'76 Blog

  Editor's Note: Army Private Andy Long was gunned down by homegrown jihadist Carlos Bledsoe (who had taken the name Abdulhakim Muhammad after training with Al Qaeda in Yemen) at a Little Rock recruiting station on June 2, 2009. After federal prosecutors declined to bring charges, the killer was convicted in Arkansas state court and is now serving 12 consecutive life terms.  The two men's fathers, Daris Long and Melvin Bledsoe, spoke at Centennial Institute on Dec. 10, 2012, to promote the new documentary film about their experience, "Losing Our Sons ." Daris Long's remarks were as follows: ====================          Our son Andy would call us on weekends while he was in boot camp. One Sunday he called while I was in the middle of something I thought was important so I made my excuses in order to get back to it. That night I could not sleep so I got up and wrote him a letter. I apologized and told him that I would never do that again; I would always be there for him. People have commented on how they don’t think they could persevere against a seemingly insurmountable bureaucracy.   I would ask, If not I, then who?  [Esther 4:14b] states, “Who knows, perhaps [we] have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” It isn’t easy, but I do this because of that promise I made to my son in that letter.  I do this because as a former Marine I will not allow his government to leave him behind.  I do this as an American because my fellow Americans need to hear the truth.        The night before he was killed, his last words to me before he went to bed I will never forget, “That’s cool, Dad.”  The next day, Andy’s mother drove him to the Recruiting Center and was sitting in the car studying her Bible when she saw Andy in the rear view mirror as he came out of the Recruiting Center Office. She told me that she thought about getting out and going to him, but decided against it when she saw another soldier come out with him and did not want to interfere. I believe that action saved her life, because, a few seconds later she heard bursts of gunfire.  The next time I saw my son was with my family in the ER. That was the beginning of a nightmare.  Not just the nightmare of losing our son, but the nightmare of the denial. The denial of calling this what it was; the denial that there is an enemy; the denial that that enemy is definable; the denial that this enemy wishes to destroy our way of life; the denial that my wife firmly believes led directly from Little Rock thru Fort Hood to the Middle East Embassy. We kept our silence for two years, except for three interviews I did, in order to not harm the Prosecution’s Case and because after meeting with the US Attorney and other federal officials, we fully expected federal indictments to be handed out. We remained silent for two years, but we were not idle. As we listened to this administration’s response, the main stream media’s coverage or lack of, the DOA, DOD, DOJ and their continuing actions to date, my view of justice and trust in government has changed. In researching, it was amazing the amount of information regarding Abdulhakim Muhammad’s activities we were able to find from open sources that should have sealed the case on federal terrorism charges.  When we were told that the Army did not have enough information to warrant the awarding of the Purple Heart, we sent them our research.  The responses from our Congressional representatives were positive.  The responses we received from the DOA and DOJ were nothing short of insulting.      Melvin Bledsoe, the killer’s father, at the same time was on his nightmare journey and his quest for information in order to understand what had happened to his son and how a son of his could do such a terrible thing. I have to tell you that I have grown to respect and admire Melvin for his courage and desire to ensure that other parents do not have to deal with what his family and ours have had to. I count him as a friend. What Melvin Bledsoe and I have been able to do together in our efforts is because of the grace of God. Our individual journeys were brought together when we were approached by the group American’s for Peace and Tolerance out of Massachusetts led by Dr. Charles Jacobs. Charles wanted to do a documentary about Melvin and myself losing our sons. It took two years for the film to be released. It is appropriately titled “Losing Our Sons” as it reveals what is happening in our country today, something the mainstream media will not report. I have a history with the Muslim people.  I have spent almost twenty percent of my life having lived in or deployed to Muslim countries. My nieces’ father is the grandson of a former King of Afghanistan and the nephew of another. It is easier for me to name the Muslim countries I have not been in, than to name the ones I have. My wife and I cope with this tragedy because we gave it all to God the day we lost Andy.  Turning it over to Him is a continuing task. We are determined to not allow Andy’s death to be wasted. I have tried to avoid the politics of the situation, but it is near impossible when politics are what has clouded the truth. This is not and should not be a partisan issue.  The statutory oath I swore as a Marine  “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” is something I still feel obligated to even though I am no longer on active duty. While in the Corps, we did our duty according to “ground truth.” Ground truth is based on facts as they are, not facts that are viewed through the distortion of a political prism.          As of Tuesday, December 11, 2012, there have been a reported fifty-five thwarted terrorist plots since 9/11 which have resulted in federal indictments and convictions. The attacks in Little Rock, Fort Hood and Benghazi, Libya are not included in this number.  On Friday, November 30, 2012 an improvised explosive device was detonated at the Social Security Administration Office in Casa Grande, Arizona. The perpetrator who was arrested is an Iraqi refugee. His house was searched and bomb making materials and instructions were found. A Federal Law enforcement official, on the grounds of anonymity, stated that it could be considered domestic terrorism but the bomber has not been charged under Title 18 Chapter 113b Terrorism due to the “political sensitivity” of the case. If we are to believe these reported incidents were attempted terrorist plots which justified these indictments, then it must follow that Abdulhakim’s attack at the Little Rock Recruiter Center and Major Nidal Hasan’s attack on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood were in fact successful terrorist attacks. The absurdity is that although charges have been levied for “thwarted”, “failed”, “planned” or “attempted” acts of terrorism, Federal Officials have yet to pursue the Little Rock and Fort Hood attacks as acts of terrorism.  Abdulhakim Muhammad and Nidal Hasan succeeded in their jihad against America and the powers that be have refused to acknowledge this.          This administration is quick to “take credit” for thwarting plots but is completely silent, even resorting to obfuscation when the facts oppose their official narrative.  They would have us believe that radical Islam has nothing to do with the motivations of individuals like Muhammad and Hasan or groups like Al Qaeda, Al Shabab or the Taliban. To deny the direct connections of either Abdulhakim Muhammad or Nidal Hasan to recognized international terrorists in Yemen requires one to suspend belief in the face of overwhelming facts.          Since 2009, we have tried to get a sane answer as to why the attack in Little Rock remains identified as just a criminal act, not an act of terrorism.  