!” in Arabic — then start firing a weapon….

One is NOT required to follow an illegal order.

Not only that, but it is ILLEGAL to obey an illegal order. The UCMJ (Unified Code of Military Justice) actually defines what constitutes an illegal order, and destruction of records and evidence is one of them.

Update:

• Obama  halts prosecution of alleged USS Cole bomber (WaPo)

Fort Hood jihadist trial: he cried “Allahu akbar” and opened fire

“I was wondering why he would say ‘Allahu Akbar.’” Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford said….

Not that his murders had anything to do with Islam, of course. “Sgt. shot five times fingers Hasan as Ft. Hood gunman,” from AP

The Trial of the Killer Shrink Hasan Malik

In the weeks before the shootings, Hasan is accused of having exchanged e-mails with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen with ties to al-Qaida. Some witnesses at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center said the shooter yelled, “Allahu Akbar!” (My God is greatest) before opening fire on soldiers getting last-minute health checks before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Oct. 12) — The evidence hearing in the case of an Army psychiatrist accused of murdering 13 people at Fort Hood last year has been put on hold for at least a day while defense lawyers prepare a request to have the proceedings delayed until next month. (AOL News)

Guantanamo detainee goes on trial in NY court

NEW YORK – A man accused of helping to build a truck bomb used in a 1998 terror attack on a U.S. embassy was a member of an al-Qaida cell that was determined to kill Americans, a federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday, but a defense lawyer said the Tanzanian man was duped.

Prosecutors were going forward without their top witness after Kaplan ruled last week that the government couldn’t use him. The judge found that the man’s testimony that he sold explosives to Ghailani must be excluded from the trial because the government only learned about him after Ghailani was interrogated at a secret overseas CIA camp where harsh interrogations occurred.    (AP)

WaPo Farms Out 10th Anniversary USS Cole Coverage, Omits Anger Over Obama Handling of Case

Ten years after the USS Cole bombing, the alleged mastermind of the attacks hasn’t been tried in a military commission, angering survivors and families of the dead. Read More (NewsBusters)

Not so fast: here’s a video  that should  make you really feel good about  safety when you board your next flight:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8aKCsqHSfA[/youtube]

Just a little note to those who believe the jihad started  on 9/11 with George Bush:

Went to the Melbourne Immigration Museum today. In the entrance, there is a little display that refers to a Peter Cahill, who fled Lebanese Christian persecution in 1881. Who do you think persecuted Christians throughout the centuries?

Napolitano finally calls Fort Hood massacre  “Violent Islamic terrorism”

Related News:

• Puff Ho takes offense at ABC references to Napolitano as lesbian

H/T Infidels are Cool/Fox News

I have to wonder though, why now? Liberals always spin the real deal with their politically correct appeasement rhetoric  until the truth bites them in the ass and their forced to admit the truth.  This is one of those examples.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has become the first Obama Administration official to publicly describe last year’s deadly shootings at Ft. Hood, Tex., as a terrorist act, according to a search of news clips and transcripts.

“Violent Islamic terrorism … was part and parcel of the Ft. Hood killings,” Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning. “There is violent Islamic terrorism, be it Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen or anywhere else, [and] that is indeed a major focus of this department and its efforts.”

Read the whole thing

Diversity is a Killer

Celebrate Diversity Unto Death

[Mark Steyn] The Corner

I pretty much said what I had to say about the Fort Hood massacre in the first couple of weeks, because it was perfectly obvious within about 48 hours that 14 people (including an unborn child) had died so that “diversity” might live. As is the way, the official version is taking longer to catch up to what anyone not marinated in brain-eating PC mush could see from the get-go. The Boston Globe has a story on a new army report, unfortunately completed too late for last month’s whitewash:

An obvious “problem child’’ spouting extremist views, Hasan made numerous statements that were not protected by the First Amendment and were grounds for discharge by violating his military oath, investigators found. . .

In searching for explanations for why superiors did not move to revoke Hasan’s security clearances or expel him from the Army, the report portrays colleagues and superiors as possibly reluctant to lose one of the Army’s few Muslim mental health specialists.

The report concludes that because the Army had attracted only one Muslim psychiatrist in addition to Hasan since 2001, “it is possible some were afraid’’ of losing such diversity “and thus were willing to overlook Hasan’s deficiencies as an officer.’’

You’ll recall the cringe-making response to the massacre by the embarrassing General Casey, the Army’s chief of staff:

“What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy,” said Gen. Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, “but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here.”

