Open Letter to Mahmoud El-Yousseph

.
Reference: Your support of Hezbollah as Reported Here and Here.

Dear Mr. El-Yousseph

I do not believe that you INTEND to be disloyal to the United States. You have vigorously and often proclaimed your allegiance, you served in the country's military, and your son is serving now. I concede your sincerity.

But here is my problem. Your apparently sincere loyalty to the United States is in direct contradiction to your support for Hezbollah. Hezbollah has declared its enmity with the United States. Hezbollah has attacked and terrorized United States civilians and military several times.

I understand that you disagree with the policies of the United States in the Middle East. That is your right. You have the right to voice that objection, demonstrate, write your Congressman, write letters to the editor, and whatever. But whatever you preferred policies in the Middle East, any support for Hezbollah as an organization (or Hamas for that matter) is necessarily disloyal to the United States, because Hezbollah has declared itself an enemy and has acted upon that declaration.

You may loyally support the ultimate goals of the likes of Hezbollah and loyally oppose and seek to change the United States goals in the Middle East. But supporting an enemy organization is quite a different thing. Supporting an enemy is disloyal. I cannot se it any other way.

You may feel free to respond. If you do, I will publish your response.

[Mr. El Youssef's defense to his support for Hezbollah has so far been to threaten legal action against those who point it out, specifically Patrick Poole. See here. The above open letter is an attempt to generate reasoned discussion.]

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar: Arrogant Jerk

Last week on the Glenn Beck television program, United States Representative Henry Cuellar made an arrogant, demeaning comment to another guest, the county sheriff in Laredo, who like Cuellar was Hispanic. The comment implied that the sheriff should stick to sheriff work and leave public policy to important people like Cuellar (not his exact words, but that was the clear meaning).

To his credit, Glenn Beck called Cuellar on the comment and said, "Shame on you" to Cuellar for the belittling the sheriff. It turns out that Cuellar's brother is running for election against that particular sheriff.

Now, Cuellar is going around calling Glenn Beck a racist. Apparently in Cuellar's world, if you do something dumb, don't apologize:. Defend yourself by calling others evil and unsupportable names.

I tried to email Representative Cuellar about the issue, but according to his website, I can't get his email address unless I live in his district. What arrogance!

If you live in Laredo Texas, you need to know what kind of guy is representing you. He is the kind of guy who is too arrogant to admit a mistake and move on. He reacts by attacking others.

A horrible, horrible man, apparently. A disgrace to public servants. Oh yeah. For what it is worth, he is a Democrat.

Hezbollah Support as Treason?

About supporting Hezbollah which has declared itself an enemy of the United States, this is from the United States Code:

18 USC § 2381. Treason

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

I am not sure what "adheres to their enemies" means exactly, but I suspect it means giving loyalty. "Aid and comfort" surely would include giving money, but dies it also include giving public support?

Draw your own conclusions.

Support for Hezbollah: Act of Disloyalty

Previous posts have discussed Hamas, but what about Hezbollah? Mahmoud El-Yousseph, a local and vocal Muslim considers himself a patriot. He is an ex-marine and claims a tremendous love for the United States, yet he supports Hezbollah, calling its mujahadin "freedom fighters."

Is it possible to be an American patriot and also support Hezbollah, really?

The Hezbollah charter published February 16, 1985, says in part,

We combat abomination and we shall tear out its very roots, its primary roots, which are the US. All attempts made to drive us into marginal actions will fail, especially as our determination to fight the US is solid.
...
Our Objectives
Let us put it truthfully: the sons of Hizhallah know who are their major enemies in the Middle East - the Phalanges, Israel, France and the US.

Hezbollah acts upon its enmity with the United States:

• April 1983: Hezbollah sent a truck laden with explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63, including 19 Americans.
  
• October 23, 1983: Hezbollah sent a suicide bomber against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut causing 241 deaths.
• Throughout the 1980s, Hezbollah was behind the kidnapping of many Westerners in Lebanon throughout the 1980s, including the capture and brutal murder of CIA Beirut Station Chief, William Buckley. Journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped and would eventually spend 2,454 days in captivity, along with several officials from the American University of Beirut.
  
• In June 1985, Hezbollah terrorists seized TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome, and diverted the plane to Beirut. When the terrorists demands were not met, a US Navy Seabee diver on board, Robert Dean Stethem, was shot and his body dumped on the airport tarmac. Other American military personnel were savagely beaten. The plane’s passengers and crew were held for 17 days.
• In 1990, Hezbollah captured, tortured, and eventually hanged Marine Corps Colonel Richard Higgins
• A Saudi Hezbollah cell was involved in providing al-Qaeda operatives with explosives training in their June 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 American Air Force servicemen with the 4404th Wing and injured more than 500 others.

Are these simply old news and Hezbollah has changed? No. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in February 2005 in a speech to a crowd of Hezbollah supporters:

We consider it [America] to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer of our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriageability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America… This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: "Death to America."

Crowd: Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America

[Thanks for Patrick Poole, Central Ohioans Against Terrorism for this summary]

When confronted with these facts, Mr. El-Yousseph defends his loyalty and patriotism with insults, but offers absolutely no reasoning or rational analysis to defend his Hezbollah support. As far as I can see there is no reasoning or rational analysis possible.

Hezbollah is an enemy of the United States. It says it is. It has engaged in both hostile words and deeds. It is our enemy.

Support of Hezbollah is therefore, and unarguably, disloyal to the United States.

What is Hamas All About?

What does it mean to support Hamas.? What is Hamas anyway?

According to the Hamas charter, Hamas wasformed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslims Brotherhood is a large and widely known Islamist group formed in 1928 to reestablish the caliphate through jihad.

The purpose and methods and, well, attitutdes of Hamas is revealed in Hamas's own charter. Here are some excerpts:

Article Eight:

Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.

Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. ...

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:

"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

Article Twenty-Two:

For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it. ...

Article Thirty:

Writers, intellectuals, media people, orators, educaters and teachers, and all the various sectors in the Arab and Islamic world - all of them are called upon to perform their role, and to fulfill their duty, because of the ferocity of the Zionist offensive and the Zionist influence in many countries exercised through financial and media control, as well as the consequences that all this lead to in the greater part of the world.

Jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy. The effective word, the good article, the useful book, support and solidarity - together with the presence of sincere purpose for the hoisting of Allah's banner higher and higher - all these are elements of the Jihad for Allah's sake.

"Whosoever mobilises a fighter for the sake of Allah is himself a fighter. Whosoever supports the relatives of a fighter, he himself is a fighter." (related by al-Bukhari, Moslem, Abu-Dawood and al-Tarmadhi).

Article Thirty-Two:

... The Islamic Resistance Movement consider itself to be the spearhead of the circle of struggle with world Zionism and a step on the road.

Reader, feel free to confirm that I have taken nothing out of context. Read it yourself.

The quotes above are from the charter, the most basic organic document of Hamas. People who support Hamas necessarily support and agree with the charter statements above.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra

The ABC News affiliate in Atlanta is doing an excellent series on Jamaat ul-Fuqra camps in Georgia. These camps were founded by Sheikh Mubarek Gilani and appear to function as terrorist training camps in the United States. They appear to house primarily converts to Islam from United States prisons.

Watch here:
[dead link deleted]
Update:
Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.

Hillary the Obfuscator for President?

Russert: Do you support Governor Spitzer's proposal to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens?

Me to Hillary: Why not just say, "No?" Or if you do agree, how about "Yes?"