After meeting with the FBI and US Attorney’s Office in September 2009, we fully expected federal terrorism indictments to be handed down at the conclusion of the state’s trial. The Department of the Army’s position is that because the Little Rock attack was treated as a criminal act in an Arkansas court, it isn’t terrorism. The Department of Justice stated that the attack against American soldiers is the Army’s responsibility in determining the shooting as an act of terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security and White House both made statements to the effect that it was a Department of Defense issue and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Affairs refused in Congressional testimony, to state that radical Islamic extremism might even be a motivating factor of Al Qaeda doctrine.          Abdulhakim Muhammad was not timid when he called his act a jihad justified by Islamic law. Muhammad has since been identified by the FBI in counterterrorism briefs as an Al Qaeda adherent.  Nidal Hasan was able to praise Muhammad’s attack in front of fellow Army Officers without repercussion. He did not whisper Allah-u Akbar when he jumped on a table in a crowded office at Fort Hood and then began killing fellow soldiers on his own jihad. His refusal to shave an unauthorized beard is not based on a secular fashion sense, but goes to the core of his motivation.  The Army’s inability to enforce longstanding uniform regulations in the face of claims of religious discrimination of Islam speaks volumes about its abdication to political correctness under this administration. We believe that the attacks on Little Rock and Fort Hood qualify the victims for the Purple Heart as casualties of international terrorist attack. The Congress has adopted language in the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act that states a successful terrorist attack does not only happen on someone else’s soil. This legislation has bipartisan and bicameral support within our Congress.               The White House threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act. The stated objection, in the Arkansas case, was that it was handled under the state’s criminal code and not as terrorism and that this provision “could” create appellate issues.  This administration will not admit the fact that a successful attack occurred on their watch. The statement of objection blames Arkansas for the administration’s own denial, and inaction in not pursuing charges under Title 18 US Code Chapter 113b, Terrorism.  The state charges could not address what is reserved for the federal statutes. This position of the government fails to address the still unanswered issues regarding Muhammad’s travel to Yemen to the same Madrassa in Dammaj known as the training site of the American Taliban, John Walker Lynde, which is clearly material support for terrorism, or his attempted attacks on two Jewish Rabbis – one in Little Rock with a rifle and the other in Nashville with a Molotov Cocktail, which is defined as a weapon of mass destruction.      Although jihad is not in the government’s list of approved words, it is front and center in the motives and doctrine of radical Islam.  Denying the use and study of the very words used by the terrorists from their point of view and understanding removes an important tool which provides insight into the motives and methods of an enemy. Our government has succumbed to advisors such as the Council for American Islamic Relations, a known Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood front and unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land terrorist funding trial. CAIR advice is that these words are offensive and should be forbidden. This cedes the initiative to those who would do us harm.      Radical Islam is a political ideology that is grounded on a religion. That radical ideology has defenders who would have us believe that the United States Constitution’s First Amendment’s religious freedom clause prohibits truthful discussion of political Islam. These same defenders promote the expansion of the scope of religion for an explicit few, while at the same time imposing their own limited redefined scope of what can be considered religious belief for all other faiths.      This absurd double standard is not isolated to what happened in Little Rock and Fort Hood.  A young girl was suspended from school for failing to stop wearing a “religious cross” on a necklace. The school district relented only after a law suit was initiated in defense of her basic rights. A coach lost his job for openly saying grace over a lunch meal, off campus and not acting in an official capacity.      Conversely, CAIR and its associates are openly invited by a school district into public school classrooms to espouse the glory of Islam. Has the curriculum been vetted, or has it been left up to good graces of the unbiased actors supported by CAIR to honestly present facts? Where are the guardians of “separation of church and state” in this case?  They are conspicuously silent.           On September 11, 2012, the heralded promise of the so called “Arab Spring” turned into an Arab nightmare.  The demonstrations and attacks on American Embassies in over two dozen countries, resulting in the deaths of a US Ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, the Stars and Stripes being torn down and replaced by a black Islamist Banner over sovereign US territory.           The American Ambassador to the United Nations stated that the attack on the Benghazi Consulate was a spontaneous act and was not pre-mediated. Bringing heavy weapons and RPG’s to a demonstration would tell anyone that this was something other than a spontaneous act. The coordination and use of direct and indirect fire, coupled with supporting arms, tells me that the Ambassador obviously has no understanding of military tactics or methods that require a level of premeditation in order to coordinate these fires successfully.  Additionally, it is reported that a “secret” safe house off site also came under sustained coordinated fire.          The Administration’s statement that there was no actionable intelligence indicating that possible violence against American interests seems lame and crafted. On the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a heightened sense of vigilance requirement is simply common sense. Every domestic law enforcement agency in this country routinely focuses on possible violent extremist threats because of the historic pattern of terrorist activity surrounding dates which are considered relevant to Islamic victories over infidels. Instead we are treated to an apology over a film which is blamed for starting it all. We then see this statement retracted and then reintroduced and repeated by none other than the Secretary of State.          It is amazing that a single twelve minute film trailer, which was on the internet from mid-June, can be identified by a superpower, with a straight face, as the reason for turning American foreign policy in the Middle East policy into ashes.           Witnessing the President’s Press Secretary’s comments about how this twelve minute film was responsible for starting demonstrations across the globe, reminded me of the statements made by Saddam Hussein’s Information Minister, Baghdad Bob, over how they were in full control of the situation even when the US Third Infantry Division was overrunning Baghdad Airport just a couple of miles away. My wife and I personally experience on a daily basis the denial of our government over what happened in Little Rock, now we are seeing denial of the truth on a national basis, telling us that there is no significance of the 9/11 anniversary demonstrations and violence from the UK to Australia.          The issue is about the truth, about America’s sons, daughters, and future. Melvin Bledsoe lost his son to radical Islam in a Tennessee University setting. I lost my son because of radical Islam on a sidewalk in Arkansas. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” PV2 William Andrew Long was a victim of a terrorist attack on June 1, 2009. PVT Quinton Ezeagwula was also a victim of a terrorist attack on June 1, 2009.  Andy, Quinton and their families continue to be victims of a government that has stuck its head in the sand and has steadfastly promoted the premise that there is no correlation between radical Islam and those who continue to do us harm.    