The fact that a grown man not employed by a U.S. educational institution or media outlet used the word “diversity” in a non-parodic sense should be deeply disturbing. “Diversity” is not a virtue; it’s morally neutral: A group of five white upper-middle-class liberal NPR-listening women is non-diverse; a group of four white upper-middle-class liberal NPR-listening women plus Sudan’s leading clitorectomy practitioner is more diverse but not necessarily the better for it. For 30 years we have watched as politically correct fatuities swallowed the entire educational system, while we deluded ourselves that it was just a phase, something kids had to put up with as the price for getting a better job a couple years down the road. The idea that two generations could be soaked in this corrosive bilge and it would have no broader impact was always absurd. When the chief of staff of the United States Army has got the disease, you’re in big (and probably terminal) trouble.

But remember, this has nothing – nothing — to do with Islam, if you believe Army brass and, of course, Obama himself. That willful blindness has shown itself to be the root of the failures in intelligence (in more than one sense of the word) that led to this attack. “Fort Hood: Hasan Asked Awlaki If It Was Okay to Kill American Soldiers,” by Mark Schone for ABC News, December 23: here from JW, but you can also get a transcript here on MEMRI:

In an interview published on Al Jazeera’s Web site, radical Muslim cleric Anwar al Awlaki says that Maj. Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 in last month’s Fort Hood massacre, asked for guidance about killing American military personnel in his very first e-mail.

Awlaki claims that Hasan initiated the e-mail correspondence with a message on Dec. 17, 2008. “He was asking about killing U.S. soldiers and officers,” said Awlaki. “His question was is it legitimate [under Islamic law].”

The Al Jazeera questioner asks for confirmation that Hasan forwarded this query nearly a year before the shooting.

“Yes,” responds Awlaki. “I am astonished. Where was American intelligence that claimed once that it can read any car plate number anywhere in the world?” [...]

That much is true. It can’t “read” what it refuses to see.

I guess we need more “interfaith” garbage:

• Chicago-area Imam First Muslim to Head Global Interfaith Group

In the interview, Awlaki does not say whether he okayed the attack, but restates his support for the deed. Just after the Fort Hood shootings, Awlaki posted on a message on his Web site praising the shooter. In the interview, he calls it “a heroic action.”

“The operation had a military target inside America, and there’s no dispute about that,” said Awlaki, adding that the soldiers killed “were prepared and equipped to fight and kill oppressed Muslims.”

Asked why he supports a man who “betrayed his American homeland,” Awlaki says that religion trumps country. “Working in the American military to kill Muslims is a betrayal to Islam,” said Awlaki.

Awlaki, however, denies recruiting Hasan to commit violence. “Yes, I played a role in guiding his ideology, but nothing beyond that,” said Awlaki.

Awlaki then suggests that the American government is trying to cover up its security failure by preventing the publication of the e-mails.

Meanwhile, the army of BS-peddlers, taqiyya doctors,  Islamo-agit-props and assorted whores for Islam are already out in force to poison the minds of our best and brightest:

Islamophobia and War on Afghanistan, Deepa Kumar

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFRNtSZ7QG0[/youtube]

And if that doesn’t make you puke, here is John Esposito & John Voll  throwing dreck at  Tom Friedman, who is himself a dhimmi…..

But you want more, I know you always want more:

A Chicago-area imam on January 1st will become chair of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. He’s the first Muslim to hold the seat.

Abdul Malik Mujahid is a writer and activist, as well as religious leader, or imam. He’s about to take on a global role as chairman of the Council, an international interfaith group based in Chicago. Executive director Reverend Dirk Ficca hopes this sends a positive message.

FICCA: There were tears in the eyes of board members when we elected him as chair, I think in part, because we have a feeling that Islam is under siege around the world, that it’s greatly misunderstood. So we want to express our confidence in the Muslim community by selecting one of their own to head up the organization.

He says Mujahid was picked in part for his history of community organizing. The imam’s the president of Sound Vision Foundation, which produces Radio Islam. He’s the former chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

DIVERSITY INCLUDES STUPID

Financing the jihad with U.S. Army wages:

Tim Blair

Fort Hood murderer Major Nidal Malik Hasan is the giving type:

Investigators also found that Hasan donated $20,000 to $30,000 a year to overseas Islamic “charities.” As an Army major, his yearly salary, including housing and food allowances, was approximately $92,000. A number of Islamic charities have been identified by U.S. authorities as conduits to terror groups.

