Sacrificed Survivors

While it easy to lament the fact that the "day that will live in infamy" at Pearl Harbor is being forgotten as new generations of Americans are born and educated (in government schools). However, the Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor are a very different Japanese than those who make our automobiles and who are significant trading partners.

9/11 is a very different thing. Even though 9/11 was almost 10 years ago, 2001, the left leaning media are working hard, overtime even, to make us forget it. I cannot, and we as a country should not. They are still trying to kill us.

The same mass murderers who planned the 9/11 attack are still out there plotting against us and trying (and succeeding) to subvert some American youth to their cause.

The Cordoba Mosque which is actually on a ground zero site (one of the aircraft engines dropped on the building), appears to be a celebration of the Islamic victory that Islamaists celebrated after the 9/11 attacks. Imam Rauf, former head of the committee promoting the Mosque warned in a televised interview that if America deterred the Muslims from this victory mosque (victory is my word, not his), Americans would not be safe anywhere in the world. That, my friends, is a threat we cannot bow to.

I urge everyone to see Sacrificed Survivors, the documentary about people who lost their lives on 9/11 and the insult of this victory mosque. Because of freedom of religion, we know the government cannot stop the mosque from being built, but the there are other lawful ways to stop it. If the promoter Muslims were really civic minded, they would understand the insult and understand the tension they are creating, and would stop. By continuing to promote the mosque (current being operating in violation of building codes), the message they are sending is one of defiance to public sensibility and one of celebration of a triumph of Islam over America.

Watch the film. Go to a showing. Buy the video.

And remember 9/11.

Koran Burning Opposed

Your Voice of Reason hereby condemns in the strongest possible terms the proposed Koran burning by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. While I would defend to the death the church's right to burn the Koran as a matter of free speech, the proposed act is wrong-headed and unduly provocative. It is insulting to non-radical Muslims as well as the radical.

As Christians, it should be our goal to share the message of Jesus Christ and offer Muslims an alternative to Islam that includes a personal relationship with our Creator. We have a duty to seek conversion, not confrontation. Confrontation will chase Muslims away, not draw them to the truth of God's Word.

The act of provocation may be the exercise of a right, but it is wrong.

Ground Zero Mosque Controversy Explained -- In Chinese

Ross Douthat's NTY Column Dissected and Respected

There is a NYT op-ed by Ross Douthat that is thoughtful, partly a wrong understanding of both left and right in America. I agree with the conclusion, and it deserves a thoughtful response.

I must quote large portsion to discuss the article (read the original, please):

There’s an America where it doesn’t matter what language you speak, what god you worship, or how deep your New World roots run. An America where allegiance to the Constitution trumps ethnic differences, language barriers and religious divides. An America where the newest arrival to our shores is no less American than the ever-so-great granddaughter of the Pilgrims.

By this America he intends to describe left wing America. It is laughable to suggest that left-wing America has an allegiance to the Constitution. What about the second amendment, free speech for conservatives, or the Tenth Amendment. I acknowledge that is how the left wing fancies itself, however wrongly.

But there’s another America as well, one that understands itself as a distinctive culture, rather than just a set of political propositions. This America speaks English, not Spanish or Chinese or Arabic. It looks back to a particular religious heritage: Protestantism originally, and then a Judeo-Christian consensus that accommodated Jews and Catholics as well. It draws its social norms from the mores of the Anglo-Saxon diaspora — and it expects new arrivals to assimilate themselves to these norms, and quickly.

Yes, we view America as its own distinctive culture and prefer America as a melting pot to an oil and water mixture. Remember, though, Charles Carroll of Carrollton was an American Catholic (brother of Bishop John Carroll) who signed the Declaration of Independence.

After pointing out the different perspectives on the ground zero mosque, Mr. Douthat says [my comments in brackets],

This is typical of how these debates usually play out. The first America tends to make the finer-sounding speeches [disagree], and the second America often strikes cruder, more xenophobic notes [false, disliking people who try to kill you is not xenophobic]. The first America welcomed the poor, the tired, the huddled masses; the second America [also welcomed them and] demanded that they change their names [false] and drop their native languages [not drop anything, just add English], and often threw up hurdles to stop them coming altogether [illegally only]. The first America celebrated religious liberty [false: it disrespects religion in general and Christianity in particular]; the second America persecuted Mormons and discriminated against Catholics [ancient history, and not limited to the right].

Mr. Douthat's views of left and right wing America are horribly skewed, not without some occasional grains of truth, though.