We are witnessing the greatest surrender, abject acts of submission to sharia, and the most embarrassing episodes of dhimmitude yet seen in America.  I thought things were bad in the United Kingdom and Spain.  If you follow Diana West’s work, you’ve already seen this video, in which General John Allen, the supreme commander of the ISAF forces in Afghanistan, made a statement apologizing to the “noble people of Afghanistan” for the destruction of Islamic religious paraphernalia confiscated from prisoners of war. The result of Allen’s prostration before the World of Islam is another deadly violent Muslim uprising and attack on a NATO base.   At least six are known dead and the U.S. Embassy is in lockdown.  Here’s a link to the Reuters story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/22/us-afghanistan-korans-idUSTRE81K09T20120222 As a free civilization, we are walking on ever more fragile eggshells, trying to appease and mollify the World of Islam, whose founder declared eternal merciless war, and scorched earth destruction, against the Dar al Harb (house of war) about thirteen centuries ago.  We non-Muslims happen to occupy that Dar al Harb, by the way.  You can’t blame George Bush, or George Washington for that matter, for this war.  It began in 622 A.D.  And it will go on forever. Our only hope to survive as a Constitutional Republic will be determined next November.  Another term in office for the current Commander In Chief, with his pro-sharia sentiments and the dhimmitude of his administration, is going to be catastrophic. We are tipping at the brink of the cliff.  The sharia abyss is below us.  Our military leadrship is failing.  The FBI has already surrendered to the Muslim Brotherhood (ISNA) by agreeing to destroy anti-terrorism training manuals and records that ISNA says are offensive to Islam.  The Department of State and the Pentagon are thoroughly infiltrated with pro-Muslim bureaucrats, who are betraying us.  The only military man with the knowledge and backbone to confront the legal doctrines of Islam head-on, former U.S. Army Reserve Major Stephen Coughlin, was long ago run out of the Pentagon by a Muslim protester, Hasham Islam. The American people will save themselves only by their votes in November – if there is an election.

(Opening Remarks at Campus Ceremony, Sept. 12) How should we approach our commemoration of September 11, 2001, here at Colorado Christian University?  Here are some thoughts from my perspective as director of the Centennial Institute, our public policy center at the university. On the second Tuesday in September ten years ago, Islamist fighters from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE, trained in Afghanistan by the Al Qaeda revolutionary organization under Osama Bin Laden, took over four US airliners and turned them into missiles of war for an attack on New York City and Washington DC. The twin towers of the World Trade Center, symbolizing American free enterprise, were destroyed.  The Pentagon, symbolizing American military might, was gravely damaged.  A direct hit on the United States Capitol or the White House, which would have decapitated American self-government, was narrowly averted by the heroism of passengers on board Flight 93. The strike was brilliantly planned and barbarically executed.  It hit us like a lightning bolt from a clear sky.  Two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven lives were lost that day, many of them massacred unawares, but many others in sacrificial efforts of resistance or rescue, with acts of magnificent courage.  Thousands of families mourned the loss of loved ones. The nation’s anger was roused, but our confidence was also shaken.  Voices of self-doubt and self-reproach were heard among our own elites.  Voices of condemnation from Muslim leaders were hesitant and few.  Street mobs celebrated in the home countries of the 9/11 attackers.  What did it all mean? Some Americans said it meant we had cultural fences to mend and yet another criminal-justice job to do.  But most Americans understood it meant we were at war.  Arguably that war had been going on in one-sided fashion against us from the Islamists since at least 1979 when the US embassy in Iran was seized.  The war continues today – punctuated by progress in Iraq, progress in Afghanistan, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and more than 60 intended or actual jihadist attacks upon the US homeland over the past 3600 days. Disturbingly, however, what America clearly understood as a long and deadly-serious war ten Septembers ago is now too often blurred and misunderstood as nothing more than one horrific day of terror, trauma, and tragedy.  Fellow Americans, fellow patriots, brothers and sisters – this must not be.  This must not be. The consequences of 9/11 WERE tragic in terms of the lives lost, the economic cost, the emotional cost, the compromising of civil liberties.  But the event we are gathered to commemorate this evening was no mere tragedy.  A tragedy is something that just happens – the result of fate or bad luck or bad judgment.  The 9/11 attack did not just happen.  It was a heinous atrocity brought to our shores by a determined enemy.  It was a deliberate and unprovoked act of war by forces with a definite address and an agenda of total conquest, total world domination.  Does America remember that and realize that, today in 2011?  Parts of America unfortunately do not. But this Christian university and this assembly of wide-awake citizens do remember.  Absolutely we do.  We have not forgotten and will never forget why 9/11 happened, what 9/11 cost, what 9/11 still demands of us.  We come together to honor the dead and keep their memory alive by living worthily of them -- which includes focusing our minds and devoting our energies and uniting our purpose in such a way as to keep AMERICA alive. Let us use our time this evening to say not only, “Wasn’t it!” but also, “Isn’t it!” Let us not just look back with remembrance, but let us, even more, look ahead with resolve.  Wasn’t it awful that day?  Wasn’t it sad?  Wasn’t it horrifying?  Wasn’t it a more innocent world before the planes hit the towers?  Yes, it was, and to reflect on that at a decade’s distance is fitting. Yet to stiffen our spine now in the present, and set our faces to the future, and rededicate ourselves unswervingly to duty, truth, and honor, is more fitting still.  Isn’t it imperative, isn’t it urgent, isn’t it nobly incumbent on us to preserve the America our enemies wanted – and still want – to destroy?  Isn’t it unacceptable that we should lapse back into the softness and complacency they exploited so lethally on that September morning.  Isn’t it a great and high calling for each of us to accept, that the decades ahead should be a better, freer, stronger time for these United States and all the friends of freedom than the decades just behind?  Yes, it is.  It is!  

