Re: THE CLARION PROJECT

Admin Sat 28 Mar 2015, 7:46 pm

Carnegie Middle East Center Director Touts Al-Qaeda as Ally
Lina Khatib, director of the prestigious think tank wrote a piece for Carnegie describing Jabhat al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, as a potential ally.
BY ELLIOT FRIEDLAND Wed, March 25, 2015
Fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra with the jihadi black flag, emblazoned with the shahada.
The director of the Carnegie Middle East Center has written an article on Carnegie’s official website portraying Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Syrian Civil War, Jabhat al-Nusra, as a possible Western ally. She calls this “An Opportunity for the West.”
In a piece entitled ‘The Nusra Front’s Game-Changing Rise in Syria,’ the Director of the Middle East Center Lina Khatib argued that “The Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, is gaining in strength and popularity, and it could become an ally in the fight against the Islamic State.”
She opens by praising the group’s successes against the regime forces of Bashar al-Assad, before stating her case thus: “The West currently sees the Nusra Front as a threat. But Nusra’s pragmatism and ongoing evolution mean that it could become an ally in the fight against the Islamic State.”
In using the term ‘pragmatism’ she is comparing Nusra to the Islamic State, whose brutality has shocked the world.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/carnegie-middle-east-center-director-touts-al-qaeda-ally-0

THE ISLAMIC STATE RECRUITED 400 CHILD SOLDIERS IN 3 MONTHS
ISIS has been bolstering its ranks with children, indoctrinated into its totalitarian worldview and trained to fight as 'Cubs of the Caliphate.'
Tue, March 24, 2015the Caliphate.'
Over the last three months the Islamic State has recruited some 400 child soldiers, according to a Syrian monitor group.
It calls them the ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’ thematically in keeping with the styling of its adult army as the ‘lions of ISIS.’
Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported the child recruitment, said “They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead.”
He speculated that child recruitment may stem from difficulties in recruiting adults to join the organization.
The Islamic State has been training children since at least year. In August 2014 Vice News interviewed children who were being indoctrinated into Islamic State ideology inside Syria as part of their documentary on the Islamic State.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/islamic-state-recruited-400-child-soldiers-3-months

SHIITES BOMBED BY ISIS WHILE SHOUTING 'DEATH TO AMERICA'
142 people were killed in two mosque bombings on Friday in Yemen in attacks claimed by the Islamic State, part of an escalating sectarian war.
Mon, March 23, 2015
At least 142 people were killed on Friday in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa as suicide bombings ripped through two mosques, killing dozens of worshippers at prayer. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Yesterday the Houthi rebels took control of Taiz, the third largest city in Yemen.
These are the latest incidents in Yemen’s escalating civil war between Iranian backed Shiite Houthi rebels, forces loyal to the ousted President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and extremist Sunni groups.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State are both operating in Yemen and attempting to seize control of the jihadist movement there.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/shiites-bombed-isis-while-shouting-death-america
HIZB-UT TAHRIR IN MALAYSIA DEMAND HUDUD IMMEDIATELY
Hizb-ut Tahrir in Malaysia have rejected a proposal to put the hudud punishments of sharia law before Parliament on the grounds that subjecting sharia law to the democratic process is forbidden according to Islamic law.
Fri, March 27, 2015
Graphic used to promote Hizb-ut Tahrir Malaysia, showing the black banner of jihad flying over the shrine of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Hizb-ut Tahrir in Malaysia have rejected a proposal to put the hudud punishments of sharia law before parliament on the grounds that subjecting sharia law to the democratic process is forbidden according to Islamic law.
A bill to implement hudud punishments has already been passed in Malysia's Kelantan state. The new law bars non-Muslims from serving as legal witnesses in court, and introduces punishments including caning, amputation, crucifixion and stoning. Politicians are now attempting to bring hudud punishments before the national parliament.
Hizb-ut Tahrir, which is an international Islamist group focused on the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate, strenuously disagreed with implementing sharia law through democracy.
Instead the group demanded that the hudud punishments be implemented immediately without regard to any parliamentary process.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/hizb-ut-tahrir-malaysia-demand-hudud-immediately

Admin Mon 23 Mar 2015, 9:57 am

Iranians Chant "Death to America" While Negotiations Continue
The Supreme Leader of Iran presided over chants of "Death to America" while responding to Pres. Obama's conciliatory message to Iran.
Sun, March 22, 2015
Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, presided over chants of “Death to America” in his Nowruz address to the people of Iran.
Nowruz is the Persian New Year and the Supreme Leader traditionally gives on address to mark the festival.
As part of his Nowruz address, Khamenei responded to President Obama’s Nowruz video message, in which he spoke directly to the Iranian people and called on them to support a nuclear deal.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/iranians-chant-death-america-while-negotiations-continue

ISLAMISTS FOMENTING ANTI-SEMITISM ON US CAMPUSES
Students report being emotionally and intellectually harassed, intimidated, threatened, and bullied by their fellow students
WATCH 29.33 min video
Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNDCcsH_wgU
Published on 25 Feb 2015
Israel is under assault on North American college campuses today like never before. Anti-Israel activities to alienate, demonize, and delegitimize Israel are increasingly crossing the line into anti-Semitism, in the form of hate speech, harassment and intimidation.

SENATOR RAND PAUL CALLS FOR A BOYCOTT OF SAUDI ARABIA
Senator Rand Paul criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for taking money from Saudi Arabia & similar repressive regimes.
Sun, March 22, 2015
Republican presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) called for a boycott of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, citing the Gulf Kingdom’s long history of appalling human rights abuses.
He compared Saudi Arabia to apartheid South Africa and suggested that similar tactics should be used to pressure Saudi Arabia into changing its policies.
Senator Paul spoke about a Saudi rape case from a few years ago in which a woman who was gang-raped but received 90 lashes when she reported it for the crime of being in a car with a man she wasn’t married to.
Paul argued, “This is something we should be organizing a boycott of. Do you remember how when South Africa was misbehaving, we organized a boycott of South Africa? We should be boycotting Saudi Arabia, not taking money from Saudi Arabia's government.”
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/senator-rand-paul-calls-boycott-saudi-arabia

SAUDI ARABIA REACTS HARSHLY TO CRITICISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will no longer be issuing business visas to Swedish nationals in response to Swedish criticism.
Thu, March 19, 2015
Saudi Arabia today announced that it was cancelling all business visas to Swedish citizens, in the latest escalation in the row between the two countries.
Sweden cancelled a long-standing defense contract with Saudi Arabia earlier this month over concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
Swedish diplomat Margot Wallström had been scheduled to give the opening address at a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo. Yet in February she had called the Kingdom a “dictatorship” and heavily criticized the Kingdom for flogging liberal blogger Raif Badawi in a speech to the Swedish parliament.
In protest, Saudi Arabia blocked her from speaking at the Arab League conference, and an Arab League statement was put out heavily criticizing Sweden’s comments on human rights and democracy, saying “Sharia has guaranteed human rights and preserved people’s lives, possessions, honour and dignity. The ministers consider the comments as irresponsible and unacceptable”
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/saudi-arabia-reacts-harshly-criticism-human-rights-record

Admin Fri 20 Mar 2015, 10:23 pm

U.S. AIR FORCE VETERAN ARRESTED ATTEMPTING TO JOIN ISLAMIC STATE
Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, a recent convert to Islam, attempted to enter Turkey and join the Islamic State but was deported back to America
The FBI has arrested an Air Force veteran named Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh for attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. The FBI had intelligence about his Al-Qaeda sympathies as far back as 2001 and his Facebook shows him to be a fervent supporter of Hamas.
The official complaint against Pugh states that he destroyed evidence of his jihadist aspirations between May 15, 2014 and January 12, 2015. His last known address was in Neptune, N.J. and he was arrested in Asbury Park, a nearby city.
Pugh served in the U.S. Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and specialized in aircraft equipment, developing an expertise in engines, navigation systems and weaponry. He moved to San Antonio, Texas in or around 1998 and converted to Islam. There is no information in the complaint about what mosques he attended or what groups he associated himself with.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/us-air-force-veteran-arrested-attempting-join-islamic-state

IRAN, HEZBOLLAH OMITTED AS THREATS IN U.S. NAT'L INTEL REPORT
Hezbollah and Iran are no longer listed as terrorism threats in a recent report delivered to the U.S. Senate by U.S. National Intelligence.
Quietly and unassumingly, Iran and Hezbollah have been removed from the list of terrorism threats in a report delivered to the U.S. Senate by the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.
Iran and Hezbollah had been listed as terror threats for many years in the agency's previous reports. This year's report, published on Feb. 26, 2015, comes amid the U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist organization, is generally viewed as a fealty to Iran. The group was designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Titled, “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Communities,” the unclassified version of the report notes Iran’s willingness to battle Sunni extremists, especially the Isalmic State, and Iran's “intentions to dampen sectarianism, build responsive partners, and deescalate tensions with Saudi Arabia.”
Hezbollah has also been involved in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq in its support of the totalitarian Assad regime.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/iran-hezbollah-omitted-threats-natl-intel-report

ZAYTUNA COLLEGE GAINS ACCREDITATION DESPITE ISLAMIST TIES
Zaytuna College has gained official accreditation to grant a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Law and Theology despite founders' extremist records.
Zaytuna College, an Islamist college in the US, has become an accredited institution of higher learning. It was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission.
It is now authorized to issue a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Law and Theology.
There is nothing wrong with accrediting Muslim colleges in the United States (or anywhere else, for that matter). Yet Zaytuna specifically has a long history of inciting extremism and of relationships with terrorist supporting clerics that should be pause for thought before regarding the college as a respectable institution of higher learning
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/islamist-zaytuna-college-gains-official-accreditation
CHICAGO TRIBUNE CHALLENGES CLARION'S PEGGING ISLAMIST GROUP, IGNORES OWN REPORTS
It's ironic that the Chicago Tribune itself published a series of articles about Islamist groups in the US, including the group in question.
The Chicago Tribune printed a story on March 12 dismissing the Clarion Project's reporting on an Islamist group in Oak Brook, Illinois named the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). The Chicago Tribune could have found the truth about NAIT's Islamism by checking out a critical source: Its own archives.
The article was published in reaction to a segment on The O'Reilly Factor in January that featured the Clarion Project's research, including a map that shows an Islamist organization in Oak Brook, Illinois. The organization is the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and you can see our fully-documented profile of the group here.
The Chicago Tribune article implies that the Clarion Project was evasive when questioned about NAIT, reporting that Oak Brook Village Manager Rick Ginex emailed me to inform me that the FBI found that no extremist group exists in the area.
I received no such email from Ginex nor did I receive a message from anyone identifying himself as being from the Chicago Tribune.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/chicago-tribune-ignores-own-reports-islamist-group

Admin Sat 14 Mar 2015, 12:44 am

http://www.clarionproject.org/news/imam-who-called-death-ayaan-hirsi-ali-prison-chaplain
IMAM WHO CALLED FOR DEATH OF AYAAN HIRSI ALI IS PRISON CHAPLAIN
Fouad al-Bayly, who called for the death of prominent women's rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was hired to teach Islam in prisons
An Egyptian born Imam who has publically supported the death penalty for those who choose to leave Islam has since been hired by the Department of Justice to teach Islam in prisons.
Fouad al-Bayly, the Imam of the Islamic Center of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, said in 2007 that Ayan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian women’s rights activist and fierce critic of Islam, deserves to die for her public attacks on the faith.
Ali was scheduled to speak at the nearby University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown in 2007, and al-Bayly was involved in protesting against her visit. He told local newspapers: “If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death.”
This is a mainstream view among Islamists. Hardline cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Ali has every reason to take death threats seriously. She has received multiple death threats in the past. Dutch Film Director Theo Van Gogh, who made the film Submission, scripted by ali, which criticized Islam, was killed in 2004. A note pinned to his chest with a knife said that Ali was next.
Yet despite his extremist past, government records show that as of 2014 Fouad al-Bayly has been hired to teach Islam in prisons to the inmates.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/imam-who-called-death-ayaan-hirsi-ali-prison-chaplain