But both understandings of this country have real wisdom to offer, and both have been necessary to the American experiment’s success.

The left wing America would have much more to offer if Mr. Douthat's incorrect view of the left's fidelity to Constitutional principles were grounded in reality.

So it is today with Islam. The first America is correct to insist on Muslims’ absolute right to build and worship where they wish. But the second America is right to press for something more from Muslim Americans — particularly from figures like Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the mosque — than simple protestations of good faith.

Too often, American Muslim institutions have turned out to be entangled with ideas and groups that most Americans rightly consider beyond the pale. Too often, American Muslim leaders strike ambiguous notes when asked to disassociate themselves completely from illiberal causes

Here we agree.

By global standards, Rauf may be the model of a “moderate Muslim.” But global standards and American standards are different. For Muslim Americans to integrate fully into our national life, they’ll need leaders who don’t describe America as “an accessory to the crime” of 9/11 (as Rauf did shortly after the 2001 attacks), or duck questions about whether groups like Hamas count as terrorist organizations (as Rauf did in a radio interview in June). And they’ll need leaders whose antennas are sensitive enough to recognize that the quest for inter-religious dialogue is ill served by throwing up a high-profile mosque two blocks from the site of a mass murder committed in the name of Islam.

We agree again.

They’ll need leaders, in other words, who understand that while the ideals of the first America protect the e pluribus, it’s the demands the second America makes of new arrivals that help create the unum.

Cute and clever. Food for thought

Ground-Zero Mosque: Bad Idea for Moderate Muslims

I commend to you the excellent analysis of America' s attitude toward Islam in the Asian Times.

I, for one, am discomfited by organized Islam in America apparently failing to take any steps to condemn terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas, and apparently failing to take and publicly announced steps to quell any stirrings of radical Islamists in the mosques of America.

The ground zero Mosque with its originally announced opening on September 11 seems clearly intended to be deliberately insulting to the memory of the Americans who died at the hands of radical Islamists on September 11, 2001. I, along with a majority of Americans, believe that the Mosque plans are ill-intended. The insult is intentional.

Even if they have a legal right to build there, it is clear that it is a bad move for all of Islam in America if -- and only if -- Islam in America is well-intentioned. The building of the controversial Mosque has stirred and will continue to stir anti-Muslim sentiment in America, because the mosque can only be viewed as defiantly anti-American. Is that what the builders really want? Do they really want tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in America. I think so.

Bad idea.

Never Forget.

Muslims Behaving Badly

This is a clip of Muslims trying desperately to prove that they are not fit for civilized society, certainly not any civilized society which values free speech.

They succeed in that proof.



Mark Golblatt at Reason.com:

There are times for interfaith dialogue, for mutual respect and compassion. This isn’t one of them. Shahzad’s car bomb was parked in front of the offices of Viacom, the parent company of the Comedy Central, which airs the program South Park. Last month, the creators of South Park decided to poke fun at the Prophet Muhammad—just as they’d poked fun at Moses and Jesus many times in the past. Death threats followed. It’s too early to connect the Times Square bomb plot to the South Park blasphemy, but police have not ruled it out.

...

Since 2001, many Americans have asked how they can contribute in a direct way to the war against totalitarian Islam. Now we have an answer. If it’s legal, and likely to offend the radicals, just do it. That seems straightforward enough. But how many of us will have the nerve to stand up to a million or so Muslim dirtbags, and to scores of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of their fellow travelers and psychic enablers, and say in unison, “You want to kill the Enlightenment, you’re going to have to come through me.”

Draw Mohammed Day

This speaks for itself:

Earthquakes Explained by Iranian Cleric

The MailOnline is reporting that Iranian cleric has an unusual notion of what causes earthquakes: Scantily clad women, of course.

Why didn't I see that coming?

I think the earthquake is all in his panties.

The Muslim Cabbie Who Saved Chrismas

By Mahmoud El-Yousseph
17 January, 2010

There aren’t too many people who don’t remember Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, also known as “The Grinch.” It was a 2000 American film starring Jim Carey based on the 1957 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. For four weeks it sat as the #1 film in the U.S., eventually earning $260 million at the US box office and breaking the 2007 Guinness World Record for Highest-Grossing Christmas Movie.

At the same time, I bet there are very few American who’ve heard the story of the Muslim cabbie who saved Christmas. It is another heartwarming but true Christmas story that took place last year on Christmas eve that is worthy of being made into a film for its profound effect. This was a story about honesty, integrity, ethics, and human decency, yet those who heard about, knew very little about the honest cabbie or where he came from.