Are many Muslims devoted to a doctrine called jihad, which commands violence against infidels, and another doctrine called sharia, which forbids obedience to the U.S. constitution or any other civil government?  Do many Muslims interpret the Koran to require brutal abuse of women, gays, Jews, and Christians?  Have a number of Muslim charities and mosques in this country been unmasked as fronts for radicalism?  Did a Muslim man from Aurora, Colorado, named Najibullah Zazi, plead guilty in 2010 to a terror bombing plot against the New York subway system? The answer to all four questions is Yes.  But you would never know it from reading the three-part Denver Post series on Muslims in Colorado since 9/11, Aug. 19-21.  Relevant as these matters might seem to be for a serious exploration of his subject, reporter Eric Gorski confronts none of them.  Instead, throughout his lengthy front-page articles, Gorski repeatedly implies that even asking such questions betrays ignorance, intolerance, bigotry, and xenophobia.  As a result, the series reads more like puffery than journalism.  It would be interesting to know what "assistance" the Denver Post received on this project from CAIR, the Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood propaganda group that was designated an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial in federal court. Regardless, no matter if the series was CAIR-orchestrated or merely a self-deluded exercise in political correctness, it ill serves the public interest.  Coloradans concerned about homeland security, the rule of law, social cohesion, and the trustworthiness of their neighbors deserve "the rest of the story" on the Muslims among us. 

(Centennial Fellow) Nearly flawlessly executing the operation in Pakistan to raid the compound where Osama bin Laden was living – among the military and police leadership of Pakistan by the way – the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six along with elements of other U.S. government assets killed America’s most wanted man.  This is a victory for all of us – no doubt.  A tremendous Bravo Zulu to the men and women who made it possible and gave the operation the best chance of success.  Bin Laden is dead.  What I am hearing from the media, the government, and our President, however, is making me queezy. In announcing the killing of bin Laden, President Obama said we are at war with Al Qaeda.  We killed the head of Al Qaeda – our enemy.  Today, many in the media and elsewhere are making statements that can only be considered irrational, naive, and simply wrong with regards to the war in which we are engaged.  I fear America will refocus its energy on Al Qaeda, while the enemy’s main focus of effort, the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in the United States, will continue to move forward at light speed unimpeded by anyone in the U.S. National Security apparatus. Let's review the Muslim Brotherhood’s objectives and doctrine: - “The Muslim Brotherhood is an International Muslim Body, which seeks to establish Allah’s law in the land.”   MB By-Laws - MB Goals: “Insist to liberate the Islamic nation from the yoke of foreign rule…the need to work on establishing the Islamic State…the sincere support for a global cooperation in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah.”   MB By-laws - “…Jihad is our way and martyrdom in the way of allah is our highest aspiration.”   MB Creed - “Against them MAKE READY your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies…”    MB Logo – 2 crossed swords under a Quran with the phrase “Make Ready” under it.  MB has openly said/written it refers to the above quote (Quran 8:60) - “Jihad is an obligation from Allah Almighty on every Muslim and cannot be ignored.”   Founder of MB Hassan al Banna from “Book of Jihad” - “Jihad means to war against non-Muslims.”   Islamic Law, Umdat al Salik, certified by key MB entities IIIT and Fiqh Council of North America as MB doctrine - “The Islamic nation must be fully prepared to fight the tyrants and the enemies of Allah as a prelude to establishing the Islamic state.”    MB By-laws - “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”  MB Founder Hassan al Banna (quoted in the Hamas Covenant (1988) - “The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.”Hamas Covenant (1988) - “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind the stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslim, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” Hamas Covenant.  