Admin Fri 06 Mar 2015, 8:09 pm

Why Obama's Criticism of Netanyahu's Iran Speech Is Flawed
Politico's article about what Obama's team thinks of Netanyahu's speech are the talking points for those wish to bury their heads in the sand about the Iran.
olitico has published an article listing the "5 things President Obama's team thinks [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu got wrong." These five arguments are merely obfuscating talking points for those wish to bury their heads in the sand about the Iranian nuclear threat.
1. There cannot be more sanctions and sanctions don't work.
The first false rebuttal is contradictory. It maintains that "years of stiff sanctions have failed to halt — or even slow — the progress of Iran's nuclear program." Are we supposed to believe that Iran came to the table out of a desire for American affection?
The Obama Administration itself says that sanctions brought the Iranians to the table. It only stands to reason that sanctions—or at least the threat of much harsher sanctions — will likewise influence their calculations.
The claim that sanctions have failed to impede the nuclear program is unverifiable and almost certainly inaccurate. Sanctions resulted in less revenue, a hampered infrastructure as entities and key personnel had their assets frozen and denial of access to important technology. Iran’s nuclear program has been going on for decades, and sanctions are a reasonable explanation as to why their ultimate ambitions have not been realized.
The officials and experts interviewed by Politico say "more sanctions are not a realistic option." Why not?
There are countless Iranian entities that could be sanctioned by the Treasury Department for involvement in weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, corruption and human rights abuses. The sanctions bill proposed by Congress would incrementally slap different sectors of the Iranian economy with sanctions. The bottom line is that there is plenty left to target.
It is argued that the international community will not participate in tougher sanctions. The sanctions bill is designed to address that very problem by threatening foreign companies doing business in Iran. No successful businessman will choose the Iranian market over the American market if his primary concern is profit.
The response further says that sanctions won't work because the price tag on Iran's program is $100 billion already, proving the regime's determination. This only underscores the point that Iran is dead-set on achieving nuclear breakout capacity. This fact can just as easily be used to question the viability of the reported deal.
2. A nuclear domino effect probably won't happen.
President Obama's own former Secretary of State and likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton disagrees. In 2008, she said the same thing that Netanyahu did at the time. "I can imagine that they [Iran's neighbors] would be rushing to obtain nuclear weapons themselves," Clinton said. She also stated that only a U.S. "security umbrella" might persuade them not to. Iran's neighbors have made it forcefully clear in the past eight years that they don't see the U.S. as reliable, so this isn't an option.
The Middle East nuclear domino has been underway for years. It is widely understood that the Saudis financed the Pakistani nuclear program so they could receive nukes if deemed necessary. Arab leaders privately say that this is exactly what they will do and sometimes hint at it publicly.
The nearing of a nuclear deal has apparently motivated at least two Arab countries to begin developing their own nuclear infrastructure. Saudi Arabia and South Korea just signed a deal for two nuclear reactors and Egypt and Russia agreed to build one last month.
One part of Politico’s reasoning that a nuclear domino effect is unlikely to happen is so ridiculous that it's nearly comical. The article states, "As Iran has demonstrated, developing nuclear arms is very costly, both politically and economically." Well, what has Iran been doing since 1979?
Furthermore, the economic and political cost of developing nuclear weapons would be dramatically less for Iran's neighbors than it has been for Iran. The U.S. will not place sanctions on Saudi Arabia or any of its Gulf partners. Any political blowback will be minimal because everyone will understand that the development of nuclear arms by the Gulf States is a response to the Iranian threat. Furthermore, these oil-rich regimes have plenty of money to throw around to finance such programs.
3. The Iranian regime is changing.
This assertion is missing a rather critical element: Evidence. Iran's behavior hasn't changed one iota except that the arms it gives to terrorists are more advanced and now its suppression of freedom has to include internet censorship.
Politico’s analysis treats Iran as if it were a democracy. It says Iran has "strong reformist elements and saw huge political protests in 2009. The 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani was a vote for change and reform against the hardliners."
Rouhani’s election was not equivalent to a general election as this language suggests. Presidential contests in Iran are more like party primaries. His presidential candidacy was approved of by the very same regime that the Green Revolution challenged. The vetting process is so stringent that the Guardian Council only allows a mere two percent of the candidates to run. It is within that small extremist circle that Rouhani appears "moderate."
Moreover, human rights have only gotten worse under Rouhani’s tenure. Either his office is virtually meaningless or he is just another manipulative politician who knew what words to use. BBC News points out that his campaign criticized the regime's bloody crackdown on student protests in 1999, but he condemned those same students at the time.
If he had his way in 1999, the opposition movement would never have reached that point. Here's what Rouhani said at the time:
"At dusk yesterday we received a decisive revolutionary order to crush mercilessly and monumentally any move of these opportunist elements wherever it may occur. From today our people shall witness how in the arena our law enforcement force ... shall deal with these opportunists and riotous elements, if they simply dare to show their faces."
Rouhani's election isn't the fruition of the 2009 Green Movement. He endorsed pro-regime rallies that took place after the Green Revolution was crushed. Rouhani is closer to Khamenei than Ahmadinejad was.
On the nuclear issue, Rouhani has bragged about using deception in negotiations to expand the nuclear program.
The Obama Administration officials and supporters interviewed by Politico in this section point to the age of Supreme Leader Khamenei of 75 years old and reports that he's in bad shape. It paints a dynamic of old "hardliners" like Khamenei declining and "moderates" like Rouhani rising.
Here's how the process of choosing the Supreme Leader works. The filling of this position is decided by the Assembly of Experts whose members are "elected" to eight-year terms. However, all candidacies need to be approved by the Guardian Council. Who picks the members of the Council? The Supreme Leader.
Khamenei's replacement will be like him or even worse. A member of the Assembly of Experts is Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi and he is said to be trying to build a coalition in the body to appoint him as successor. He is also said to be close to Khamenei's son, another possible successor.
Mesbah-Yazdi is often referred to as the spiritual guide for former President Ahmadinejad, who is also speculated to be planning a return to politics directly or through allies. Mesbah-Yazdi wrote in 2005 that the “most advanced weapons must be produced inside our country even if enemies don’t like it. There is no reason they have the right to produce special types of weapons, while other countries are deprived of it.”
Another cleric in the city of Qom who is a follower of Mesbah-Yazdi issued a fatwa in 2006 that said it is “only natural” for Iran to build nukes and “for the first time … the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem, according to sharia.”
The forecast isn't one of brighter days. It's of the same or possibly even worse days.

4. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will stop Iran.
The Politico article states, "But even after such a [10-year] nuclear deal expires, Iran will remain bound by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it ratified in 1970 … Iran has also pledged to accept additional IAEA monitoring and inspection."
The Iranian regime has a long history of breaking agreements. Iran is already in breach of it.
The text of the treaty says, "States must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any States or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations…"
Israel is not a signatory to the treaty but it is a member of the United Nations. Iran's constant genocidal pledges to destroy Israel therefore violate the treaty. Other violations include its threats and use of proxy warfare throughout the region.
Article II of the treaty prevents non-nuclear signatories from pursuing explicit weapons-related work. That's exactly what Iran has done at its Parchin site and elsewhere. The IAEA says Iran continues to fail to provide explanations for evidence showing that it violated the treaty by working on nuclear bombs.
Article III of the treaty requires signatories to work with the IAEA to verify that they are in compliance. Again, the IAEA says that Iran is not doing this. Iran has repeatedly violated this by hiding nuclear sites.
And here's the weakest part of Politico’s statements: Article X of the treaty says signatories "have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country." All that is required is a three-month notice.
5. There's no such thing as a better deal.
The Politico article summarizes, "A significantly better deal isn't realistic. Iran will not accept it." Harsher sanctions have not even been threatened, so the confidence in that statement is unwarranted.
The Obama administration itself argues that Iran's nuclear program is subject to a cost-and-benefit analysis. If that is so, then we should threaten to raise the costs. If limited sanctions fomented the interim deal, then the possibility of tougher ones will increase the chances of a viable long-term deal.
It's worth recalling that Iran completely suspended uranium enrichment in the past. The deal's supporters say Iran will never dismantle its nuclear program. That may be true, but recent history shows it is willing to suspend its nuclear activity. Under the Bush administration, Iran suspended its enrichment activities several times.This was done under Supreme Leader Khamenei, who still rules today. Now, Iran faces even greater economic difficulties and is suffering from low oil prices.
Recent history and current economic factors indicate Iran would be willing to settle for much less than it is being offered today. Short-term agreements that suspend enrichment are preferable to long-term deals that limit enrichment.
Avoiding war and achieving a viable deal are goals worth striving towards, but those goals can only be achieved if our negotiating premises are rooted in reality. If these responses published by Politico accurately reflect the beliefs of the U.S. negotiators, then they are misunderstanding the Iranian regime and our diplomacy is doomed to fail with potentially disastrous consequences.
Video: Say No to a Nuclear Iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dukyWFEKM

Admin Tue 03 Mar 2015, 10:37 pm

THECLARION PROJECT
Victoria Cross Winning British Soldier Threated With Kidnap

Lance-Corporal Joshua Leakey, VC, currently serving in the parachute regiment, has been threatened with kidnap by Islamic extremists in UK
Tue, March 3, 2015
A decorated British army veteran has been warned by the Army’s top brass that he has been threatened with kidnapping by Islamists in the UK.
The soldier and his family have now implemented increases to their security in light of the threats. A Defense source told the Daily Mail “His life will never be the same. For this reason we have to be very careful. The soldier and his family have embraced the changes.”
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey, 27, currently serving in the Parachute Regiment, won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honor this week. He was decorated for saving the life of US marine Brandon Bocian under heavy fire in in 2013.
He is the only soldier from the Afghanistan conflict to receive the award without dying.
In a statement reported by The Independent, Lance Corporal Leakey said that the award was “not about me in particular” and really belonged to the whole regiment.
He said that “the only thing I was really scared of was letting my cap badge down… I’m lucky. I’m here. I’ve got all my limbs, my health. I’ve got my friends and my family.
Watch the awards ceremony:
Lance Corporal Josh Leakey awarded VC for valour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJitV4AMy0M
Published on 26 Feb 2015
The PARA who singlehandedly prevented considerable loss of life during an assault into a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan is to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour, it has been announced today with the publication of the operational honours and awards list.
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Admin Thu 26 Feb 2015, 3:14 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT

ISIS Cell Arrested in Brooklyn – Planned Attacks on Obama, US
BY RYAN MAURO Thu, February 26, 2015
The FBI arrested the 3 Islamic State members in New York is, in large part, due to a confidential informant at an unidentified mosque.
The FBI has arrested three Islamic State (ISIS) members in Brooklyn, New York, in large part due to a confidential informant at an unidentified mosque. The conspirators discussed carrying out an attack in America if they are unable to join the Islamic State in Syria.
The three suspected terrorists are Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, Akhror Saidakhmetov and Abror Habibov. Those involved made it clear that their violent intentions are not motivated by political grievances. They are motivated by the Islamist teachings that require Muslims to engage in violent jihad for the sake of a “global caliphate” and apocalyptic prophecies.
Juraboev is a permanent resident of the U.S. and citizen of Uzbekistan. It is unclear when he was radicalized but he told Islamic State members online that his family in Uzbekistan is not devoutly religious. He frequented an Uzbek website that implored Uzbeks to join the Islamic State and fight for its “global caliphate.”
On August 8, Juraboev wrote a post on the website under a pseudonym talking about his desire to “strike fear in heart of the infidels,” referencing the Quran (3:151). He asked if he could join the Islamic State while remaining in America and if it would be acceptable to become a “martyr” by trying to shoot President Obama.
The FBI saw the message traced the IP address to his Brooklyn address. He admitted to the authorities that he is a supporter of the Islamic State, would like to join the terrorist group in Syria. He said he’d kill President Obama or bomb Coney Island if the Islamic State asked him to and the “order had a basis in the Koran and the ‘Sunna’ (the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad).”
The indictment summarizes his explanation as follows:
“While admitting that he does not like President Obama because of his role in killing Muslims through his support of Israel and the recent bombing of ISIL [the Islamic State], Juraboev stated that he would not kill President Obama because of ill will towards him but rather because of “Allah.” [emphasis mine]
He also gave the FBI a written statement about his beliefs. One part of the testimony reads, “Islamic right is fighting under caliphate against polytheists and infidels.” The Islamic State characterized Christians as polytheists in the video where it beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya.
Juraboev told the FBI that the second suspect, his coworker from Kazakhstan named Akhror Saidakhmetov, also supports the Islamic State and wants to go to Syria or carry out terrorism in America. Saidakhmetov also made a post on the Uzbek website praising the Islamic State video, “Upon the Prophetic Methodology,” that claims that the Isalmic State is fulfilling “end of times” prophecies.
In September 2014, a confidential informant for the FBI at an unidentified mosque approached Juraboev and pretended to support the Islamic State. The informant met Saidakhmetov the next day and three discussed plans to join the Islamic State in Syria by travelling through Turkey.
Their conversations were recorded by the informant proving that the two suspects were considering terrorist plots inside the U.S. One of their ideas was to join the U.S. military in order to share battlefield knowledge with the Islamic State, but Juraboev didn’t think that Saidakhmetov would be able to play the part. Even though Saidakhmetov professed that he would open fire on U.S. soldiers if caught, the plan was eventually dropped.
Saidakhmetov also declared that he would go on a shooting spree against police officers and the FBI headquarters if he was blocked from going to Syria.
The third suspect, an Uzbek in Brooklyn named Abror Habibov, is an Islamic State supporter who was willing to sponsor the other two to go to Syria.
Earlier this week, the FBI arrested Abdirahman S. Mohamud in Ohio for conspiring to provide material aid to terrorists in the Middle East. The authorities did not disclose which group that was. They apparently had a fear of something imminent as they filed charges in the local Common Pleas Court so there would be “quick action.” Additional charges are forthcoming.
The Justice Department arrested five Bosnian terrorism suspects only a couple of weeks ago for their ties to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra. A sixth suspect who was indicted had already left the country.
In January, an Islamic State supporter named Christopher Lee Cornell was arrested in Ohio as he planned an attack on the U.S. Capitol building. The authorities found two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition in preparation for the assault.
Altogether, 10 Islamist terrorism suspects in America have been arrested this year and all but one had links to the Islamic State. To put that in perspective, about 14 suspects were arrested last year as they tried to leave America to join the Islamic State.
The arrest of this three-man Islamic State cell should remind us of the importance of the FBI and the use of undercover informants when warranted to meet suspects and, if necessary, follow them into mosques.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, relentlessly attacks the FBI for its use of informants inside the Muslim community and mosques when warranted. CAIR accuses the FBI of torturing innocent Muslims and using undercover agents to purposely radicalize Muslims. CAIR has gone so far as to say that the War on Terror is “made up.”
The propaganda is so over-the-top that the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a group with its own troubling history that has taken a more anti-Islamist line in recent years, says it is not true. A 2013 study cited by MPAC shows that only about half of the arrests of Al-Qaeda suspects in America involved an informant.
“Some have claimed that most arrests of Al-Qaeda suspects in our country were the result of informants entrapping defendants. Because of this assumption, some have argued that the FBI is responsible for manufacturing most of these cases. However, the evidence doesn’t support the notion,” MPAC writes.