Put aside his “charity” work and marvel instead at Hasan’s career success, achieved despite notable uselessness:

One of Hasan’s commanding officers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Guerrero, told investigators she had considered failing him as an intern but “decided to allow him to pass since he was going into psychiatry and would not be doing any real patient care.”

Just consider that for a second. OK.

Guerrero told ABC News his performance problems stemmed from his lack of competence in the intensive care unit, including problems with recommending the proper medications or coming up with the right kind of patient treatment plan.

If Hasan beats his murder rap, he’s due for a promotion.

• Jihad Updates Moe’s Jihad News

]]> http://sheikyermami.com/2009/11/21/hasan-was-the-giving-type/feed/ 0 http://sheikyermami.com/2009/11/20/major-hasans-e-mail-i-cant-wait-to-join-you-in-afterlife/ http://sheikyermami.com/2009/11/20/major-hasans-e-mail-i-cant-wait-to-join-you-in-afterlife/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:51:09 +0000 sheikyermami http://sheikyermami.com/?p=39770

Desperately trying not to connect the dots:

• Senators getting closer: Fort Hood massacre was terrorism
• SecDef orders Army inquiry into why nobody reported the Fort Hood jihadist

American Official Says Accused Shooter Asked Radical Cleric When Is Jihad Appropriate?

By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ/ABC News

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, “I can’t wait to join you” in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

Other messages include questions, the official with access to the e-mails said, that include when is jihad appropriate, and whether it is permissible if there are innocents killed in a suicide attack.

“Hasan told Awlaki he couldn’t wait to join him in the discussions they would having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife,”

Major Hasan also wrote, “My strength is my financial capabilities.”

Federal investigators have found that Hasan donated $20,000 to $30,000 a year to overseasIslamic “charities.” As an Army major, his yearly salary, including housing and food allowances, was approximately $92,000. A number of Islamic charities have been identified by U.S. authorities as conduits to terror groups.

Two FBI task forces, in Washington and San Diego, received the intercepted messages, but deemed them innocent.

On Capitol Hill today, Senators questioned how that could be.

“The choice of this recipient of emails says a lot about what Hasan was looking for,” said Senator Joseph Lieberman, chair of the Senate’s Homeland Security committee. Lieberman’s committee held a hearing on the Fort Hood shootings, and announced that it was launching an investigation.

“What I’m getting at,” said Lieberman, “Is he may have been looking for spiritual sanctions for what he’s accused of ultimately doing.”

The American-born Awlaki is considered a recruiter for al-Qaeda. He has been in hiding since the shooting, but a Yemeni journalist told ABC News today that the e-mails show Hasan was “almost a member of al-Qaeda.”

Alternative Universe: Being Muslim always means denial of responsibility….