Remember, Hamas IS the Muslim Brotherhood. - “The Process of Settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikwan (MB) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”    An Explanatory Memorandum. MB strategic document for North America. -  From the “Underground Movement Plan” – the MB’s 5 Phase plan“Phase One: Phase of discreet and secret establishment of elite leadership.Phase Two: Phase of gradual appearance on the public scene…establishing a shadow government.Phase Three: Escalation phase, prior to conflict and confrontation with the rulers.Phase Four: Open public confrontation with the Government through exercising the political pressure approach.. Training on the use of weapons domestically and overseas in anticipation of zero hour. It has noticeable activities in this regard.Phase Five: Seizing power to establish their Islamic Nation.” - “Lying is permissible if the goal is permissible…and obligatory is the goal is obligatory.” Islamic Law, Umdat al Salik, certified by key MB entities IIIT and Fiqh Council of North America as MB doctrine From the overwhelming evidence entered at the US v Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development trial (HLF) it was revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in the United States has significant infrastructure here and that the most prominent Islamic Organizations in the U.S. are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood to include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Fiqh Council of North America, and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Hamas entity. We know from the MB itself and from a large amount of evidence, to include the US v Sabri Benkhala case, that the Muslim American Society (MAS) is a significant MB organization founded by three key MB leaders. Because they are ALL Muslim Brotherhood entities, the aforementioned doctrine is what these organizations hold as their objectives and doctrine.  So why are they (1) allowed to operate in the United States and (2) why would any government entity at the state or federal level meet or work with them?  Why would leadership of our National Security apparatus seek guidance from them, speak at their conferences, or in any way give them credibility – since they seek our destruction. As a reminder, the Muslim Chaplain program was founded by an Al Qaeda operative (Alamoudi) and the current certifying agency for Muslim Chaplains in the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Prisons (ISNA) was revealed to be a Hamas support entity, which is why they are an un-indicted co-conspirator at the largest successfully prosecuted Hamas trial in U.S. history – US v HLF. Why do we have Muslim Brothers representing the above groups sitting on advisory committees for DHS?  Why are Directors of ISNA meeting with and advising the Secretary of State? Why is the MAS primarily meeting with and advising the DHS Secretary? Why is the FBI giving senior Muslim Brothers awards at FBIHQ? Osama bin Laden is dead, but this stuff is making me quite ill.  

(CCU Faculty) On the Sunday night news coverage on the killing of Osama bin Laden, all the networks showed people gathering at Ground Zero, in Times Square and around the White House.  Most of those people were in a celebratory mood: singing and chanting about the death of bin Laden.  The event struck me as odd.  In the few days since, two thoughts come to mind: first, some thoughts on the Christian attitude toward celebration of anyone's death and second, the reality of what bin Laden’s death means and doesn’t mean. Ezekiel 33:11 says “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’.” According to this passage, God’s greatest rejoicing is not with the death of an evil person, but when the evil turn away from themselves and towards Him. God is a God of justice, however, and he does indeed delight in justice being served.  All must agree that bin Laden’s end is indeed just.  However, Ezekiel 33:11 creates a hierarchy as to God’s greatest joy.  Wouldn’t God have found greater pleasure (and shouldn’t we all?) had bin Laden surrendered, repented and turned his life to the true and living God?  This interpretation provides some context upon which we might temper our joy on this occasion. With regards to what bin Laden’s death means to our country and the war on terrorism, I began by thinking of the famous scenes of celebration in Times Square following both V-E and V-J Days.  Both days marked the end of, and ultimately, the formal surrendering by our enemies in the Second World War.  In contrast, our war with radical Islam is not over.  The death of bin Laden is indeed a huge moral victory, but its impact on the war remains to be seen. In President Obama’s address to the nation on Sunday evening, announcing the successful military operation, he stated: “His death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.” These two points are in no way intended to denigrate the success of this mission, including the leadership of President Obama, the amazing performance of our intelligence community, and most importantly the Navy Seals who performed the mission. My joy, nonetheless, is restrained. 

('76 Contributor) This evening, for the second time in a decade, I decided to add some of my own thoughts to our family's Seder.  I love to hear myself talk of course, but I’m completely unqualified for actual sermonizing.  Believe me, it’s a bit of a relief not to have a rabbi as a guest this year.  But I do follow the news occasionally (ok, compulsively) and that made me feel a few additions were called for.I gave my additions after we shared–abbreviated for the kids’ benefit – the story of Passover, how the Jews were enslaved in Egypt and how G-d came to our aid -- a story which is, of course, is about freedom -- and before we came to the portion of the Seder involving the three matzos on the table.  I began by asking: Why are there three?  One is are that there are three kinds of people – those who are unfree, those who don’t care about the freedom of others , and those who are free and work to help others become free.We are fortunate to live in a country where, for all our domestic political squabbling, freedom is still a central value.  For the Jewish people as a whole, we are able to count on the State of Israel as a beacon of freedom – sometimes the only safe haven for Jews in lands that oppress them.  And because of the shared centrality of liberty, Israel is America in the Middle East.Just as in the time of Moses and Pharaoh, there are many who don’t want the Jews to be free.  With respect to Israel, the first approach was military.  Israel has survived existential attacks including the Sinai War in 1956, the Six Day War in 1967, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973.Next came terrorism.  