This week’s news arrests in Brooklyn and Ohio show why this propaganda needs to be combated. The demonization makes Muslims less likely to report a threat or to even understand that the threat exists and the FBI deserves better treatment.

Admin Fri 20 Feb 2015, 5:49 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT
State Dept. Official: ISIS Terror Motivated by Joblessness
Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf maintains that the root cause of the Islamic State (ISIS) is unemployment and poverty.
BY RYAN MAURO Wed, February 18, 2015
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf is the target of a satirical #ISISjobs hashtag after saying that the root cause of the Islamic State (ISIS) is unemployment and poverty. There’s a bigger, less humorous point to be made: Her invalid views were held by the past two administrations, and Harf, herself, was a Middle East analyst for the CIA and national security communications advisor to President Obama during the 2012 campaign.
“We cannot win the War on Terror, nor can we win the war on ISIS by killing them. We need to find them jobs. We need to get to the root cause of terrorism and that is poverty and lack of opportunity in the terrorist community,” she said.
That didn’t fly with MSNBC host Chris Matthews, to whom she made the comments. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer politely held back some of his puzzlement when she defended herself on his program afterwards. She smugly said that “it might be too nuanced an argument for some.”
Study after study has proven that there is no connection between Islamist terrorist recruitment and poverty, unemployment and lack of education. This was the conclusion of a survey of 400 Al-Qaeda members all the way back in 2004, as well as the determination of a Queen Mary University survey published last year.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/state-dept-official-isis-we-need-find-them-jobs

TAFFAN AKO TAHA: KURDISH RIGHTS ARE WORTH THE BATTLE
A young Kurdish activist who is assisting refugees from the Islamic State and fighting for women's rights and religious tolerance.
Taffan Ako Taha is a Kurdish activist who was born in Sulaymaniah in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1994. Her family moved to Sweden when she was only two years old to escape the fighting between the Kurds and the regime of Saddam Hussein.
She moved back to Sulaymaniah after graduating high school to study business and promote women’s rights and religious tolerance. She frequently lectures in Kurdish schools about the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM). Her current focus is on assisting refugees fleeing the Islamic State (ISIS).
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/taffan-ako-taha-kurdish-rights-are-worth-battle

MICHIGAN MAN STABS TWO AFTER CONFIRMING THEY WERE NOT MUSLIM
The Muslim man asked two people at a bus stop if they were Muslim. When they answered 'no,' he stabbed both of them before fleeing the scene.
A Muslim man in a Detroit suburb Michigan asked two people at a bus stop if they were Muslim. After they both answered no, some talk ensued, after which he stabbed both of them.
Terrance Lavaton Thomas, 39, who is suspected of the attack, which occurred on Valentine’s Day evening, was arrested by police who found him within minutes of the attack walking in the area carrying two knives, one of which was reported to have been used in the attack.
Local reports say that the man did not know the victims previously. He reportedly made a number of comments about Islam and asked them about their religion just before attacking them.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/michigan-man-stabs-two-after-confiming-they-were-not-muslim

YOUNG ISLAMISTS IN DENMARK EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR KILLER
Shouting “Allahu Akhbar,” God is great, the group that had gathered at the site where the killer El-Hussein died said they are “brothers” to El-Hussein.
A Danish journalist reporting from the site where 22-year old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, the gunman responsible for two attacks that left two dead and five wounded in Copenhagen, found young Muslims expressing support for El-Hussein.
Flowers had been left at the site where El-Hussein died, prompting Danish politicians to question why anyone would lay flowers to commemorate a murderer. Although police were out in force at the site, they did not prevent supporters of El-Hussein from laying flowers.
Shouting together “Allahu Akhbar,” God is great, the group that had gathered at the site told the journalist that they are “brothers” to El-Hussein.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/young-islamists-denmark-express-support-killer
EXCLUSIVE: WIFE OF ARRESTED BAHRAINI ACTIVIST TELLS STORY
Hussein Jawad Parveez, Chair of the European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, was seized by regime forces at 1:30 am Monday morning.Leading Bahraini human rights activist Hussein Jawad Parveez has been arrested and taken to a prison where it is believed he is being tortured.
In an exclusive interview, Clarion Project spoke to his wife, fellow human rights activist Asma Darwish, who has previously been featured on ClarionProject.org. Jawad is the chairman of the European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, which publishes information about human rights abuses in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He was arrested in a raid on his house on Monday, February 16 at around 1:30 am local time by masked police officers.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/leading-bahraini-rights-activist-dragged-night-raid
FRENCH PM: WEST MUST FIGHT MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IDEOLOGY
The West must 'fight the discourse of the Muslim Brotherhood in our country' and scrutinize foreign funding of mosques,
a sharp break from U.S. policy that views the Brotherhood as a moderate competitor to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS).
Prime Minister Valls said the country needs to enact policies to combat the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists, making the point that Islamist terrorism is a product of radical preaching. He announced that the Interior Minister will lead a study on the foreign financing of mosques in France and the training of French imams.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/french-pm-west-must-fight-muslim-brotherhood-ideology

ISIS HARVESTING AND TRAFFICKING BODY PARTS: REPORTS
Evidence presented by Iraq’s ambassador to the UN that the Islamic State is harvesting human organs was given to the Security Council.
Evidence presented by Iraq’s ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Alhakim, that the Islamic State is harvesting human organs and trafficking in body parts was presented to the UN Security Council. Alhakim also asked the Security Council to investigate the death of 12 doctors who he said were killed by the brutal Islamist group after they refused to take part in removing organs from bodies.
The ambassador recounted how bodies with surgical incisions, missing kidneys and other body parts were recently found buried in shallow mass graves.
"We have bodies. Come and examine them. It is clear they are missing certain parts," Alhakim said, saying that incisions were found in the back, where the kidneys are located.
A report in Al Monitor by otolaryngologist Siruwan al-Mosuli also corroborated Alhakim’s allegations. Al-Mosuli said he had observed unusual activity within medical facilities in Mosul, where foreign doctors had been hired but not allowed to have contact with the local doctors. Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is under the control of the Islamic State.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/isis-harvesting-and-trafficking-body-parts-reports

TURKISH WOMEN TAKE TO STREETS TO PROTEST GENDER VIOLENCE
The murder of 20-year-old psychology student Ozgecan Aslan has triggered a wave of introspection and anger in Turkish society.
Protests have spread across Turkey in response to the rape and murder of a young student on a bus in the southern seaside city of Mersin. In Mersin itself, several women chained themselves to railings before they were confronted by law enforcement officers.
Ozgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old student, got on a bus home last Wednesday. Her mutilated corpse was found on Friday and the driver, Suphi Altindoken, confessed to stabbing her to death, chopping off her fingers and then burning her body. Local media reports say that Aslan used pepper-spray in self-defense when Altindoken attempted to rape her, prompting his brutal assault.
Altinkdoken denies the rape charge, despite admitting to the murder. Her body was found dumped in a riverbed.
Violence against women has risen considerably in Turkey since the currently ruling Islamist AK party took over in 2003. Erdogan and his top officials have made several remarks about the role of women their "ideal society." One of the key tenets of Erdogan’s Islamizing vision for Turkish society is the relegation of women out of the political sphere and solely into motherhood.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/turkish-women-take-streets-oppose-gender-violence

ISIS: END OF TIMES PROPHECIES JUSTIFY BEHEADING OF COPTS
ISIS' latest video showing Copts being beheaded also claims that the church is waging a war on Muslims, which makes this atrocity a 'defensive' action
The Islamic State has released a video of it beheading 21 kidnapped Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya. The film is the most prophecy-centric one yet and comes one day after a suspected Islamic State supporter killed two people in a terrorist attack in Denmark.
Justifying the Execution of Christians
The video is titled “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” These Christians were working in Libya. They committed no crime. They are not known to have personally done anything against any Islamists. They were punished for, as the Islamic State put it, being “followers of the hostile Egyptian church.”
The Islamic State seems to be referring to the Coptic Christians’ support for the Egyptian government led by President El-Sisi that is fighting an Islamic State affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt also banned the Muslim Brotherhood and repeatedly emphasizes that the Islamic State and the Brotherhood are different manifestations of the same Islamist enemy.
The video states that the beheadings are retaliation for the Coptic Church’s treatment of Camellia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest who disappeared in 2010. She was rumored to have converted to Islam and afterwards to have been kidnapped by the Church. Deadly sectarian clashes followed.
She later resurfaced and appeared on video stating that she did not convert and remains a Christian. She denied that her statement came under pressure or torture by the church. The Copts say she briefly disappeared because she left her husband.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/isis-end-times-prophecies-justify-beheading-copts

Admin Thu 12 Feb 2015, 8:38 pm

OBAMA SAYS NUCLEAR DEAL IMMINENT IF NUCLEAR FATWA IS TRUE
President Obama said the the P5+1 is presenting a comprehensive deal to allow Iran nuclear energy that is only awaiting an Iranian decision.
Iran's nuclear negotiation team led by Saeed Jalili
US President Barack Obama gave a press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel in which he said that a final nuclear deal with Iran was close to completion.
Obama reference a fatwa of Ayatollah Khamenei’s prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons under his interpretation of Islamic law. Yet Obama failed to mention that Iran is governed with the principle of expediency, elevating the interests of the state to a religious duty. Under Iran’s theocratic system realpolitik can override religious considerations as and when the Supreme Leader decides.
Furthermore, according to Iranian experts from the Washington Institute for Near East policy “fatwas are issued in response to specific circumstances and can be altered in response to changing conditions. Ayatollah Khomeini modified his position on a number of issues during his lifetime—for instance, on taxes, military conscription, women’s suffrage, and monarchy as a form of government. Thus nothing would prevent Khamenei from modifying or supplanting his nuclear fatwa should circumstances dictate a change in policy.”
Regardless of the existence of such a fatwa, it can be changed or overruled at any time.
The president stated that the P5+1 is “presenting to them [Iran] a deal that allows them to have peaceful nuclear power but gives us the absolute assurance that is verifiable that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon.”
This is despite the fact that four prominent nuclear experts said at the beginning of February that Iran should already be regarded as a nuclear weapons state.
“The fact of Iran's ICBM capability and their proximity to nuclear weapons necessitates that Iran be regarded as a nuclear missile state — and as a menace to the entire world — right now,” they wrote.

The four experts are:
· Ambassador Henry F. Cooper, former director of the Strategic Defense Initiative;
· Fritz Ermarth, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council;
· Dr. William Graham, chairman of the Congressional EMP Commission;
· Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security for the Congressional Caucus on EMP and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum.

The problem has been festering for many years. The previous American President, George W. Bush, took limited action on Iran, placing sanctions restricting access to nuclear materials and missile technology but refraining from a broader campaign to pressure Iran’s economy. Severe sanctions on Iran’s oil industry only began under the Obama administration.
A report was published in September 2014 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which concluded Iran has failed to prove its nuclear program is not for weapons. The report also admitted that the IAEA is unable to know if Iran has a hidden nuclear weapons program.
In the light of statements made by previous Iranian leaders, these facts further suggest Iran’s intentions lie towards obtaining nuclear weapons, fatwa or not.
Former President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said in December 2001: “If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality.”
More recently the commander of Iran’s notorious Basij militia, which raped protestors as a means of crowd control during the 2009 Green movement protests , told Fars News Agency at the beginning of January “Our ideal is not [nuclear] centrifuges but the destruction of the White House and the annihilation of Zionism [Israel].”
Perhaps most tellingly, current President Hassan Rouhani, regarded as a moderate by Obama and many in the West, said at a campaign rally in 2013 “Saying ‘Death to America’ is easy. We need to express ‘Death to America’ with action.”