It began with an Italian traveler, Felicia Lettieri, a 72 year old grandmother along with 6 members of her family who took two cabs from midtown Manhatten on Christmas eve. Mrs. Letterie left her purse and a hand bag in one of the cabs. Inside her bag was over $21,000 of the group’s traveling money, expensive jewelry, and some of group’s passports.
After realizing she had lost this great fortune, she went to the police who told her “not to get her hopes up.” Her family echoed these sentiments, telling her that “this is New York. Forget about it. You have lost everything.”

Not so quick! The cab driver was a medical student from Queens, N.Y. who took a job few days a week driving a taxi after his hours were cut back at his former job. When he found the purse, he looked for contact information. Seeing the rolls of euros, nevertheless he never bothered even counting the money. He finally found the address and then asked a friend of his with a car to drive him 60 miles one way to Patchogue. When he got there, no one was home. He left his cell phone number with a note “Mrs. Letterie, don’t worry about your money, it is safe.”

After he left home to Queens, his phone rang, and it was Mrs. Lettieri, he then drove back again another 60 miles and returned all the lost items, refused to accept the reward offered him and returned back home, having driven a total of 240 miles, all for this one woman he did not know.

When asked by a reporter if he was tempted to keep the cash, he answered, “I am needy, but not greedy.” adding that when he was five, his mother told him, “be honest, work hard, you will raise your status.”

This man is precisely the type of person you want as your physician. He clearly is a man of enormous ethics and high moral principles. He has given us all a gift by his actions and integrity
.
Mrs. Lettierei’s sister, Francesca, 79, said, the honest cabbie had saved her family’s Christmas vacation. adding, “we really love what he did.”

Oh yes, I all most forgot to mention, the cabbie is Mohammad “Mukul” Asaduzzaman, 28 years old and a native of Bangladesh. Many newspapers that published this story omitted his first name for some odd reason with the exception of AP wire service. Other daily papers ignored other ‘bothersome’ facts, such as his country of origin and that he was a Muslim, thereby denying American Muslims like me a moment of pride.

No one can forget the panic and hysteria created in America and all over the world as a result of the failed Christmas bombing aboard flight 253. In contrast, the message of this Muslim medical student story is very clear–namely that these are the kind of stories we need to hear more! Real people, honest, hard working, not politicians and religious fanatics as representative of American Muslims
.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
Retired USAF Veteran
elyousseph6@yahoo.com

Cancer in Islam

Here is a piece from the leftist news organization MSNBC on an
American born Muslim cleric who has been quite successful in inciting others to violence ... in the name of Islam, of course.

Peaceful Muslims (by far the majority, I believe), what are you doing about this guy and others like him? Where are you? Why isn't there a mass denunciation of him?

Fed Will Never Admit Hasan Was Terrorist

The Federal government has an odd definition of terrorist. Unless the guy was part of a conspiracy (as opposed to a philosophy), he will not be considered a terrorist. A lone suicide bomber or mass murderer acting on his own is never a terrorist, by federal standards.

In the case of Major Hasan, I am not sure the terrorist label fits, even if a lone killer can be a terrorist. It seems to em that a terrorist must be acting to inspire terror. If the merson is simply trying to kill people to make them dead -- as opposed to frighten those not killed -- the guy is not a terrorist.

What is he, then, besides a mass murder?

If he was acting to further a religious war (jihad), he was a combatant, a militant, as well as a mass murder.

Whatever the label, it is clear the Islam has a cancerous component. The religion is dangerous to the rest of us. No one is ever safe. The cancerous component may expand and erupt any time, anywhere. The root problem is in the words of the Koran.

Many understand the murderous language to be applicable only in the past, to the situation faced by Mahammed 1400 years ago, not applicable today. The trouble is that it does not take too many who hold that in unchanging Islam, the lethal language of the Koran to kill the unbelievers holds as much force today was when originally uttered.

Sadly, I don't hear many Muslims stepping up to eradicate that radicals.

Hypocrisy Illustrated

Rifqa Bary Update

I previously reported on the situation of Rifqa Bary, the 17 year old Sri Lankan Muslim who converted to Christianity. She ran away from her New Albany (suburb of Columbus) Ohio home and is living in Florida with a foster family. She says she fears for her life. My post has here.

As reported in the Columbus Dispatch, Sgt Jerry Cupps of the Columbus Police missing persons bureau discounted the girl's fear of death-for-apostasy and said the father had long known of the conversion and appeared to be a caring father.