Nine years ago, as part of the second Intifada, Hamas launched a brutal attack at Netanya on a Passover Seder much like this one – a peaceful gathering of friends and loved ones – killing 30 people and injuring 140 others.  And if something in my remarks makes you angry let it be this:  Not even three weeks ago, the Palestinian Authority celebrated the attacks and awarded the family of mastermind Abbas Al-Sayed an official, festive plaque celebrating the anniversary of the attacks.  Of course, terrorism is ongoing.  Eleven days ago an Israeli school bus was shot with an anti-tank missile, and a month ago an Israeli family including a baby and two small children was brutally stabbed to death as they slept in a West Bank settlement.But what I want to talk about today is delegitimization.  Delegitimization is the organized –and you’d better believe it is organized – effort to undermine the moral standing of Jews and of Israel – including especially Israel’s right to exist, its right to exist as a Jewish state, and its right to defend itself and its citizens.  Golda Mier famously said, “Better a bad press than a good epitaph,” but today, survival as a member of the global community depends upon the acceptance of the global community.Of course, delegitimization is nothing new – in 1975, the UN passed an abominable resolution declaring that Zionism is racism.  But in recent years it has moved from a fringe tactic to a mainstream strategy.  Some of it is petty – like anti-Israel students at Columbia protesting the presence of Israeli hummus in the cafeteria.  Much of it is small scale – a campaign by the anti-war group Code Pink to boycott Ahava skincare products because they are made on a Jewish settlement in the West Bank – but clearly exhibit the double standard inherent in delegitimization – do CodePink’s leaders seriously believe it is a human rights violation to respond militarily to thousands of rockets being fired at civilians?  Would they feel the same way if Vancouver were shelling Seattle? Of course not, but somehow defending Jewish lives is less worthy.Twenty-first century delegitimization can be deadly serious.  Isn’t it something new and frightening when the government of Turkey supports the dispatch of a flotilla of armed radical Islamist fighters, some seeking martyrdom, with cargo to Hamas in Gaza with the purpose of providing a confrontation with Israel and calls it “humanitarian”?And of course I want to talk today about the Goldstone Report.  This was the document produced by the so-called United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.  I say “so-called” because there was very little actual fact finding.  Taking you back, from 2005 through 2008, Palestinian – mostly Hamas – forces in Gaza had fired about 3,000 rockets at civilian targets in Israel.  At the end of 2009, Hamas launched “Operation Oil Stain,” firing 87 mortar shells, Katyusha and Qassam rockets at Israel in a single day.  The next day, then prime minister Ehud Olmert went on al-Aribiya television giving a final warning to Hamas to stop the shelling – this warning was answered with more Qassam rocket fire.  The Israeli military then initiated Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza, hoping to put an end to Hamas’ attacks on Israel’s innocent citizens.  After the end of hostilities, the UN Human Rights Commission – consisting of such even-handed pillars of human rights as Pakistan, Cuba, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, decided to “investigate” the conflict.  The truth of Israel’s conduct of its military operation, and I’m quoting here directly from the former head of British Forces in Afghanistan, is this: “During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population. The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy's hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.”  Perhaps no one should have been surprised, but the UN report, which came to be known as the Goldstone Report after the judge who led the team, had a different finding.  It was nothing short of a blood libel: that Israel specifically and purposefully targeted civilians for military strikes as a matter of policy.  Of course, that conclusion was false.  In fact, two weeks ago, Judge Goldstone himself retracted his finding that Israel targeted civilians.  But the damage is done.  The report shocked the world, and led many governments to take specific anti-Israel actions undermining Israel’s legitimate sovereign rights.  These bodies included the governments of the European Union, France, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, China, Nigeria. Global NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch used the report as an excuse to ramp up their criticism of Israel.  The damage to Israel’s legitimacy is incalculable, and Hamas and other terrorists and enemies of freedom have pointed to the Goldstone report time and again to incite or justify violence. And, while the accusations bear the full imprimatur of the United Nations, the recanting was accomplished with nothing more than an op-ed in the Washington Post.  Indeed, the UN human rights council spokesman said, "the UN will not revoke a report on the basis of an article in a newspaper.”A great president once said, “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction” - - and that was never more true than today for the Jewish people.  We must be the people of the third matzo – those who work for the freedom of others.YES – it matters that Columbia students have the choice to eat Israeli hummus.  YES – it matters that Jews in the West bank be free to sell skincare products.BUT YES YES YES –it matters that there is no moral equivalence between disciplined, restrained self defense and the brutal murder of infants asleep in their beds or children riding on school buses.  According to Isaiah,  “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!” But my answer is, send all of us. All I ask of you is to speak up.  Don’t let these dangerous, bigoted strategic slurs go unanswered.  Use your voice.  Say something.  Be firm.  Be loud. The freedom of the next generation depends upon it.