Admin Thu 12 Feb 2015, 8:35 pm

ISLAMIC STATE BEHEADS ELDERLY MAN ON CHARGES OF WITCHCRAFT
Pictures of the brutal killing show the man being led to his death by an Islamic State militant along with a teenager.
The Islamic State publicly beheaded an older man in Aldbsa, Syria, a city west of Raqqa, the terror group's de facto capital. The man was charged with witchcraft and "invoking magic."
Pictures of the brutal killing show the man being led to his death by an Islamic State militant along with a teenager.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/islamic-state-beheads-elderly-man-charges-witchcraft

'SHARIA4BELGIUM' MEMBERS SENT TO JAIL ON TERROR CHARGES
Since the fighting began in Syria, Belgium has been one of the major suppliers of foreign jihadis. Ten percent were recruited by Sharia4Belgium. In the largest terror trial of its kind, a Belgium court has found 46 members of the extremist group "Sharia4Belgium" guilty of terror-related crimes.
Members of the group – which was deemed by the court a “terror group,” received sentences ranging from a suspended sentence to between three and 15 years in prison. The leader of the group, 32-year old Fouad Belkacem, was sentenced to 12 years, and was said to be a key person in recruiting young Belgians to fight for the Islamic State and other jihadi groups in Syria.
Only nine of the 46 defendants were present for the trial, as most of the others were either abroad fighting or killed in battle.
As for Belkacem, who denied the charges against him, the judge said he was "responsible for the radicalization of young men to prepare them for Salafist combat, which has, at its core, no place for democratic values."
As his sentence was read out, Belkacem smiled.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/sharia4belgium-members-sent-jail-terror-charges

EGYPTIAN COURT TO HEAR CASE TO DESIGNATE TURKEY 'TERROR SPONSOR'
Due to its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated as a terror org., a lawsuit was filed to designate Turkey a state sponsor of terror.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (then prime minister) warmly welcomes Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to the Turkish parliament. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. (Photo: © Reuters)
An Egyptian court will hear a lawsuit that will require the government to designate Turkey a “state that supports terrorism.”
As reported on Middle East Monitor (MEM) that cited an anonymous source from the Anadolu Agency (a Turkish news service), "The court of urgent matters in the coastal city of Alexandria scheduled the first hearing in the case for Feb. 24."
Tarek Mahmoud, an Egyptian lawyer, reportedly filed the case. Mahmoud plans to argue that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the Muslim Brotherhood
MUSLIM BROTHERHOODGlossary Item
A worldwide Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna that seeks to implement Sharia-based governance globally.
movement, which was declared a terrorist organization by Egypt in December of 2013.
A “judicial source” cited by MEM said that Mahmoud also will claim that Turkey is a primary source for arms entering Egypt that are used by terrorists.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/egyptian-court-hear-case-name-turkey-terror-sponsor

Admin Thu 12 Feb 2015, 8:08 pm

RAZA RUMI: THEY TRIED TO SILENCE ME ONCE AND FOR ALL
Pakistani author and policy analyst Raza Rumi spoke with Clarion about fighting for freedom of speech when the price for failure is death.
Raza Ahmad Rumi is a Pakistani policy analyst, journalist and an author. He has been a leading voice in Pakistan's public arena against extremism and human rights violations.
In March 2014, he survived an assassination attempt in which his driver lost his life. Within weeks, he left Pakistan and has been affiliated with the New America Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace.
He graciously agreed to speak with Clarion Project's Research Fellow Elliot Friedland about Pakistan, free speech and blasphemy legislation.
Clarion Project: You are a writer. What challenges have you personally faced due to what you write about extremism in Pakistan?
Raza Rumi: When you write about growing radicalization and extremism and call for introspection, critique the role of clergy, then your writings are edited so as not to ruffle too many feathers. At times, one is labelled as anti-Muslim and anti-Islam for demanding a rational discourse on religion and its public manifestations.
Earlier, this opprobrium was restricted to verbal abuse and attacks, but now it has taken a dangerous turn with the increase of blasphemy law victims and in my case an assassination attempt.
Though I must clarify that writings in English draw less attention than those in the vernacular languages, I got into serious trouble due to my views aired on the mainstream Urdu broadcast media. My public engagement with media, academia/think tanks and civil society was too much for the extremists (backed by elements within the state) to handle. So they tried to silence me once for all.
An angry mob riots in Pakistan.
Clarion: You have said that "Pakistan has turned into a society where even an allegation of blasphemy is enough to sentence and burn people." Why is this becoming so rampant?
Rumi: This is a long story. The self-confessed religious identity of the state has led to growing space for clerics and Islamic radicals. In order to promote a religious brand of nationalism, the state has long encouraged an intolerant discourse, especially since the 1980s. Since then, the use of jihad a tool of state policy has led to the growth of private militias ready to implement their worldview through violence.
The state, due to its contradictions – of identity, policy and worldview – has been unable to enforce its writ. Thus the space for mob justice has grown. Now, someone accused of blasphemy need not wait for a trial. Instead, a frenzied mob, egged on by radical clerics can easily nab and kill you – especially if you belong to the non-Muslim community or from a minority sect within Islam. Allegations of blasphemy are also being used to settle personal scores.
A Pakistani Christian is beaten by policemen.
This is why at least four Christian settlements have been torched, several people accused of blasphemy have been lynched and even burnt alive. At the heart of this lies the abdication of state responsibility to ensure protection of life and property of its citizenry.
Emboldened clergy and an irresponsible media also complicate the issues of blasphemy. For instance, some TV presenters on their live shows – watched by millions – have advocated swift sentences for those accused of blasphemy while encouraging violence on the screen. One even allowed clerics to declare Ahmadis (a group banned as being non-Islamic by the Pakistani parliament) and Shias as wajib-ul-qatl (fit for murder). Media houses have taken no action nor has the regulator held anyone accountable.
Such a toxic alignment of sections of media with ultra-radical forces has added another layer to the problem of intolerance.
Clarion: What can be done to improve free speech in Pakistan?
Rumi: The foremost issue in this context is creating an environment where the state acts and fulfills its mandate to implement freedoms guaranteed under the constitution. Even if implemented, these freedoms are still curtailed. For example, Pakistan’s constitution and laws prohibit saying anything critical of Islam, the army, the judiciary and a vague concept called the ‘Ideology of Pakistan’. The latter was invented by Pakistan’s leaders since the 1960s and was made a sacrosanct idea in the 1980s.
Basically it includes anything related to Islam and Pakistan. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Gilani (2008-2012) was fired by the Supreme Court for criticizing the decisions of the court under such legal provisions. Therefore, the constitution and laws have to be amended.
This is where the leadership and the parliament have to play an important role and redefine what they mean by criticism. Most of these laws were put into place under the Islamo-fascist regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1977-1988) and the laws have not been changed since then.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seized power in a military coup in 1977 and held it until his death in 1988. One of his central policies was 'Islamization' which among other things brought in "The Hudoud Ordinance" mandating strict punishments such as flogging.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seized power in a military coup in 1977 and held it until his death in 1988. One of his central policies was 'Islamization' which among other things brought in "The Hudoud Ordinance" mandating strict punishments such as flogging.
Since those days, the power of religious lobbies has grown beyond belief. Now political parties cave into the pressure of violent religious groups and immediately retract whatever reform they articulate. The violent militias have enjoyed the patronage and support of the country’s powerful security establishment. So they have to rollback their past support to tame these groups.
Only when these laws are modified will there be more space for free speech. Until then this situation will continue. Ironically, the radicals now enjoy ‘full’ rights of free speech, as they are free to preach hatred towards non-Muslims, minority sects and concepts such as liberty, democracy and human rights. While those who oppose them run the risk of facing threats and in certain cases, like me, a physical assassination attempt.

Clarion: Malala Yousafzai has just become the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet she cannot return to her home country. How can her personal triumph be used as a catalyst for wider change and to overcome such staunch opposition?
Rumi: The story of Malala Yousafzai is one of immense courage but it also elucidates what is wrong with Pakistani society and the state. When she was shot, a large section of the population thought that this was a fake story made up by the West to defame Pakistan.
Later, when evidence of the harm was incontrovertible, there were multiple conspiracy theories churned out. But for many girls and children she is also a role model. Her success can be used to spread education in the country.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousufzai speaking at the United Nations.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousufzai speaking at the United Nations.
More importantly, it is a moment for female empowerment. Her exemplary father is another model of a man giving full rights and encouragement to a daughter which sadly many Pakistani (and South Asian) fathers don’t. So recognition of her bravery may lead to change in the longer term. It will only really be effective if the xenophobia dominant in Pakistan is adequately challenged by the leadership.

Clarion: Malala is perceived as a Western stooge by some in Pakistan. Who are those people? How can this confrontational mentality be overcome in order to more effectively challenge Islamism and bring about change?
Rumi: Those fighting against the state and those who attacked Malala consider her an agent of the West. They blame her for promoting Western values in Pakistan, i.e. education for women. And Pakistan has seen the promotion of Taliban ideology as a state project since the 1990s. To justify Pakistani support of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, there have been myths created to prove that they are right and just. This unfortunately includes justifying their brutal treatment of women.
Farzana Parveen, who was murdered in an honor killing by her family for marrying someone against their wishes
So when Malala was attacked, the popular cricketer-turned-political leader Imran Khan was hesitant to blame the Pakistani Taliban and instead whipped up anti-Americanism.
Similarly, the religious parties also pitted against the US war on terror circulated her pictures of a meeting with former US Secretary of State Holbrooke. The idea was to paint her as an evil kid who somehow angered the militants and deserved this treatment. Then there is another group on the Left who thinks that Malala has been made into an icon by ‘imperialist’ interests to serve their own ends. Locked into these narratives, her story became controversial in Pakistan.
This indicates a war of ideas. At the end of the day, Malala’s ordeal and her miraculous recovery is a powerful counter-narrative to a radicalized worldview. The political parties thus far have supported her struggle and message and they are central to social change and need to continue their support for education.
But the most tragic part is that Malala cannot return home, yet unless the jihad infrastructure is dismantled or weakened by the Pakistani army that created it in the first place during 1980s with US and Saudi support for regional geopolitics.

Clarion: Since the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the subsequent inclusion of Mohammed on the cover of last week's Charlie Hebdo, Muslims in various countries have been burning the French flag and protesting against the magazine.
Al-Qaeda and other groups want to provoke a war between Muslims and the West, something we want to avoid.
How can this situation be diffused while remaining resolute on supporting the principle of free speech?
Rumi: The tensions heightened by the events that have taken place since the Paris attacks can be diffused by dialogue among different segments of the society. At the same time, leaders of the Muslim communities should work towards countering the radical currents within Muslim thought and reject those who use violence.
However, this is easier said than done especially when the Saudi kingdom and its affiliates are investing huge resources in the promotion of a minority view of Islam.
At the same time, the Western societies would need to reexamine their laws, the education system and other social structures that marginalize Muslim immigrants.
As I recently wrote, Islam needs reformation from within and that is a task of Muslim states and their leaders.
Protesters in Pakistan demand an end to blasphemy legislation in the aftermath of the death sentence for Christian woman Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges.
Protesters in Pakistan demand an end to blasphemy legislation in the aftermath of the death sentence for Christian woman Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges.
The defunct platform of OIC, the Organization of Islamic Countries, needs to lead and do something. Otherwise, the situation is turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy of the Islamic radicals: the more they display barbarity, the more the world thinks that there is something wrong with the religion. And over a billion Muslims are trapped in these hate-narratives and violent ideologies professed and practiced by an armed minority backed by a cabal of loud, noisy clerics.
About Raza Rumi:
With solid policy experience through his work for the Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank, Raza joined journalism in 2008. Since then, he has been an editor at The Friday Times, Pakistan's foremost liberal weekly paper. Rumi was Director at Jinnah Institute, a public policy think tank and Executive Director of Justice Network- a coalition of NGOs.
Rumi’s writings are archived at www.razarumi.com. His recent book 'Delhi by Heart' was published by Harper Collins (2013). He tweets @RazaRumi.