Our laws generally favor parental rights to care for and control their children, subject to prohibitions on doing serious physical (and perhaps emotional) harm.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that on August 21, 2009, a Florida judge has delayed the return of the girl to her parents until the Florida Department of Law Enforcement can investigate to determine whether the home with the parents is safe. A further hearing is ordered for September 3, 2009.

These sorts of cases are incredibly difficult. It is certainly true that some Muslims believe that killing a child who converts to Christianity would be required to maintain the honor of the family. Some will not go that far, especially living in non-Muslim country where that is NOT the predominate belief in the country's culture. Obviously Ms.Bary believes her father to be in the former category (or she is an extraordinarly convincing liar -- see video).

The legal question is, "What is in the best interests of the child?" It seems to me that is the fear of death-for-apostasy is sufficiently credible, the safest thing for the child, who is only one year away from the age of majority, is to keep her in the foster home. If the fears are justified, the father now under the spotlight need not do the deed himself, but he can ship the daughter off to Sri Lanka and let relatives take care of business. But if the father is truly sincere in rejected the Islamic death penalty for apostasy, how sad for the family that the daughter can make up a credible story to escape whatever fate the teenager feels her family has for her.

Personally I would opt for the safe approach. But if I were the father, I would move all resources to rebuild the bridges with my daughter. Now, maybe if he converted as well....

Fathima Rifqa Bary Found in Orlando

While the courts fight over jurisdiction, this girl's life is in danger for converting to Christianity from Islam. She has turned up in Orlando after running away from a dangerous home in New Albany, Ohio (suburb of Columbus). This young girl's story -- and her fear of honor killing -- rings true to me.



I will not be surprised if the courts return her to her family and her death. Our courts are not equipped, legally or emotionally, to believe that a family would actually kill a daughter like that.

Oh, we won't find out about her death. She will be whisked off to Sri Lanka for that purpose. We will never find out.

Barbarism in Iran

If you don't think this Islamic practice is disgusting, get out of my blog. The following comes from an interview with a former Iranian prison guard as reported in the Jerusalem Post:

He said he had been a highly regarded member of the force, and had so "impressed my superiors" that, at 18, "I was given the 'honor' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death."

In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin, he explained. Therefore a "wedding" ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard - essentially raped by her "husband."

"I regret that, even though the marriages were legal," he said.

Why the regret, if the marriages were "legal?"

"Because," he went on, "I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their 'wedding' night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning. And they would always fight back, so we would have to put sleeping pills in their food. By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die.

"I remember hearing them cry and scream after [the rape] was over," he said. "I will never forget how this one girl clawed at her own face and neck with her finger nails afterwards. She had deep scratches all over her."

The odd thing is that he appears to be one of the good guys, a member of the Iranian worse is that set free youthful protesters and was sent to prison for it.

I hope this barbaric practice was limited to the Islamic Republic of Iran, but I wonder.

h/t The Funeral Guy

Islamism is Fascism, But Moderate Muslims Predominate

From the Middle East Quarterly, an interview with Mohamed Sifaoui, a highly educated Algerian Muslim who infiltrated an Al Qaeda cell:

MEQ: Would you use the term Islamo-fascism to describe this threat?

Sifaoui: I certainly am one of the first Muslims to consider Islamism to be fascism. This is not a subjective decision but rather a serious, academic argument. Fascism and Islamism are comparable in many aspects: Fascism, without evoking all its particularities, bears similarities to trends also present in Islamism. I am, of course, making a reference to their will to exterminate the Jews. On this point, the Islamists may go even further in their doctrine than the Nazis did, considering that the end of the world could only occur when there are no Jews left on earth. In the three monotheist religions, apocalypse, end of the world, and doomsday exist and are liturgical events invested with a high degree of spirituality. Hence, the Islamists interpret the end of the world in a very special way. Whereas it is written nowhere in the Qur'an, exegetes describe the end of the world as the day when even the trees and rocks will be able to talk and tell the Muslims: "Come here, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him." And this would go on, until there would not be any Jew left on earth. This ideology is pure fascism.

MEQ: Are there other similarities?

Sifaoui: The will to exterminate or do harm to homosexuals is another similarity between Nazism and Islamism. The Islamists, also, say that they are the best community in the world, a superior race thanks to their beliefs. They use political means to arrive at this erroneous exegesis. I do not fear to call it fascism. And there are many more similarities between fascism and Islamism.

MEQ: Do you believe it is possible to criticize Islamism without being called a racist?

