There are times when I see a really hideous looking building and I think "that monstrosity didn't just happen. Someone designed it. Someone approved it. It went before a board that signed off on funding it. And a construction company was then hired to build it." In other words, many people, not just one architect, are to blame.
That's how I feel we must approach the continuing disturbing revelations of biased material about Islam and Arabs that have been found in instructional manuals and other resources used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to prepare agents for their work in dealing with America's Arab and Muslim communities.
The steady flow of leaks about these materials has established that they contain shocking misinformation about Islam and depictions of the religion and culture of Arabs and Muslims that can only be characterized as bigoted. A few examples will suffice:
There is much more in the training manuals. Reporters have found equally troubling material in the FBI's resource library and on the agency's internal website. In an interview with a law enforcement official who had prepared some of this offensive material, he is quoted as saying "there is evidence to support the contention that sources of terrorism in Islam may reside within the strategic themes of Islam" and "Mohammed's mindset is a source for terrorism."
After a year or so of these revelations, the FBI has announced that following an internal review they had removed offensive material from their programs saying that they were in "factual error...poor taste...lacked precision." They were, however, also quick to add that in their review of over 160,000 pages of material they found only 900 pages that were problematic. Finally, they announced a new set of "guiding principles" that will henceforth govern their work in this area. This is in addition to an earlier announcement that they had "reassigned" one individual who had been responsible for one of the more anti-Islam training programs.
These initial steps to correct course are important. But I have seen nothing so far that convinces me that the highest law enforcement agency in the country understands the depth of the problem or is prepared to take the appropriate measures required to fully address this situation. It is deeper than the one individual who designed one of the programs. And it cannot simply be remedied by excising 900 pages of materials found to be "inaccurate" or in "poor taste."
Referring back to my original point--there must have been a committee that approved the program, the leadership must have signed off on it, and, from all we know, hundreds or even thousands of law enforcement officials were trained with this material.
Given all this, serious questions must be raised about the efficacy of the "internal review." Who conducted it and how can we believe that it was not done by the very same leadership group that had approved the offensive material in the first place? And is it sufficient to simply tell those agents who were trained with the program that they are now simply to ignore 900 pages? And what of the other 159,000 pages? Can we trust that they are not equally offensive, or maybe that they are just "mildly offensive?"
It is for these reasons, and more, that the Arab American Institute has said that this entire affair will not be closed until four conditions have been met.
First, there must be transparency and a full public disclosure of all training materials pertaining to the Arab and Muslim communities. This material should not be treated as "secret." It is about us and we want to know what is being taught about our history, culture, and religion.
There must be accountability. How this program was approved and who approved it is important for there to be real change. More than one person was at fault here and more individuals who were responsible for this situation need to be sanctioned and reassigned or removed from their posts.
Next, it is vitally important that those who were trained now be retrained. For lost trust to be rebuilt, it is critical that new cultural sensitivity programs be put in place. Agents whose attitudes have been shaped by exposure to the hurtful and wrong-headed training programs of the past need to know how to challenge the misinformation campaign to which they were subjected.
And finally there must be an acknowledgment of the wrong that was done to our communities and to our country's ability to respectfully engage with Arabs and Muslims. This is vital to our future as Americans and to our ability to develop the ties that will be needed to foster trust and understanding.
I can only imagine if in a different era we had discovered similar programs about African American, Latinos, or Jews. The outcry would have been deafening and the demands for an apology, accountability, transparency, and retraining would be heard. In this instance, our demand for a full and appropriate response must be no less.
Follow James Zogby on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AAIUSA
False or prejudicial stance? Not at all. Just one example:
“In an interview with the Al-Jazeera News Channel, [Shaykh Sharif] said that public interest requires cooperation with the United States, because they came under the threats of al-Qaeda and the piracy. He said: “For these reasons, I accepted to shake hands with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, although I am an Islamist president, necessity required taking such a step.”