Here are my notes from a briefing by Dr. Bruce W. Assaf on “Understanding Radical Islam,” presented by the Centennial Institute on the campus of Colorado Christian University, March 9, 2011.  An audience of about 100 students and community members attended. 1.  Islamic Jihadists exist within Islam. Islam is not purely a religion but also a political program for world dominance.  Jihadist leaders and their followers are sworn enemies of Western civilization. They seek to destroy the US especially because we represent the supreme achievement of Western/Judeo-Christian civilization, expressed in freedom and capitalism. They also seek our destruction because we are Israel’s principal supporters. The 9-11 attack was the Jihadists’ de facto declaration of war. 2. Islamic Jihadists want to impose Shariah law worldwide (“Triumphalism”).- Sharia law encompasses Mohammed’s views on God and government, not separable.- Unlike our religious tolerance, Islamic Fundamentalists do not tolerate any other religious practitioners, not even other Muslim sects.- All non-Muslims are infidels, to be eradicated.- Even moderate Muslims must be corrected. 3. Mohammed introduced Islam to unify and motivate Arabs,- Before Mohammed, Arabs were tribal and pagan, those tribes engaged in constant internecine battles and worshipping numerous local deities.- He recognized that a single compelling religion, defining all others as enemies, would unify them.- In those times, people expected/needed strong, unquestionable leadership, which continues to be Muslim cultural tradition. 4. Jihadist Muslims detest Jews and Christians.- Jews and Christians are Islam’s religious competition.- Jewish and Christian traditions promulgate individual freedom and democratic governments.- Jews and Christians share the same historic roots but gleaned a different outcome.- Jews and Christians share the same scriptural tradition but derived a different world-view.- Americans, Europeans and Israelis experience freedom and prosperity.- Islam 5. History documents Islam’s Anti-Western jihad. a. After Mohammed, Islam overran the non-European lands from West Africa to north-central India, plus much of Spain. b. The Islamic takeover of Europe was halted in northern Spain and in the Balkans. c. Recently Jihadists have resumed their assault.- Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, encouraged Hitler’s “final solution.”- Yasser Arafat, a protégé of al-Husseini, instructed Arabs to vacate Israel upon its establishment, thus creating the persistent refugee problem which he then used (through his PLO) for leverage in the UN.- In 1991 GHW Bush tried for peace by pressing for recognition of Palestinian territory, but the PLO and its supporters want dominance, not peace.- Clinton and GW Bush have also tried, even compelling Israel to leave Gaza.- Now Obama (pro-Muslim whether intentionally or through naivete) openly proclaims his preference for the Muslim perspective and demands that Israel capitulate.- Because European nations host huge Islamic populations (see below), these nations’ policy-makers have become pro-Muslim, and thus UN decisions favor Muslim demands. - Appeasement a la Chamberlain only encourages bullies.- Jihadists use our tolerance and our freedom of speech to undermine us.- d. Current Mideast turmoil repeats the pattern of Iran in 1979.- Muslim Brotherhood and related Jihadist groups promulgate revolt, inviting media coverage (always hungry for “crises”).- Then they intensify the turmoil by haranguing protesters about their grievances and promising them freedom and prosperity if they follow these “leaders.”- Once the established government collapses, the fundamentalists (e.g., Khomeini, Taliban, Muslim Brotherhood) take control to restore order but do so through totalitarian oppression.- The objective is dominance of the oil and gas fields and the Suez Canal, crucial for commercial shipping and naval maneuverability, thereby crippling Western economies. e. Additionally, Muslim leaders encourage large families.- In impoverished regions, the resultant hunger fuels resentment.- Overpopulation motivates migration - “Fatwa” = immigration/infiltration as a technique for surreptitious conquest. 6. Quote from Omar Ahmad, Chairman of Council on American-Islamic Relations: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant.” – San Ramon Valley Herald, July 4, 1998. 7.  Quote from then-Senator Barack Obama, “America is no longer a Christian nation.” – email to CBN News Senior National Correspondent David Brody, July 2007. Born in Canada of Lebanese Christian parents, Bruce Assaf now lives in Atlanta. For more on his work, and to order his book, Behind the Veil of Radical Islam: The Coming War, go to www.blowthetrumpetintl.com.

Centennial Review, the monthly speech digest from Centennial Institute, welcomes comments and concerns from our readers.  The current issue on "Sharia Law or the Constitution? America Must Choose," by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, US Army (Ret.), drew adverse reactions from James Moore of Lakewood, Colorado, on a side issue in the discussion (polygamy) and from Karen Stein of Dakota Dunes, SD, on the General's main argument about limits to religious freedom.  Col. Moore's letter regarding who is a Mormon and what Mormons believe or permit, is posted here. Moore Disputes Boykin Feb2011 Ms. Stein's remarks were as follows: Just as Islamic extremists pervert Islam, Boykin perverts both US Constitutional Law and the commands of Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves.  His calls to prosecute Islamic leaders and imams for advocating Sharia law and to investigate Mosques and "find" violations of law, because of their rhetoric, are shocking travesties of fundamental rights of free speech and free exercise of religion that should make all freedom loving Americans gag in revulsion.   If we turn his comments around and say that churches should be investigated and closed (or at least have their tax exempt status forfeited!)  for advocating, say a ban on gay marriage based on moral law, his anti-American, anti-US Constitution bent becomes clear.  We don't prosecute people in this country for advocacy. We don't investigate organizations for rhetoric.  We don't go searching for "violations of law" in order to find reasons to close meeting places.  The solution to wrongful advocacy is advocacy for moral truth and reason.  The solution to hateful rhetoric is preaching the love and truth of Jesus. The solution to violations of law is even-handed law enforcement.  If we no longer can rely on those truths, then the cliche really will apply: the terrorists have won. (Contact her at ellesmere@astound.net) John Andrews, director of Centennial Institute and editor of Centennial Review, commented: "I thank Col. James Moore, who happens to be a personal friend as well as a former member of the Colorado General Assembly, for his civil and military service to our country and his clear statement of official LDS policy.  In Gen. Boykin's defense, it should be noted that "Mormon" is indeed a nickname or informal description for a varied spectrum of Joseph Smith's followers, including not only the main church body of Latter Day Saints whose stand against polygamy is clear, but also some splinter groups and fundamentalist sects that do in fact advocate and undertake plural marriage, legal or not." Andrews continued: "I also thank Karen Stein for her heartfelt and closely reasoned objection to the Boykin recommendations on legal sanctions against Sharia.  Her hypothetical example involving (once again, interestingly) marriage -- specifically, legal sanctions against religious objection to same-sex marriage -- should indeed give us pause.  Centennial Institute's Kevin Miller similarly warns against the two-edged sword of "virtue politics" in his new book, Freedom Nationally, Virtue Locally - or Socialism.  In my view, however, Boykin is not advocating the sort of virtue cram-down against which Stein and Miller have written.  Rather he is challenging us to think hard about the manifest incompatibility between a Koran-mandated legal-political-governmental-judicial system of Sharia and our U.S. Constitution.  As I put it in the sidebar article alongside Boykin's essay, the central and unavoidable (though painful) question is whether a good Muslim can be a good American.  Ms. Stein seems to think the answer is yes.  I remain unconvinced."          