Sifaoui: Absolutely, I would say that one must criticize Islamism. When I am criticizing Nazism, I am not being anti-German.

MEQ: When did you feel for the first time that you had to criticize Islamism?

Sifaoui: I have always felt that it was a moral duty.

MEQ: Do you believe that moderate Islam exists?

Sifaoui: Of course, it does. If the majority of Muslims were not moderate, Islamists would have destroyed the Western world a long time ago. Despite its technological lead, its nuclear power, and all its armies, the Western world would never be able to face an Islamist world entirely convinced by the terrorist cause. One billion people supporting Al-Qaeda would reduce the rest of the world to ashes. Islam contains violent texts that need not be applicable today. Islam is a religion of moderation. I know because I studied theology for four years.

Perhaps 20 percent of Muslims on the planet must be totally reeducated. We have to fight them politically, ideologically, and also militarily. Western societies do not fight them well; whenever they try to do so, they end up strengthening them.

One proof that moderate Islam exists is the huge number of sympathy messages that I received from Muslim people when my investigative story on Al-Qaeda Salafist networks, J'ai infiltré une cellule islamiste, was broadcast on French television M6.

Read it all.

Mass Murders in Jewish Seminary Praised by Hamas

The Columbus Dispatch carries the story of a mass murder (7 dead, 10 wounded) in a Jewish seminary. HAMAS responds:

“We bless the (Jerusalem) operation. It will not be the last,” Hamas said in a text message sent to reporters.

There is no excuse for this sort of behavior, either the behavior of the mass murders or their blood-thirsty organization.

Not surprisingly, the web site of the unindicted co-conspirator, HAMAS-front, Council on American Islamic Relations lacks any denunciation as of 4:21 pm EST.

Update: 8 dead, 35 injured.

Update Friday March 7: Still no expression of sympathy for the victims by CAIR. What a surprise.

Debate: Should Islam be Banned in the US?

It is time for a debate in this country. Should be constitution be amended either to:

1) Ban Islam in the United States altogether:

or if not,

2) Treat Muslims as Christians are treated in Arab countries with (a) a special tax on all Muslims (earmarked for Homeland Security); (b) banning all new mosques; (c) forbidding the repair of mosques; and (d) outlawing proselytizing for Islamic conversion.

Of course either of these would currently be unconstitutional, so the debate must center around whether there should be a constitutional amendment. Of course any Muslim in the US could avoid any problems by converting to any other religion, so there need be no hardship. Just as there is no hardship on Christians in the Arab world, right?

I am open to hearing both sides.

M. Zhudi Jasser Speaks Out

In an interesting article in the Middle East Quarterly, M. Zhudi Jasser, a Muslim activist against radial Islamists, describes his contacts with teh Flying Imams. At the end of the article, Mr. Jasser echoes my own thinking on what needs to be done by Muslims and non-Muslims:

Countering Islamism and combating Islamist terrorism should be a greater public responsibility for the organized American Muslim community than the obsession with civil rights and victimization in which current Islamist organizations engage. Americans living in fear for their security are looking to moderate, traditional Muslims to lead this fight. The credibility of the Muslim community suffers because groups such as CAIR, ISNA, and the North American Imams Federation deny the interplay between Islamism and terrorism.

Non-Muslims also have a role. Both the U.S. government and mainstream media often give Islamists and their organizations exclusive voice to speak on behalf of American Muslims, which creates a cycle of apparent, if not real, empowerment. Seldom do they turn to non-Islamists and anti-Islamists who may represent far more American Muslims. The recent refusal of PBS to air the ABG Films, Inc. documentary Islam v. Islamists is a prime example of the manner in which media producers and executives shield Islamists from criticism.

Islamofascist Awareness Week Opposition

There has been much misinformation about the recent Islamopfascist Awareness Week. I ran across this twisted lecture at Emory University. It is extraordinarily wrong-headed.

A Lecture By Dr. Hassan Ali El-Najjar at Emory University, October 23, 2007, about Islamofascist Awareness Week.

Greetings and Introduction:
It gives me great pleasure to be here tonight to participate in an educational event that I hope to increase our understanding of our world, to contribute to the world peace, and prosperity of all nations, particularly our country, the United States of America.

I'd like first to thank Cleave Pierce and the Outspoken Allies who through their efforts and courageous initiative made this event possible. They have lit tonight's candle instead of joining a long line of others who have been content with cursing darkness, in a whispering and whining tone.