Admin Thu 12 Feb 2015, 7:55 pm

WHO ARE THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD-LINKED LEADERS OBAMA MET?
US President Barack Obama, privately met with 14 Muslim leaders, including several leaders of Muslim Brotherhood front groups with ties to Hamas.
The White House has released the names of senior American Muslim leaders that President Obama met with personally last week. The list of names was included on the transcript of the White House daily press briefing on Thursday, despite journalists having requested the information much sooner. Prior to that, the White House had refused to name the leaders.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the President meeting with representatives from any faith community and with the Muslim community in particular. Yet some of the individuals who met with the President have alarming links to the Muslim Brotherhood and organizations that have funded terrorism.
Azhar Azeez represented the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in the talks with Obama. Declassified FBI documents show that ISNA was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood front group as early as 1987 and its past leaders include Abdurrahman Alamoudi, who was convicted on terrorism related charges in 2004.
In 2007, ISNA was designated as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity shut down by the U.S. government for financing Hamas. The U.S. Department of Justice listed ISNA as one of the “individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.”
Mr. Azeez is also the senior National Director of Islamic Relief USA, the American branch of Islamic Relief worldwide. The United Arab Emirates lists Islamic Relief Worldwide as a terrorist organization. Israel also banned Islamic Relief from operating in the disputed territories it administers, accusing it of funding Hamas.
According to the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs “The IRW provides support and assistance to Hamas’s infrastructure. The IRW’s activities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are carried out by social welfare organizations controlled and staffed by Hamas operatives. The intensive activities of these associations are designed to further Hamas’s ideology among the Palestinian population.”
Five senior members of Islamic Relief USA were named in a list of 30 Muslim Brotherhood operatives in America by the leading Egyptian newspaper El-Watan.
Azeez’s bio also says he is a founder and past president of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), another U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity and unindicted co-conspirator. CAIR is also listed as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.
Imam Mohamed Magid is the President of the Islamic Society of North America and head of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society ( ADAMS) Center, in which capacity he met with the President. The ADAMS Center was investigated by the FBI for connections to terrorism funding and was raided in 2004 by federal agents.
Mohamed Magid signed a letter in September 2014 alongside other Islamist leaders which condemned the Islamic State while asserting the need for an Islamic Caliphate and supporting the hudud punishments of sharia law, which include amputation, flogging and the execution of apostates. The letter said that a person could only be regarded as an apostate if the person “openly declares disbelief.”
Azhar Azeez also signed the aforementioned letter. Among the other signatories to that letter was terrorist supporting Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, who in the past endorsed a fatwa that authorized the killing of US soldiers. He also said that giving donations to jihadists who fight Israel count as zakat and said as recently as 2013 that Muslim leaders should give Hamas financial and military assistance to fight Israel. Bin Bayyah was cited by Obama in an address to the UN in September 2014 as a Muslim leader who supports peace.
Hoda Hawa is National Policy Advisor of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). MPAC was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which, Mather Hathout, served jail time in Egypt for his membership in the group.
In 2001 the then President of MPAC said that Israel should be included on the suspect list of those who might have perpetrated 9/11. MPAC cooperated with other Muslim-Brotherhood aligned groups to oppose the appointment of Muslim anti-Islamist activist Dr. Zudhi Jasser to the U.S. Commission on International Freedom.
MPAC co-founder Mather Hathout has also made statements in the past in support of Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.
They also have a very limited following. A 2011 Gallup poll found that only 6% of Muslim-American males and 1% of females chose MPAC as the organization that most represents their interests, even though MPAC has large resources and has been around since 1988.
Also present was Rahat Hussain, president of the Universal Muslim Association of America (UMAA) . The UMAA received thousands of dollars from the Alavi Foundation, an Iranian propaganda front group, from 2005 onwards. Clarion Project discovered that they received at least $138,000 from the Alavi Foundation between 2005 and 2012. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigations chief, Adam Kaufmann, said “We found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation.”
The British Government is set this week to launch a major clampdown on Muslim Brotherhood front groups and the funding of terrorism after lengthy investigations found multiple Muslim Brotherhood entities operating within the country.
Yet in America the State Department received a delegation from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The meetings were described as “fruitful” by one of the delegates. The State Department, after facing criticism for the meeting, then doubled down on their decision to do so in a later press briefing.
This is while Brotherhood representatives in Turkey are calling for violence on the streets in Egypt, saying “we are now in the retaliation phase.” At the same time, a Brotherhood TV station based in Turkey broadcast a threat to all foreigners in Egypt that they must flee the country or face being targeted by terrorist attacks, while another Muslim Brotherhood figure said “It is time to begin armed insurrection.”
Given that these American Muslim leaders have highly problematic connections to Muslim Brotherhood front groups, why are they being given access to meet the President personally, especially when one takes into account the presence of genuine anti-Islamist Muslim leaders like Dr. Zudhi Jasser who are denied such opportunities?

Admin Wed 28 Jan 2015, 10:56 pm

THE CLAARION PROJECT

Not Just ISIS: Syrian Islamists Execute Woman for Adultery
The Islamist terror group, Jabhat al-Nusra – the Al Qaeda affilate in Syria – executed a woman in the main square of the Syrian village of Ma'arrat Misrin.
Wed, January 28, 2015
The Islamist terror group, Jabhat al-Nusra – the Al Qaeda affilate in Syria – executed a woman in the main square of the village of Ma'arrat Misrin after accusing her of adultery. In a video made of the execution (see below), the woman appears to be in her forties.
Before being executed by a gunshot wound to the head, a man stands near the executioner reading out the sentence. He quotes the Quran (Surah 5:33) as the source for the punishment:
“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides.”
The woman can be heard begging to see her children one last time, a request that is ignored. The man continues, saying:
“It has been proven with clear evidence that this woman, may God forgive her, was one of the people that corrupted the land with adultery, God forbid. This sharia sentence, was approved by the group of the brothers, the noble scholars, after it was proven to them that she corrupted the land through adultery, God forbid. We ask the Lord, may His name be praised, that this punishment should be an atonement for her crime in this world and that it should purify her so she is able to meet God in a way that He is satisfied with her and that He will forgive her and make all the Muslims keep their honor, because the honor of the Muslims is very precious to us. We swear in the name of Allah that it hurts us very much when the honor of one Muslim woman is violated.”
The executioner is given the go-ahead and the sentence is carried out.
See Clarion's Fact Sheet: Who's Who in the Syrian Civil War
Warning: Very graphic scene (viewer discretion advised)

Admin Mon 26 Jan 2015, 12:35 am

CLARION PROJECT
Man Kills Wife in Turkey for Having Second Baby Girl
Since the Islamists came to power, Turkey has become a leading country afflicted by honor killing and is now ranked as one of the worst countries to be a woman.
Sun, January 25, 2015
A 29-year old father was given an aggravated life sentence in Turkey after killing his wife for giving birth to a second baby girl, instead of a boy
The honor killing – done through electrocution -- was premeditated. Veysi Turan had bought insulation gloves and cables, among other equipment, to kill his wife the day after the birth. In addition, while the Turan was murdering his wife, 32-year old Mubarek Turan, he phoned the police and spoke to them as he was murdering Mubarek. The transcript, which was published in full, read as follows:
“I killed someone,” Turan said to the police operator.
“Who did you kill?” asked the operator, a police officer.
“I am killing my wife right now,” said Turan.
“Did you kill her or are you killing her?” the officer asked.
“Well, she isn't dead yet. But I am killing her if the murder is halal (permissible in Islam),” Turan said.
The officer then asked if the suspect had a problem with his wife.
“I am telling you that I killed my wife but you are asking what the problem was,” Turan replied.
“I closed her mouth as she is in the throes of death,” he then said.
At which point the police operator snapped into action: “OK, wait. I am sending a unit.”
During the trial, Turan's lawyer admitted that his client killed his wife because she gave birth to “a girl once again.”
The prosecutor criticized the police for failing to stop the murder, saying, “If a police officer with a high persuasive capacity and training were on the phone, (the woman) would be alive today.”

According to the Turkish Government figures, after the Islamist AK party rose to power in 2002, the rate of honor killings in Turkey increased alarmingly in the deeply religious segments of the Turkish society, turning Turkey into a leading country afflicted by honor killings.
Turkey is now ranked as one of the worst countries to be a woman. Forty percent of Turkish women experience some form of physical violence in their lives, a rate much higher than that in Europe or the U.S.

Admin Tue 20 Jan 2015, 6:49 pm

U.S. Islamists Launch "Stand With the Prophet" Center
Less than two weeks after Paris, a conference in Dallas declares worldwide problem of 'Islamophobia' is the invention of a U.S.-based 'hate machine.'
Tue, January 20, 2015
Sign at the “Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect” conference read "[No to] War Terror Islamophobia."
Less than two weeks after the massacre of French journalists for insulting Mohammed, the founder of Islam, American Islamists held a conference last Saturday titled, “Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect.”
The conference was billed as fundraiser to establish a “Strategic Communication Center” center to combat “Islamophobia” and train young Muslim in media relations.
Training this target audience of young Muslims was, among others, the extremist Imam Siraj Wahhaj, was labled as someone who may be an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj supports the implementation of sharia law including all its punishments.
He has been quoted as saying that he hopes all Americans eventually become Muslim. He has also said, “If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.”
He has advised Muslims not to get involved in politics simply because it is the “American thing to do.” Rather, he says, “You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”
Wahhaj refers to the FBI and CIA the "real terrorists.” He defended the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was the former leader of the Egyptian terrorist organization Gama'a al-Islamiyya, by testifying on his behalf at his trial. Abdel-Rahman is currently serving a life-sentence in a U.S. prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Wahhaj has also served as an advisory board member of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American Muslim Brotherhood front group.
A former member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, has gone on record about a private meeting in the early 1990s with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity. The participants, he recalls, agreed to use the term “Islamophobia” as a political weapon.
“This loathsome term is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliche conceived in the bowels of Muslim think tanks for the purpose of beating down critics,” Muhammad said.
Another featured speaker at the conference was Georgetown University Professor John Esposito, arguably the strongest non-Muslim defender of the Muslim Brotherhood network in the U.S. Esposito is the founding director of the (Saudi Arabian) Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown. The center receives significant Saudi funding, such as a $20 million donation in 2005 alone.
Promotional materials for the conference asked: “Frustrated with Islamophobes defaming the Prophet? Fuming over extremists like ISIS who give a bad name to Islam? Remember the Danish cartoons defaming the Prophet? Or the anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’? These attacks are no accident.”
Blaming the problem of Islamophobia on a well-funded “hate machine” based in the U.S., the organizers of the event say that this “machine” is “causing problems [for Muslims] all around the world” – even to the extent that in some locations, “Muslim minorities are facing genocide everyday while being called terrorists and foreigners, accused of trying to impose Sharia law, etc. on others.”
The organizers of the event then declare that, “All these accusations were invented by Islamophobes in America.”
Yet, in a letter to the Islamic State (ISIS) signed by 126 international Muslim leaders and scholars, including top American Muslim leaders, rebutting the theological arguments behind the actions of Islamic State, these same leaders endorsed the Islamic State's goal of sharia governance (including its brutal hudud punishments) and rebuilding the caliphate.
Thousands were reported to have protested the event held in Garland City, just outside of Dallas, Texas. Protesters were particularly enraged that the venue for the event was a convention center owned by the Garland Independent School District.
Responding to the criticism, president of the school board, Rick Lambert, said that the school district could not refuse a client based on viewpoints. "The Culwell Center is available for rental as long as you comply with the law," Lambert said.
Speaking to the media, school district spokesman Chris Moore added, “This is one of several cultural and religious-based groups and events that we have there at the center. And we’re going to keep that open to them. This is a non-discriminatory facility.”

Disagreeing protesters said that “We’re here to stand up for the American way of life from a faction of people who are trying to destroy us.”
Meanwhile, organizers of the conference proclaimed, “This is not an event. It is the beginning of a movement. A movement to defend Prophet Muhammad, his person, and his message.”

Admin Fri 16 Jan 2015, 10:42 am

THE CLARION Project
Muslim Mayor in Netherlands Curses Off Islamists on TV
The Muslim mayor of Rotterdam, Holland shocked audiences by cursing off Islamists who can’t tolerate offensive cartoons.
BY RYAN MAURO Wed, January 14, 2015
Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb at the podium (far right) at a rally to support Charlie Hebdo and the right to freedom of expression.
The Muslim mayor of the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands shocked audiences by going on live television to curse off Islamists who can’t tolerate the publication of offensive cartoons. Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said that Muslims who refuse to integrate and accept free speech should leave the country.
“We want to keep all these people together in what I call the “We Society.” And if you don’t like it here because you don’t like the humorists who make a little newspaper—if I may dare say so—just f—k off,” he said.
He continued to say, “This is stupid, this so incomprehensible. Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here. All those well-meaning Muslims here will now be stared at.”
Aboutaleb is a Muslim and the son of an imam. He moved to the Netherlands from Morocco when he was 15 years old and was appointed as the first immigrant mayor of Rotterdam in 2009. The city of 80,000 people is about 13% Muslim.
He has a long history of confronting resistance to integration and democratic principles by Muslim immigrants. This activism has earned him death threats, often traveling with security and residing at undisclosed locations.
Aboutaleb was a member of the Amsterdam city council when Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered in 2004 by an Islamist. He reacted by doing interview after interview making the case for free speech.
He even spoke at AlKabir Mosque and told the audience to leave the country if they won’t integrate into Dutch society. He urged such immigrants to “catch the first plane out.”
“Stop seeing yourself as victims, and if you don't want to integrate, leave,” is another well-known quote of his.
The city of Rotterdam under Aboutaleb’s mayorship also sacked city advisor Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, who is widely seen as a deceptive and soft-spoken Islamist.
He was fired because he had a weekly television show on Iran’s PressTV, a regime-controlled propaganda outlet. Aboutaleb also criticized him for negative comments he made about homosexuality.
London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote an op-ed referencing Aboutaleb’s comments on television after the Paris attacks.
“That is the voice of the Enlightenment, of Voltaire. We can and will protect this country against these jihadist thugs. We will bug them and monitor them and arrest them and prosecute them and jail them. But if we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear – and it needs above all to be a Muslim voice,” he wrote.