Witch-hunt against UK Muslim organizations in the wake of the tragic killing of 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood. In the wake of the tragic killing of 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas, a number of Britain-based think tanks, newspapers, and websites have sought to capitalize on reports saying that the suspected gunman, Nidal Malik Hasan, was allegedly in contact with a well-known Yemeni imam called Anwar Al-Awlaki. The purpose of such focus is to engage in a modern version of a McCarthyite witch-hunt against leading UK Islamic organizations and Muslim individuals. History of McCarthyism During a period in US history known as the Second Red Scare, which lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, US Senator Joseph McCarthy achieved notoriety for his aggressive anti-Communist pursuits. Thousands of Americans were hauled before investigatory panels and accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers, despite the often very questionable or inconclusive evidence. Many innocent people’s careers were destroyed as a result. The term McCarthyism has come to describe the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty or subversion against others without proper regard for evidence. Al-Awlaki and Fort Hood Suspect The term McCarthyism has come to describe the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty or subversion against others without proper regard for evidence. Following the Fort Hood shootings, Al-Awlaki used his website to post a message praising the suspected killer as follows: Nidal Hasan is a hero … Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the US army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal. The heroic act of brother Nidal also shows the dilemma of the Muslim American community. Increasingly they are being cornered into taking stances that would either make them betray Islam or betray their nation. Many amongst them are choosing the former. The Muslim organisations in America came out in a pitiful chorus condemning Nidal’s operation. … The inconsistency of being a Muslim today and living in America and the west in general reveals the wisdom behind the opinions that call for migration from the west. It is becoming more and more difficult to hold on to Islam in an environment that is becoming more hostile towards Muslims. Al-Awlaki’s Influence Al-Awlaki Al-Awlaki is by no means a marginal figure. He briefly served as an imam at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, US, where he is said to have performed the funeral ceremony for Nidal Hasan’s mother in 2001. He was also invited to the UK by a number of prominent Islamic organizations for  a number of conferences, and he proved to be a popular speaker from the late 1990s onward. To this day, Al-Awlaki is thought to retain a significant following among more disillusioned British Muslim youths.At that time, Al-Awlaki’s views were far more sensible, with no hint to his later extremism. Indeed, in an interview with National Geographic Magazine [1] following the 9/11 attacks, Al-Awlaki’s responses were notably measured and reasonable. Observers say that Al-Awlaki’s world view underwent a radical change following the start of the US war against Iraq in 2003, his subsequent move to Yemen in 2004, and especially his incarceration in 2006 for more than a year, which took place despite the fact that no charges were brought against him. Countering Al-Awlaki Just as Al-Awlaki is using his influence to incite Muslims in the West to violence, it is essential that credible Muslim scholars with far more impressive Islamic learning use their authority to forcefully speak out against indiscriminate violence and in favor of democratic and peaceful engagement. The prominent Islamic scholar Dr. Jamal Badawi who resides in Canada and regularly visits the UK on speaking engagements strongly refuted Awlaqi’s argument that the killings at Fort Hood could be considered as a part of jihad [2]: The Qur’an and Sunna allow the use of force only as a last resort and only in two cases; to resist oppression or in defense against aggression. You don’t just sneak and attack without declaration. This is not in accordance with Islamic ethics. It is not permissible to give people the idea you are part of them and peaceful with them and then turn against them and fight them from within in a treasonous way. This is against the conviction of Islam. To take advantage of that is not Islamic…Muslims do not betray or shoot people from the back. That’s not a character of a Muslim. Last month, the influential Saudi scholar Salman Al-Oudah issued a call denouncing Al-Qaeda and its supporters in no uncertain terms [3]: Do not attempt to reinterpret the faith so as to justify acts that are clearly and patently evil. In the boldness with which you commit such mortal sins, you engage in crimes far worse in Allah’s estimation than those whom you purport to condemn. … I assert, on the basis of certain conviction, that the people who follow that extreme path, if they ever come into power, will bring destruction and ruin to everything. Society, from its civil cohesion through its family integrity and to its agriculture, would waste away. Those people would foster civil strife and suffer from it in turn. Al-Qaradawi, an Asset Just as Al-Awlaki is using his influence to incite Muslims in the West to violence, it is essential that credible Muslim scholars with far more impressive Islamic learning use their authority to forcefully speak out against indiscriminate violence and in favor of democratic and peaceful engagement. It is very unfortunate that Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has been barred from visiting the UK since early 2007 by the British government, following pressure from pro-Israeli lobbies. Sheikh Al-Qaradawi is an Islamic scholar who commands huge respect among millions of Muslims worldwide. As a regular past visitor to the UK, he would consistently urge British Muslims to shun all forms of extremism and to focus their energies on ensuring that their children excelled in education.His long experience of dealing with youths influenced by extremist and takfiri ideas (ideas involving accusations of backsliding from Islam) would surely have been a valuable asset in the struggle against Al-Qaeda-inspired propaganda. Nonetheless, it should be made clear that those same Muslim organizations that had in the past invited Al-Awlaki to the UK are horrified by his more recent extremism and are well aware of the damaging impact his views could now have on British Muslims. Following Al-Awlaki’s praise for the Fort Hood suspect, some of these UK Muslim organizations (including the Islamic Society of Britain [4] and the Jam`iat Ihyaa’ Minhaaj Al-Sunnah [5]) issued public statements disavowing his latest comments. New McCarthyists However, this was not enough for the new McCarthyists. A group of them — including the Centre for Social Cohesion (whose director, Douglas Murray, advocated in 2006 that “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board”), Shiraz Maher from Policy Exchange, and the pro-Israel blog Harry’s Place — have not been slow in seeking to smear those Islamic organizations that had invited Al-Awlaki to the UK in the past. These new McCarthyists must be firmly resisted. In the famous words of Edward R. Murrow, the CBS broadcast journalist who did so much to expose the original McCarthyists, “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.” Sources: [1]:Attack on America: An Islamic Scholar’s Perspective—Part 1 [2]:Fort Hood No Jihad: Scholar [3]:Standing United against Terrorism & al-Qaeda [4]:Al-Awlaki is wrong says Islamic Society of Britain [5]:Anwar Al-Awlaki