I'd like also to thank the administration of the Emory University which allowed the event to happen as a contribution to increasing understanding of the University community about the this important issue.

I'd like to thank everyone here tonight promising to do my best to make this evening as educational and as enjoyable as possible.

Finally, for those who organized the "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" in Emory, if anyone of them is here tonight, I'd like to tell them that I came in peace to educate them about the consequences of this campaign on their Muslim American colleagues here in Emory, and on Muslim Americans in general. I hope that I'll contribute to their education of other world views than their own.

I hope and pray that an atmosphere of respect, love, and desire for peace prevails in this night. I'm not here for anything else.

Note that only the leftists deviated from respectful communications during Islamofascist Awareness Week. But that is what it means to be a leftist, I guess.

I learned that a week-long program has been organized in Emory and other campuses nationwide under the title of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week."
Before I start, I'd like just to tell everybody here that the mere association of Islam and fascism is painful enough for me and for Muslims to the extent of religious persecution.

It is unfortunate that radical Islamists have created in our public arena that association of Islam with fascism. It is up to Muslims to take the necessary steps to rid their ranks of the fascist elements. So far, I see no progress or even any meaningful attempt at progress.

It is an attempt to instigate Christian and Jewish students against their Muslim friends, colleagues, and professors. Just imagine if somebody organizes an event to smear Judaism or Christianity associating them with fascism. I don't accept that as a Muslim and I don't expect Jews and Christians to accept it.

I hope this complete misstatement of the situation is not intentional. Nothing about Islamofascist Awareness Week smears Islam in general. It was about those who do evil who brag that they are acting in the name of Islam – not all Muslims. The organizers were careful to make that absolutely clear to anyone who would listen.

In brief, why is the religion of Islam being smeared and attacked, when the conflict is not religious?

Wars have never been launched for religious purposes.

Osama bin Laden and his crew announce again and again that the conflict is religious. It was in all the papers. What universe does Mr. El-Najjar inhabit?

World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iran-Iraq War, Gulf War, Current Iraq War, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have all started for resources and secular geo-strategic goals.
Then, how can we explain such attempts to blame Islam and smear it?

Good question: why does Osama bin Laden smear Islam the way that he does and why do Muslims fail to point that out?

Why is this attempt to harass Muslim Americans, even innocent students and professors in their campuses?

It is of course no such thing. Muslims are asked to join the Week's activities, but instead oppose them, thus supporting bin Laden and sending the message to America that they will not renounce him and his activities.

Is it an attempt to distract the American people, including students, from the real problems facing the United States?

Is it an attempt to prepare Americans for another devastating war, on Iran this time?

Why not organizing "Awareness Weeks" about our major problems:

- The US national debt, which exceeded $9 trillion?

The US national debt never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- The influence of oil companies on foreign policy?

The oil companies never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- The influence of the Israel Lobby on the legislative and executive branches of our government?

The Israel lobby never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- Our health care system that leaves millions of Americans without coverage?

The health care system never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- The half million Americans who are killed annually by the tobacco industry? (Olson & Defrane, 2000: 32).

The tobacco industry never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- The one hundred thousand Americans who are killed annually by the alcoholic beverage industry? (Olson & Defrane, 2000: 32).

The alcohol beverage industry never flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- Why do we have the highest rates of imprisonment, abortion, and teenage pregnancy in the world.

None of these ever flew airliners in the the World Trade Center.

- Why are all these essential problems ignored?

They are not being ignored, but guess what they never did to us!

- Are such campaigns to smear the great religion of Al-Islam an attempt to distract the American people from thinking about these problems and expecting their government to address them instead?

The Islamofascism Awareness Week is not a campaign to smear Islam, unless ..... the only logical way that Islamofascism Awareness Week could be interpreted to smear Islam is if Islam really is what bin Laden says it is. If Islam and Islamofascism are two different things, there is no way that anyone can logically say that Islamofascism Awareness Week smears Islam.

I hope, accordingly, that Mr. el-Najjar is wrong and Islamofascism Awareness Week does not smear Islam, because I would like to believe that Islam is better than the religion that bin Laden says it is.

I will quote and respond to no more of Mr. el-Najjar's lecture. The lecture is simply more of the same drivel. It is sad that Mr. el-Najjar chose to be divisive and to make false accusations rather than to bring people together in the common cause of fighting terrorism with the peaceful religion most of us would like Islam to be and to be perceived as.

Unfortunately, Mr. el-Najjar perpetuates the worst of perceptions about Islam. It is a shame that he chose that path.