Those in the West concerned about Islamism needed a European Muslim to stand up and do something dramatic to grab the attention of the media and the non-integrating Muslim communities. Aboutaleb made a wise decision to seize the news cycle so his message could be heard by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, simultaneously undermining the inflammatory elements on both sides.
Aboutaleb’s activism also demonstrates the grave errors made by Europeans who push policies that collectively punish and denigrate Muslims as a whole, regardless of their value to society and the struggle against Islamic extremism.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders attacked the appointment of Aboutaleb as Rotterdam mayor on the sole basis that he is from Morocco, even though he has lived in the Netherlands since he was 15 years old. He was 47 at the time, making him a 32-year loyal resident of the country.
“Appointing a Moroccan as mayor of the second largest Dutch city is just as ridiculous as appointing a Dutchman as mayor of Mecca,” Wilders said.
The unfounded assumption was made that Aboutaleb had an agenda to Islamize the Netherlands.
“With him as mayor, Rotterdam will be Rabat on the banks of the river Maas. Soon we may even have an imam serving as arch bishop,” Wilders claimed.
The irony is that Aboutaleb is addressing the lack of assimilation; the very problem that Wilders’ blanket position against Muslim immigrants is supposed to solve.
Aboutaleb has made a major contribution to the West. He brought attention to an important problem and demonstrated that progressive anti-Islamist Muslims are a significant part of the solution. At the same time, Aboutaleb undercut those who would equate pro-integration policies with bigotry against immigrants or Muslims.

The huge media coverage of his interview means that his point of view will appear on many televisions, computers and phones seen by European Muslims. He will stir a much-needed conversation within the community about the topic.

All who cherish freedom should hope that Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb will become a celebrity in the international media and a name known by Muslims throughout the West.
Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s national security analyst, a fellow with Clarion Project and an adjunct professor of homeland security. Mauro is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio. Read more, contact or arrange a speaking engagement.

Egypt Warns of Muslim Brotherhood Organizations in U.S.
An Egyptian government website features a warning that the Muslim Brotherhood has a lobby in the U.S. disguised as civil society organizations.
BY RYAN MAURO Wed, January 14, 2015
Egypt warns of Brotherhood groups like CAIR. Nihad Awad (C), Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Ibrahim Hooper (L), National Committee Director of CAIR during a press conference in Washington. Photo © Reuters
An Egyptian government website features a warning that the Muslim Brotherhood has a lobby in the U.S. disguised as civil society organizations. The United Arab Emirates has made similar statements and the U.S. Justice Department has confirmed the existence of a Muslim Brotherhood branch in America.
The Egyptian government’s State Information Service has an entire section devoted to documenting the violence and terrorism of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt is furious with the U.S. for its stance on the Brotherhood. President El-Sisi told the Washington Post in December 2013, then as Defense Minister, that the U.S. has turned its back on Egypt and is misunderstanding the Islamist group.
The documentation includes a timeline of violence perpetrated by Brotherhood members since July 2014, a statement from the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood condemning the Brotherhood’s exploitation of children, and many videos documenting the Brotherhood’s extremism and the justifications for overthrowing it and banning it.
Most importantly, the section prominently features an article about the Muslim Brotherhood operating in America and influencing U.S. policy through various fronts. It cites a study done by the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, a highly-respected organization in Cairo.
“She [Center executive director Dalia Zeyadah] warned that the MB has a network based in the US and operating through civil society organizations engaged in community service domains there. These organizations, she also warned, aim to spread the MB's extremist ideologies in the US,” the Egyptian government website says.
The article from June 2014 states that the Brotherhood is moving to Turkey to set up the “nucleus of its European headquarters which would be operating under the cover of charity work to carry out terrorist acts across the region.”
The Cairo Post reported in February 2014 that the Ibn Khaldoun Center director Dalia Zeyadah “[asserted] that the Brotherhood are still trying to impact decisions of the White House, noting that campaigns against Brotherhood ‘terrorism’ must continue.”
The Egyptian government often talks about the International Muslim Brotherhood to emphasize that it is not just an Egyptian organization. In his interview with the Washington Post, El-Sisi said it operates in 60 countries and that Hamas is one of its branches. He warned that the group is “based on restoring the Islamic religious empire.”
The Clairon Project’s research into the Brotherhood sympathies of a senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was covered in the Egyptian media in 2013, specifically by the Al-Nahar television network.
The U.S. government confirmed the existence of a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood with a network a fronts under different names during the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, one such trial.
The Justice Department’s list of unindicted co-conspirators in that trial includes a list a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entities and members. The list includes the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The lattermost organization was listed as an entity of the U.S. Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a sub-section set up to support Hamas.
The United Arab Emirates caused a stir recently when it banned the Brotherhood and some of its most powerful affiliates in the U.S. and Europe, including CAIR, the Muslim American Society and Islamic Relief.
The UAE justified its designation of the U.S-based groups as terrorist organizations despite the immense backlash. The Foreign Minister of the country said it was based on the group’s incitement and funding of terrorism.
Another UAE official said the objective is “putting a cordon around all subversive entities.” And UAE State Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash said the backlash was being orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood lobby in the West.

“The noise (by) some Western organizations over the UAE’s terrorism list originates in groups that are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and many of them work on incitement and creating an environment of extremism,” Gargash tweeted.
The U.S. Justice Department, countless terrorism experts and the governments of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have confirmed the existence of a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. The U.S. Brotherhood’s own documents are even publicly available.
Yet, those who point this out are ridiculed by these Islamist groups and their allies as bigoted “Islamophobes.” The accusation is even nonsensically made about Muslims who point this out.
The refusal of the U.S. government to recognize the toxic ideology of the Brotherhood is undermining America’s ability to have a frank discussion about the issue of Islamism.
Muslim governments are providing verifiable evidence about the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, but their warnings are ignored or rejected. Americans (Muslim and non-Muslim) who voice these same concerns are personally attacked.
Terms like Islamism and Political Islam are used regularly in the Muslim world and even on the Brotherhood’s own website, but the U.S. Brotherhood and its apologists say we can’t. CAIR has waged a campaign to make the media stop using the “Islamist” term.

America is in the middle of a heated debate about the defining the threat. We should listen to our Muslim allies and let the facts speak for themselves, instead of letting Islamists and their apologists edit our vocabularies.

Watch video: CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations) is in damage control after being designated a terrorist org by the UAE.
http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-is-building-a-600-mile-great-wall-to-shield-from-isis-2015-1?IR=T&

Saudi Arabia Is Building A 600-Mile 'Great Wall' To Shield Itself From ISIS
When a raiding party from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant attacked a Saudi border post last week, it was no mere hit on a desert outpost.
The jihadists were launching an assault on the new, highest-profile effort by Saudi Arabia to insulate itself from the chaos engulfing its neighbours.
The Saudis are building a 600-mile-long “Great Wall” — a combined fence and ditch — to separate the country from Iraq to the north.
Much of the area on the Iraqi side is now controlled by Isil, which regards the ultimate capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the “Two Holy Mosques” of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal.
The proposal had been discussed since 2006, at the height of the Iraqi civil war, but work began in September last year after Isil’s charge through much of the west and north of the country gave it a substantial land border with the Kingdom to the south.
The border zone now includes five layers of fencing with watch towers, night-vision cameras, and radar cameras.
Riyadh also sent an extra 30,000 troops to the area.
Judayyidat Ararm_3164143c
AFP
The funeral of the three Saudi guards who were killed in the attack last week.
It is not the only fence with which Saudi Arabia has chosen to surround itself. Despite the difficulty of access to westerners, the country is relatively open to fellow Muslim nations, particularly during the Haj season when pilgrims from across the world come to Mecca and Medina.
However, that is changing in changing times.
It has also created a physical barrier along parts of the even longer, 1,000-mile border with Yemen to the south.
The attack last week is the sort of incident the Saudis hope to avoid. Three border guards, including General Oudah al-Belawi, commander of border operations in Saudi Arabia’s northern zone, were killed.
All four attackers also died.
More from The Telegraph:
Oscars 2015: nominations in full
Calais opens first migrant camp since Sangatte closed
Malawi deploys military as floods leave 100,000 homeless
Paris attacks: Turkish PM compares Netanyahu to Charlie Hebdo attackers
Top Gear: new series to receive global launch
SEE ALSO: KOBANE: Inside The Syrian Town Under Siege By ISIS And Bombed By The US

Admin Tue 13 Jan 2015, 5:35 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT
ISIS Hackers Breach U.S. Military Social Media Accounts
The YouTube and Twitter accounts of the U.S. army's Central Command were compromised for 40 minutes Monday until the accounts were suspended.
Tue, January 13, 2015
The U.S. Central Command Twitter account after being hacked by the Islamic State supporters.
Hackers apparently from the Islamic State gained control of two social media accounts of the U.S. military on Monday.
The YouTube and Twitter accounts of the U.S. military Central Command (Centcom) were compromised for 40 minutes until the accounts were suspended.
The hackers managed to post two propaganda videos on Centcom’s YouTube account as well as tweet multiple threatening messages from Centcom’s Twitter account. All the information released was publicly available as no classified – or even non-classified internal information – is passed on the social media account of Centcom.
However, previously available military documents were published as well as contact information, including street addresses of senior military personnel, the personal postal address at the Pentagon of the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.
Other information included maps and diagrams of various military interests – one showed defenses on the coast of China, another showed maps of population centers, nuclear and missile sites in North Korea – information all readily available from many U.S. think tanks.
The BBC reported that the some of the maps and diagrams posted were most likely obtained from slides used in a presentation at the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The messages posted by the group identifying itself as ISIS (another name for the Islamic State) ominously proclaimed, “In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad.”
Other messages included, “We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children;” “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK;” and “Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios.” (To see the posts, watch video below.)
Speaking to the media about their upcoming coverage of the incident, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said to the reporters to remember that, “There is a pretty significant difference between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.”
And experts agreed with that assessment. Professor Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey, said that the hack was not a major breach of security. "I wouldn't say it's trivial, but it's just a slip," he told the BBC. "Twitter accounts are usually looked after by an individual in an organization - it's very easy to give away that password.”
However, Woodward said, "In terms of if this is a hack into something secret, or sensitive - no, it's not. An individual has made a slight mistake."
Perhaps one the worst aspects of this “slight mistake” was the fact that the hack came at the same time that U.S. President Barack Obama was making a speech about a new program to protect the internet from cyber attacks.
In light of the hacking attack into Sony Pictures computer systems, Obama commented that the hack showed the U.S. the "enormous vulnerabilities for us as a nation and for our economy."
Speaking to the Washington Post, Peter Singer, a strategist and analyst with the New American Foundation in Washington, agreed that no military secrets had been compromised. “Essentially what they did is for several minutes take control of the megaphone.”
However, Singer noted that Islamic State supporters were able to embarrass the U.S. government, which “is a feather in their cap in terms of pulling off something that other groups have not been able to do, no matter how silly it is at the end of the day.”

Admin Sun 11 Jan 2015, 2:58 pm

Boko Haram's Six-Day Rampage - Dead 'Too Many To Count'
Nigeria's Islamist terror group Boko Haram attacked the northern town of Baga last week and razed it to the ground after the army fled.
Sun, January 11, 2015
Perhaps 2,000 people have been massacred in Nigeria in the most savage and brutal attack yet by the Islamist group Boko Haram. The precise number of those killed is unknown, but it is at least in the hundreds. Eyewitnesses and media sources are reporting that the dead are too many to count.
The vicious assault is believed to be connected to the upcoming election, in an effort by Boko Haram to intimidate citizens into not voting.
Boko Haram gunmen descended on the town of Baga in Borno State on Saturday, January 3, in pickup trucks, initially approaching a military outpost north of the town. They then proceeded to sack surrounding villages and towns, killing at random. By Wednesday they reached the town of Baga itself. According to an eyewitness who spoke to The New York Times, “When they neutralized the soldiers, they proceeded to Baga and started killing everyone in sight. There was no pity in their eyes. Even old men and children were killed.”
Reports suggest that Baga, previously a town of 10,000, was razed to the ground.
One survivor, Yanaye Grema, hid out for three days in Baga, taking cover in between his neighbour's house and a wall while the massacre took place. After the attack, like many other survivors, he fled to the Borno state capital of Maiduguri, a city of at least a million in Nigeria’s northeast. He told AFP, “For five kilometres (three miles), I kept stepping on dead bodies until I reached Malam Karanti village, which was also deserted and burnt.”
Maiduguri was itself attacked on Saturday, January 10. A suicide bombing killed 19 people and wounded many others in an attack on a crowded market. The suicide bomber was a girl aged around 10, part of a growing trend of the terror group using young girls to carry out attacks as they typically arouse less suspicion.
Last year Boko Haram killed an estimated 10,000 people, and they show no signs of slowing down their six-year insurgency. The Nigerian army has proven incapable of fighting back effectively against Boko Haram. In late December, the Nigerian government inexplicably halted a US program to train its army to fight Boko Haram.
According to Daniel Eyre, a Nigerian researcher for Amnesty International, “The attack on Baga and surrounding towns, looks as if it could be Boko Haram’s deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group. If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground and that hundreds or even as many as two thousand civilians were killed are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongoing onslaught against the civilian population.”