“I say Shaykh Sharif is aware of the necessities, but he does not give them their right precedence. The truth is that with such excuse he is deceiving the Somali people, and portraying the event as a mere handshake with a woman that was required by necessity, in order to obscure a stark reality and in an attempt to cover it with this manipulation. In fact, with this handshake, he put his hand in the hand of the enemies, and contracted a support deal with them, sided by them, and favored their enmity and outward show over the mujahidin.
“This is the truth of Shaykh Sharif`s handshake with the US Secretary of State. It was not a mere handshake with a passing woman. As for a discussion about the non-permissibility to shake hands with women from a religious standpoint, this is the view of the Murji`ah (non-righteous scholars) of this era.
http://www.biyokulule.com/view_content.php?articleid=2217
• Shabbir Ahmed- 47 years old - Windows on the World Restaurant
• Tariq Amanullah- 40 years old - Fiduciary Trust Co.
• Michael Baksh- 36 years old - Marsh & McLennan
• Touri Hamzavi Bolourchi- 69 years old - retired nurse on United #175
• Abul K. Chowdhury- 30 years old - Cantor Fitzgerald
• Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury- 38 years old - Windows on the World
• Jemal Legesse De Santis- 28 years old - World Trade Center
• Simon Suleman Ali Kassamali Dhanani- 63 years old - Aon Corp.
• Syed Abdul Fatha- 54 years old - Pitney Bowes
• Mon Gjonbalaj- 65 years old - Janitor, World Trade Center
• Nezam A. Hafiz- 32 years old - Marsh & McLennan
• Mohammed Salman Hamdani- 23 years old - NYPD Cadet
• Zuhtu Ibis- 25 years old - Cantor Fitzgerald
• Muhammadou Jawara- 30 years old - MAS Security
• Sarah Khan- 32 years old - Forte Food Service
• Taimour Firaz Khan- 29 years old - Carr Futures
• Abdoulaye Kone- 37 years old - Windows on the World
• Abdu Ali Malahi- 37 years old - WTC Marriott
• Nurul Hoque Miah- 35 years old - Marsh & McLennan
• Boyie
An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984.
This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine.
At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%.
May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?
Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam.
Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?
"People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Iranians and Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day MUHAMMAD was born".
There is no alternative to building bridges of understanding and mutual and peaceful co-existence.
As the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, 21 per cent of respondents told a study they had detected "a great deal" or "a fair deal" of support for extremism in their areas.
While the vast majority said that suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians to protect Islam were never justified, 19 per cent of respondents did not agree with this statement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8731604/One-in-five-US-Muslims-knows-of-extremist-support-in-community.html
1. Accommodation and compromise between [Islam and the West] are impermissible and fighting [for Muslims] is obligatory"
" o9.0 JIHAD
" (O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and it is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion. And it is the lesser jihad. “[…]
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden—who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book—until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled” (Koran 9:29)
http://www.shafiifiqh.com/maktabah/relianceoftraveller.pdf
3. Orthodox, mainstream ideology is a threat.
"o11.0 NON-MUSLIM SUBJECTS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE (AHL AL-DHIMMA)
op. cit.
4. Zakat is characterized as "a funding mechanism for combat"
"THE EIGHT CATEGORIES OF RECIPIENTS
h8.7 It is obligatory to distribute one's zakat among eight categories of recipients [...] , one-eighth of the zakat to each category.
[...]
THOSE FIGHTING FOR ALLAH
h8.17 The seventh category is those fighting for Allah, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster (O: but who are volunteers for jihad without remuneration).”
[...]
op.cit.
Also see the Holy Land Foundation Trial court records:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood#United_States_of_America
Muslims flew planes into the twin towers and Pentagon and into the ground in PA--killing nearly three thousand people. Muslims have called for the destruction of a nation that is a democracy--Isreal. Muslims have labeled the United States "the great Satan". Accurate.
Muslims have rioted and killed people because books were burned--not any irreplaceable antiquity either--very much a temper tantrum+. A Muslim that threw a shoe at a US President--very poor taste. Muslims make death threats against those that "offend" them with humor.