In light of recent events in Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and elsewhere, it is important to understand that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is at the root of these events, and is simply following their strategic plan.  The Global Islamic Movement (led by the MB) is now seizing power in these countries according to their World Underground Movement Plan (see below).  What we are witnessing in Egypt is simple to understand when done so in light of the Brotherhood’s stated objectives, documents, and the writings/speeches of their key leaders. These are the facts surrounding the events in Egypt that may be helpful in understanding what is actually happening there: The Muslim Brotherhood was created in Egypt in 1928 as a global revolutionary Sunni Islamic Movement to re-establish the Global Islamic State (Caliphate) under which Shariah (Islamic Law) is the law of the land All authoritative Islamic Law mandates Muslims to wage “Jihad” - only defined in Islamic Law as “warfare against non-Muslims” - until the world is claimed for Islam The MB’s Creed is:  “Allah is our goal; the Messenger is our guide; the Koran is our law; Jihad is our means; and martyrdom in the way of Allah is our inspiration.” The Muslim Brotherhood has published strategic documents detailing how they infiltrate societies and replace the governmental systems (non-adherent Islamic systems and non-Muslim governments) with Shariah (Islamic Law) The MB’s document, “Phases of the World Underground Movement Plan” defines five (5) phases of the MB’s infiltration into a society: o I.     Discreet / Secret establishment of elite leadership o II.   Gradual appearance on the public scene & utilizing various public activities o III.  Escalation phase, prior to conflict/confrontation with rulers, utilizing mass media o IV.  Open public confrontation with the government through political pressure approach o V.   Seizing power to establish the Islamic Nation In October 2010, the international leader (Supreme Guide) of the MB, Mohammed Badie, accused Arab & Muslim regimes of not following Islamic Law, and called for Jihad against Israel & the U.S. On January 8, 2011, Dr. Imad Mustafa (Al Azhar) issued a fatwa calling for “offensive jihad” January 15, 2011:  Tunisia in turmoil as the President flees January 24, 2011:  Protests break out in Egypt February 2, 2011:  Jordan’s King fires his Cabinet following public protests February 2, 2011:  Yemen’s President Saleh says he will step down in 2013 The “unrest” in Egypt is being orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt is in Phase 5 of the MB’s Plan The Muslim Brotherhood’s overt/violent operation in Egypt seeks to replace the current government with one which will fulfill the MB’s objective – to ensure the full implementation of Shariah (Islamic Law) in Egypt In 1980, the Egyptian Constitution was amended to make Shariah (Islamic Law) the primary source of legislation in Egypt, therefore, Egypt is already an Islamic State The greatest friction point between the MB and the Mubarak regime has been the regime’s failure to support the full implementation of Islamic Law in Egypt per the Constitution Senior U.S. leadership has stated Egyptians “want what we want.”  Western media portrays the demonstrators in Egypt as people who want “democracy” and “freedom.”  The Egyptians themselves, however, overwhelmingly support Shariah, and many support terrorist organizations (see below) A 2010 Pew Research Poll revealed the following about Egyptians views: o 95% believe Islam should play a “large role in politics”o 49% believe Islam only plays a “small role” in Egypt todayo 84% believe apostates from Islam should face the death penaltyo 82% believe adulterers should be stonedo 77% believe thieves should be flogged or have their hands cut offo 54% believe men and women should be segregated in the work placeo 49% have a favorable opinion of Hamaso 30% have a favorable opinion of Hizbollaho 20% have a favorable opinion of Al Qaeda The aforementioned poll indicates a vast majority of Egyptians do not, in fact, believe in Western principles of individual liberties, human rights, or governance. Egypt is a member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the second largest international body in the world - the UN is the largest.  The OIC member states include all 57 Islamic States in the world, including Egypt The OIC officially served the “Cairo Declaration” to the UN in 1993 which specifically defines “Human Rights” as those rights defined by “Shariah” Critical Linkage:  It can be demonstrated that many Muslim advisors to the U.S. government are Muslim Brothers or sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood cause.  The most prominent Islamic organizations in the United States, with which the U.S. government outreaches, are all controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.  These include hundreds of groups, but specifically all of the Islamic organizations working with the U.S. government including, but not limited to: o Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)o Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)o Muslim Student Association (MSA)o Muslim American Society (MAS)o Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)o Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA)o North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)o International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)o Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) This document is meant to put the current events around the world in a new light for those who read it.  What we are witnessing may be the overt revolutionary overthrow of governments around the world by the International Muslim Brotherhood and their collaborators.  This is the same Muslim Brotherhood advising the U.S. National Leadership and our National Security apparatus on how to respond to the events in Egypt and elsewhere.  John Guandolo is vice president of the Strategic Engagement Group in Washington DC (www.StrategicEngagement.com), a former counter-terrorism expert for the FBI, and a Centennial Institute Fellow