Borno State Senator Maina Maaji Lawan said that some 10,000 people had fled as refugees to Chad. The BBC reported that “a large number” had drowned while fleeing across Lake Chad.
For more information on Boko Haram’s brutal insurgency in Nigeria and the Islamist ideology driving it, see Clarion Project’s Fact Sheet: Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Islamist Group

Admin Sat 10 Jan 2015, 11:46 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/india-claims-pakistan-sent-terrorists-new-years-eve-boat
India: Coast Guard Thwarted Terrorist Boat Sent by Pakistan
The involvement of Pakistani authorities with terrorist groups reaches far into the government, making the claim not too hard to substantiate.
BY MEIRA SVIRSKY Wed, January 7, 2015
On New Year’s Eve, deep in the waters of the Arabian Sea, a Pakistanti fishing boat met an untimely end. After tracking the Pakistani vessel from its departure in Karachi, the Indian Coast Guard intercepted it in international waters.
Unlike normal protocol in these cases – in which the Pakistani vessel would have stopped and allowed the Indian Coast Guard to board – the Pakistani boat tried to make a run for it.
Warning shots were fired. One hour later, when the Indian Coast Guard caught up with the Pakistani boat, the four seamen on the boat hid underneath, set the vessel on fire and, quite possibly, blew themselves up.
While Pakistani officials vigorously denied that the seamen were terrorists, calling those claims by India “baseless and preposterous,” the incident had all the trappings of a previous infiltration by Pakistani terrorist through the sea.
In one of the world most horrific terrorist attacks, 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks over a period of four days were perpetrated by Pakistani Islamist terrorists in Mumbai, India, leaving 166 people dead and at least 308 wounded. In that attack, gunmen from the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) infiltrated India by sea.
In the New Year’s Eve incident, the Indian Coast Guard was acting on repeated warnings of an imminent “threat from the sea,” according to the Indian Defense Ministry. Indian officials had received a hot warning Wednesday night that an “illicit transaction in the Arabian Sea” was planned. The coast guard was on high alert.
As commentator Tarek Fatah writes and as convoluted as it sounds, Pakistan holds India accountable for the horrific massacre that the Taliban committed just weeks ago against Pakistani school children at an army school in Peshawar. An impending attack by Pakistan was feared as a reprisal.
“I can assure you that those on the boat were not smugglers, “India’s Defense Minister said. “The boat was blown up and only people who are motivated and trained could commit suicide.”
Further, Indian officials claimed, a normal fishing vessel – or a boat used for smuggling -- is not capable of out-running an Indian Coast Guard vessel for one hour.
India’s Defense Minister unequivocally said that the boat was carrying “suspected terrorists” who were “in touch with the Pakistan Army and the Pakistani establishment.”
In the Mumbai attack, Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive, confessed that the attack was conducted with the support of Pakistan Government's intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). Others corroborated that statement.
The involvement of Pakistani authorities with terrorist groups reaches far into the government.
A report by the Council on Foreign Relations states, “Pakistani authorities have long had ties to domestic militant groups that help advance the country's core foreign policy interests, namely in connection with Afghanistan and India. Since Islamabad joined Washington as an ally in the post-9/11 ‘war on terror,’ analysts have accused Pakistan's security and intelligence services of playing a ‘double game,’ tolerating if not outright aiding militant groups killing NATO troops in Afghanistan.”
As to the question of why the Pakistani government would play this duplicitous game when their own citizens are often the victim of these same Islamist terrorists, Dilshod Achilov, a professor of political science, explains this phenomenon in an interview with the International Business Times.
“It seems that Pakistan wants to keep the agenda of Taliban and Al-Qaeda active in order to keep receiving funding from the West [and] use it (if necessary) to leverage against the U.S. support for its arch-rival India and maintain its influence on Afghanistan,” says Achilov.
“Naturally, each side (the U.S. and Pakistan) may want to have a ‘power card’ for a possible future rainy day. For instance, the U.S. has been developing strong ties with India (including the areas of nuclear technology) which irritates Pakistan. In this light, if the U.S. ever chooses to use its ‘India card,’ Pakistan wants to have its ‘Taliban card’ handy,” he added.
A shocking 2011 documentary by the BBC showed just how far Pakistan was willing to go to maintain its “Taliban card.” Ahead of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan saved the Taliban by ferrying Afghani Talban across the border into Pakistan.
To date, Pakistan stands accused by top CIA officers and Western diplomats of causing the deaths of thousands of coalition soldiers in Afghanistan by secretly helping the Taliban.
When U.S. Navy Seals found Osama bin Laden in May of 2011, he was holed up in a compound not far from Islamabad in what was described as a “garrison town filled with army officers.”
Testifying to Congress in September 2011, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Admiral Mike Mullen, called the Haqqani network, an Islamist terror group, a "strategic arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency."
In a BBC interview in July of 2013, Afghani Chief of Staff General Sher Mohammad Karimi said Pakistan could end the Afghan war "in weeks" if it were serious about peace.
"The Taliban are under Pakistan’s control," Karimi insisted, noting that the Taliban's leadership was mostly hiding out in Pakistan’s border territory.
Pakistan’s actual control of the Taliban is a long-standing assumption in Afghan government circles. Karimi said Pakistan controlled and gave shelter to Taliban leaders, deliberately unleashing fighters on Afghanistan.
Karimi's comments came at a time when a NATO report, leaked in April of 2013, said that Pakistan was aware that Taliban leaders were taking refuge within its borders. The report also noted that senior Taliban figures such as Nasiruddin Haqqani were even housed close to Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency headquarters in Islamabad.
Writing in The New York Times, Husain Haqqani, a professor at Boston University and Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011, says that, “The national mind-set that condones this sort of extremism was cultivated and encouraged under the military dictatorships of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq from 1977 to 1988 and Gen. Pervez Musharraf from 1999 to 2008." Haqqani explains that, ”A whole generation of Pakistanis has grown up with textbooks that conflate Pakistani nationalism with Islamist exclusivism.”
During those decades, he explains, terror groups were given a free rein. Ironically, he notes, the free rein given to the militant groups was initially due to support from America, who wanted to use these groups to oppose the Soviets who were occupying Afghanistan. Later, says Haqqani, they “became an instrument of Pakistani regional influence there [in Afghanistan] and in Indian-occupied Kashmir.”
Haqqani notes that even after Pakistan’s return to democracy in 2008, “Many [terror leaders] have been set free by judges who overtly sympathize with their ideology.”
Most recently, in an exclusive article based on a first hand source in Pakistan, Clarion Project reported that the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), a major terrorist group harbored by the Pakistani government, expressed his support for the Islamic State in a public sermon.
The article noted that JUD conducts itself like a “state within a state” in Pakistan, operating over 200 schools, as well as hospitals, charities, mosques and even ambulances and blood banks. The group has over 2,000 doctors in its medical services and 60,000 subscribers to its monthly magazine.
It is obvious that a network of the size and breadth of JUD cannot function without the complicity of the Pakistani government.
Taken together with Pakistan’s history of supporting Islamist terrorism, the following statement by a Pakistani official commenting on this most recent incident with India rings anything but true:
“Pakistan is opposed to terrorism in all forms and manifestation and has been the biggest victim of terrorism.”
This duplicitous doubletalk should lead us to seriously question Pakistan’s status as a U.S. ally. As for the Pakistani government, it seems to have decided which side it’s on.

Admin Thu 08 Jan 2015, 8:23 pm

Turkey's Gov't-Aligned News Blame Victims in Paris Attack
Islamist AKP-aligned news outlets first labelled Charlie Hebdo as a magazine that insulted Mohammed, then blamed the victims for the attack.
Thu, January 8, 2015
Turkish and regional Islamist newspapers have blamed the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ("Charlie Weekly") for the attacks against it yesterday. Islamists and jihadists all over the world rejoiced over the attack, flocked to online forums and sharing their glee on social media.
The assault on the magazine, the worst terrorist attack in France in 50 years, killed 10 journalists and two policemen. Those murdered were staff of the magazine who had been holding their weekly editorial meeting at the time.
It has been reported that the jihadists targeted specific cartoonists. Among those killed was the magazine's chief editor Stephane Charbonnier and three of France’s most famous cartoonists: Jean Cabut, George Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac.
One of the terrorists, aged 18, turned himself in to the French authorities. He gave the names of the other attackers, two brothers -- Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34 -- to the police. The manhunt for the two continues.
Paris was shaken this morning by another apparent terror attack when a policewoman was shot in the southwestern suburb of Montrouge by a man with an automatic rifle. The policewoman has since died of her wounds. The attack has not been definitively connected to yesterday’s shooting.
Following the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Yeni Akit, a Turkish daily newspaper with ties to the ruling Islamist AK party, ran the headline “Attack on The Magazine that Provoked Muslims.”
Another pro-AKP party paper, the Turkiye Gazetesi, ran the headline “Attack on the Magazine that Insulted Our Master the Prophet.” After it received heavy criticism on social media, the magazine changed their headline to “Attack on the magazine that published ugly cartoons of our prophet.”

By contrast Turkiye Gazetesi’s English-language website ran the headline “American Muslims Condemn Paris Attack on Charlie Hebdo” this morning. Yet inside the article, the same sentiment as in the article in Turkish is evident. The first sentence moves straight onto Charlie’s Hebdo’s “history of publishing unflattering depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.”
This should not come as a surprise. Turkey’s foreign minister said yesterday that terrorist Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was welcome to move to Turkey should he leave Qatar, where he has been based, despite Turkey’s official status as a NATO ally.
As reported by the Daily Caller, Egyptian newspaper Shorouk said in its headline that Charlie Hebdo had “A history of insulting the prophet, ending in fire.”
These papers are all implying that the writers and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo brought the terrorist attack on themselves by exercising freedom of expression.
At the same time, many Western media outlets have decided not to publish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons so as not to upset Muslims. CNN’s Editorial Director Richard Griffith sent an internal memo reading, “We are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims.”
Several Western media outlets explained the motive of the ruthless murderers by saying that they were provoked.
As Douglas Murray wrote for the Gatestone Institute, “The press was already blaming the victims. Commentators on CNN opined that Charlie Hebdo had been "provoking Muslims" for some time. Perhaps they assume that it is easier to force good people to keep quiet, or keep their own media offices from being attacked, than to tackle to the problem of Islamic extremism head-on. It is easier blame Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lars Hedegaard, Suzanne Winters, Salman Rushdie or Charlie Hebdo -- and even put some of them on trial -- than to attack the attackers, who might even attack back!”