Muslims refused to permit schoolgirls to leave a burning building and allowed those Muslim schoolgirls to burn to death because they did not have their heads covered. Muslims charge young girls who have been raped with adultry and imprison them and then will not give them their freedom unless they "marry" the rapist that fathered their child by rape. Offensive to every self-respecting woman.
Quit whining; instead: BY YOUR OWN ACTIONS, make the reputation you want to have.
So, it is again someone else who should clean up the image of Arab Muslim? Not those Muslim themselves?
Islam is indeed incompatible with the West, and its relgions. Islam is a perpetually cursading religion and it uses war tactics. The original intent of Jihad, which is a religious war of spirit and actual war itself, has lost its meaning completely. It is now a military war ONLY. Murder/suicide, and using women, children and the elderly for the purpose of waging war, is against Islam; it is a sin. Telling Muslim that if they blow themselveves and other civilians up they are shahids and go to heaven is a lie. They go to hell instead, according to Islam. It is true,. that Christianity has also known its crusades, but those had another purpose, and where not perpetual, contrary to the crusades of Islam. Islam does not respect other religions. It attacks. It is not religion per se. It is a whole system, and way of life, which includes government, the military aswell as religion. That is why Muslim who migrate often get immediately involved with local and national politics on a very large scale. The danger of Islam is that it leaves no one alone, until everyone is converted, and uses and, and all, means to do so, including murder and taquyya/slander.
You don't have to take my word for it ... just look around.
Where's any actual evidence that what you wrote is the least bit true?
The patter, for example, of the warfare out of Gaza is totally according to the textbooks on Islamic Warfare, They state that they are in a perpetual war, and they carry it out, consistently. Even the continuing *truces* are up to Islamic Code. Note, that there is ALWAYS a truce, and NEVER any attempt at making Peace.
I have looked around since I first opened my eyes. I write a lot, but in real life I am quiet, and observant. I see things, I remember things. I read - a lot - I talk to all sorts of people, always have. I have known and met Muslim since the first ones came from Indonesia to The Netherlands. I met them @ work, engineering firm, I went shopping with/for their wives. Your assertion, that I know nothing about Muslim, and you do, is a little, well, dare I say arrogant?
1. Separation of religion and state.
2. Freedom of speech—including the right to criticize, make fun of and show disrespect for Islam, the Koran and Mohammed.
3. Freedom of conscience—the complete freedom of Muslims to join, leave or ignore any religion.
4. Equal rights for women—including the right for a single woman to choose her husband and freedom from physical punishment by the husband.
5. Equal rights for gays.
6. Equality of all before the law—including non Muslim religious groups.
7. Children’s rights—no marriage of underage children.
8. Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment—hudud penalties
the FBI and CIA are big boys and girls, they can put things in perspective regardless of ANY official manual. I was in the military, I know how the system works: bureaucrats make all their high-falutin' pronouncements, then we in the trenches get the job done the way it's supposed to be done.
But the ignorance shoved down the throats of our children by public schools is an ENTIRELY different matter.
For crying out loud! One, two three, sob with me. Ain't it awful.
I have been commenting, here, and elsewhere, for a long time. I have learned a lot from just reading what others have to say, and from factchecking. Books are available cheaply - I still like the old fashioned books, and now one can get them for just about $ 1.-- secondhand in excellent condition. I also like online info and publications, kindle, foreign newspapers, and...talking to people face to face. Most foreing newspapers are available with one click in English. Being able to read the original language is even better!
I have been talking with Muslim ever since I met the first ones @ age 12-13. I talk to everyone, I think people involved in inelligence do too. In fact, I know that military intelligence does that. Knowing the language, and first hand personal observation helps. Then, today we also have those cute helpful videos.
This is the same feeling upon seeing the fortified watchtowers and 25 foot wall separating the Palestinians from their families, jobs, and places of worship in Jerusalem. To see where Jesus travelled (which we commemorate as Palm Sunday) split and overshadowed by weapons and walls
Here's an excellent overview of how they go about it.
Manufacturing The Muslim Menace
http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/training/Muslim_Menace_Complete.pdf