Admin Tue 06 Jan 2015, 7:57 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT
As Libya Continues to Disintegrate, Intervention Looms
The President of Niger called on Friday for international intervention in Libya after meeting with the French minister of defense.
Sun, January 4, 2015
A Libyan militia convoy on the move. (Photo: © Reuters)
The President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, called for international intervention in the rapidly escalating Libyan civil war that is causing regional instability. On Friday he spoke after meeting with the French Minister for Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian in the capital, Niamey.
President Mahamadou Issoufou said in remarks shortly after his meeting "I do not see how the armed terrorist militias can create the conditions for reconciliation among Libyans. An international intervention is essential to the reconciliation of all Libyans."
French Minister for Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian was touring the Niger and Chad and visiting French military bases there. He said that "Libya is in chaos today and it is a breeding ground for terrorists that threaten the stability of Niger and, further afield, France. We think that the moment has come to ensure that the international community tackles the Libyan problem. I think this is also what President Issoufou believes."
The conflict began in May when General Khalifa Hafter launched an assault against Islamist militias in Benghazi, an Islamist stronghold. In July after fresh elections that saw the Islamist government lose power, the previous parliament continued to sit and demand legitimacy. Fearing for their lives, the newly elected parliament relocated to the eastern city of Tobruk. Since then there have been two rival parliaments in Libya. Egypt and the UAE have been backing the internationally recognized government of Abdullah al-Thinni and the army under General Hafter, while an alliance consisting of Qatar and Turkey have been supporting the Islamist forces aligned as the 'Libya Dawn' militia coalition.
The outgoing Prime Minister of Tunisia, Mehdi Jomaa, has expressed grave concern about the chaotic situation in Libya, regarding it as a very serious threat to Tunisia.
Meanwhile violence has continued to worsen.
At a checkpoint near the southern city of Sabha, Islamic State militants ambushed and killed 14 Libyan army soldiers on Saturday. At the end of October, Islamic State affiliated militants declared an 'Emirate' in the coastal town of Derna, affiliated to the Islamic State.
In a separate assault on Saturday, Ansar al-Sharia kidnapped 13 Christians from near the Islamist controlled town of Sirte. Armed men went door to door inside an apartment building housing foreign workers and separated Muslims from Christians, seizing the Christians. In the days prior, 7 other Christians had been kidnapped.
The air force meanwhile bombed Misrata, an Islamist held coastal city. Warplanes targeted the commercial port, which the parliament said was being used to supply weapons and other resources to the Islamists. Maj. Mohamed al-Hijazi, the spokesman for General Khalifa Hafter, the general leading the army's assault against the Islamists, told reporters "we’ve said before that we would bomb the port of Misrata if it comes to pose a threat. On Saturday, our air force bombed the [Misrata] port, because it was being used to transport weapons, ammunition and terrorist elements."
A convention of the Arab League has been called in Cairo for Monday to discuss the war in Libya and the appropriate response.
The League's deputy secretary general, Ahmed ben Helli said "The meeting will be devoted to discussing the dangerous developments that Libya is experiencing, the increase in violence and acts of terrorism."

Admin Sun 04 Jan 2015, 8:43 pm

THE CLARION PROJECT
Epic Call by Egypt, Tunisia Leaders for Islamic Reformation
An ideological battle in the Muslim world between secular-democratic reformers and Islamists is happening. The question now is which side will win.
BY RYAN MAURO Sun, January 4, 2015
Supporters of Tunisia's new president, Beji Caid Essebsi, from the the Nidaa Tounes (Call for Tunisia) secular party movement. Photo: © Reuters
The newly elected President of Tunisia Beji Caid Essebsi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi recently issued loud calls for progressive reformations in Islamic thought to modernize outdated doctrine. Both of them explicitly identify the Islamist ideology as the core problem.
Raymond Ibrahim reports that Egyptian President El-Sisi gave a momentous speech during the celebrations of the birthday of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, where he told Muslims to have a “religious revolution” to change Islamic “thinking.”
The location is equally as important as the timing. He did this at Al-Azhar University, the world's most prominent Sunni school of learning.
El-Sisi confronted Islamist propaganda that changing Islamic doctrine is tantamount to blasphemy. He emphasized that there’s a difference between the interpretation of the religion and the religion itself. He argued that the ones who are actually hurting Islam are those who oppose the reformers.
“That thinking—I am not saying ‘religion’ but ‘thinking’—that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralized over the years, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world. It’s antagonizing the entire world!” El-Sisi declared.
He did not blame the troubles of the Muslim world on Western influence or a wild Zionist conspiracy against Islam as Islamist do. On the contrary, El-Sisi said the source of global conflict originates in ideologies from the Muslim world.
“I say – and repeat again – that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move … because this ummah is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost—and it is being lost by our own hands,” he said.
Last year, El-Sisi declared that “Religious discourse is the greatest battle and challenge facing the Egyptian people.” He said that an Islamic reformation is necessary to modernize doctrines that have not been revised for 800 years.
“In Islam, there was a civil state, not an Islamic one,” El-Sisi said. His government formed an independent commission that recommended banning Islamist political parties, “reforming religious discourse” and various measures to minimize the influence of political Islam (Islamism).
He also apologized to a woman who was sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square and said her “honor” was violated; a challenge to the cultural theme of “honor” that forms the basis of women’s rights abuses.
Separately, the Tunisian presidency was won by a secular-democratic candidate named Beji Caid Essebsi who defeated a pro-Hamas secularist with 55% of the vote versus 45%.
Shortly after his victory, Essebsi wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post crediting Western influence, specifically the Enlightenment and the separation of religion and state, with providing the basis for Tunisia’s secular-democratic transition.
Islamists, on the other hand, view Western influence as anti-Islamic and responsible for the Muslim world’s plights. When groups like the Muslim Brotherhood adopt Western concepts like “democracy,” they redefine them in accordance with sharia governance.
Essebsi’s op-ed blames Islamism and the previous Islamist government led by Ennahda, the Tunisian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, for security threats. He writes that Tunisians are joining Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State because of foreign clerics who entered Tunisia under Ennahda’s rule.
“The same extremist ideology motivates others to take up arms — made readily available by the turmoil in nearby Libya — against their fellow Tunisians,” Essebsi says.
His new government will start “working to return our mosques to their spiritual function and barring entry of foreign preachers.” The terminology of “spiritual function” is meant to mean that mosques will be non-political. He’s talking about fighting political Islam.
Tunisians voted for an anti-Islamist platform. Essebsi did not hide his intentions. The expressed purpose of his political party is to build a “twenty-first century state, a progressive state” and promote a modernization of Islamic doctrine.
“What separates us from those [Islamist] people is 14 centuries,” he said.
He left no room for interpretation in understanding his objectives.
“They are for a religious state, and we are for a civil state… For example, they wanted to introduce sharia as the source of law. We are against that,” he explained.
The Tunisians voted for Essebsi because they rejected Islamism; the same Islamism they originally voted into power with a plurality.
Professor Yuksel Sezgin writes, “Tunisia has achieved the most impressive democratic transformation in the history of the region.” He correctly states that Tunisia, not Turkey, should be upheld as the model for the region.
The momentous symbolism of what is happening in Tunisia and Egypt is difficult to exaggerate.
Tunisia is where the “Arab Spring” was born and where the subsequent “Islamist Awakening” won its first electoral victory. It was first-hand experience that led to the removal of Islamists from power and their replacement with secular-democrats advocating a progressive reformation in Islamic doctrine.
Egypt, the largest Arab country and home to the most influential school in Sunni Islam, followed a very similar path.
For the first time, Arab leaders are talking about the need for a progressive Islamic reformation towards separation of mosque and state; not the "reform" of the Wahhabists and the Muslim Brotherhood. And it is a message that Muslim Arabs supported in the seas of protests and ballot boxes.

We’re no longer talking about the need for an ideological battle in the Muslim world between secular-democratic reformers and Islamists. It’s happening. The question now is which side will win.

Admin Sat 03 Jan 2015, 4:04 pm

2015: WHAT JIHADISTS WILL TRY TO ACHIEVE IN THE UPCOMING YEAR
BY RYAN MAURO Sun, December 28, 2014
From manufacturing an oil crisis to Iran's nuclear aspirations and lone-wolf attacks, jihadists will be looking to exploit our weaknesses
The Bergdahl-Sony Effect
The West will have to contend with two lessons it taught adversaries in 2014: The U.S. negotiates with terrorists and the U.S. government and private sector will cave to threats.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/2015-what-jihadists-will-try-achieve-upcoming-year

EXCLUSIVE: TERROR ORG. HARBORED BY PAKISTANI GOV'T NOW BACKS ISIS
BY RYAN MAURO Mon, December 29, 2014
Information received by Clarion from a first-hand source in Pakistan reveals that the leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa network recently expressed support for ISIS.
Jamaat-ut-Dawa supporters burning the American flag. Photo: © Reuters
The Clarion Project has learned from a first-hand source in Pakistan that the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a major terrorist group harbored by the Pakistani government, expressed support for the Islamic State in a recent sermon.
The story breaks as Pakistani embassy is condemning the television show Homeland for depicting Pakistani government officials as complicit in terrorism.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/exclusive-terror-org-harbored-pakistani-govt-now-backs-isis

ISIS TORTURES WOMEN USING BEAR TRAP DEVICE ON THEIR BREASTS
Wed, December 31, 2014
A Syrian opposition group reports that the 'biter' device was used on a woman in Raqqa caught breastfeeding her baby in public.
Members of the feared Al-Khansa female brigade of the Islamic State
A Syrian underground resistance movement is reporting that women are being tortured by the Islamic State with a bear-trap device placed around their breasts for violations of sharia law.
The group, called “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently,” reported the most recent case of the horrific torture of mother who was caught breastfeeding her baby at the central bus station in Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic State’s de facto headquarters. Another case was reported by a 24-year-old woman whose niqab (face veil) was deemed too transparent.
Both women were picked up by the notorious all-female Al-Khansa Brigade.
The device, called a “biter” is thought to be similar to a Medieval torture tool referred to as the “Breast Ripper,” which was used to rip off or shred the breasts of women accused of various crimes such as adultery or aborting a pregnancy.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/women-tortured-bear-clamp-device-breasts-isis

SAUDI WOMEN DRIVING ACTIVISTS SENT TO TERRORIST TRIBUNAL
Thu, December 25, 2014
Loujain al-Hathou and Maysa al-Amoudi, two women's driving rights activists are being sent to a special terrorism court to stand trial.
Two women activists who were arrested at the beginning of December in Saudi Arabia have now been moved to a special terrorism court to be tried.
Saudi celebrity and human rights activist Loujain al-Hathoul, and activist Maysa al-Amoudi have been detained since December 1st for attempting to flout the country’s ban on women driving. Both women have valid UAE driving licenses.
Both activists are well known in the country and on social media. Saudi Arabia has not shown any indication hat they intend to allow women the right to drive in the foreseeable future.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/saudi-women-driving-activists-sent-terrorist-tribunal

WOMEN DRIVERS IN YEMEN THREATENED BY VIGILANTES - PERSONAL STORIES
Wed, December 24, 2014
Before the vigilantes came, women drivers were reporting less harassment driving than they face on public transportation. Now that may be changing.
A Saudi Arabian woman participates in a protest by driving. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. (Photo: © Reuters)
The number of women driving cars in Yemen has increased dramatically over the last two years, according to the Arabic news site Al-Arabi al-Jadeed. Acceptance of this “phenomena” has also increased significantly and even spread to the more rural areas, where fiercely patriarchal attitudes are deeply entrenched.
However, in Sanaa, the capital and the site of violence and unrest in the sectarian struggle between the Houthis (Shiite rebels) and Sunni tribesmen (backed by Al Qaeda), the presence of armed male vigilante groups has scared many families into forbidding women to drive alone for fear of their safety.
Susan el-Badawi is one of these women. El-Badawi says she has been verbally harassed by the men, who told her that she needs to have a male chaperone with her if she is driving.
Before the presence of the vigilantes, women drivers were reporting less harassment driving than they regularly face on public transportation. In fact, this factor alone is one of the main reasons why wealthy, Yemini families have begun buying cars for their daughters.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/women-drivers-yemen-threatened-vigilantes

INSIDE THE FSA -- A SURREAL WAR DIARY FROM SYRIA
Journalist Lindsey Snell's chronicle of her sometimes surreal time among the teachers, farmers, and civil servants whom have become an army fighting Assad and the Islamic State three years into the brutal civil war.
Abandoned Mansions and Al Qaeda in Amusement Parks: A Surreal War Diary
Published on 22 Dec 2014
In this short film Vocativ's Lindsey Snell's chronicles her sometimes surreal time among the teachers, farmers, and civil servants whom the US is now supporting as they battle ISIS In Syria. Abandoned Mansions and Al Qaeda at Amusement Parks are a few of the things she saw in the Fall of 2014, as she and her team spent time with factions of the Free Syrian Army and civilians in and around Aleppo. They chronicle life in rebel-held territories three years into the brutal civil war. The mansions left behind by the rich who fled Syria are now military bases. Abandoned amusement parks are war trophies. Some schools are open, but they’re consistently hit with bombs by the Assad regime, often when students are inside. “The regime is clearly targeting schools. It’s in [Assad’s] benefit to keep the future generation illiterate,” a teacher tells us. Some displaced civilians have spent years in camps that routinely flood. In spite of the hardships, the Syrian people push on.
WATCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIrBtCfX4tI

Admin Wed 31 Dec 2014, 12:10 pm

The Islamic State - What Can Be Done?‏
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." – Edmund Burke
As the year closes, The Clarion Project would like to thank our readers for their generous support of our work fighting against Islamic extremism and helping us to enable human rights voices around the globe.
For those of you who have not yet contributed to this end-of-year fundraiser, we ask that you join with us and invest in The Clarion Project to help rid the world of oppression, terrorism and the ideology that drives these blights on humanity.
Please help us by donating now!
America and its coalition partners have just ended their combat role in Afghanistan. Predictions that the Taliban will rule once again seem almost certain to be realized. Education of girls, freedom for women will once again be brutally suppressed, throwing the country back to the dark ages of civilization.
The Islamic State continues its murderous rampage through Syria and Iraq, killing, raping and enslaving as they establish the reign of its cruel caliphate upon terrified, indigenous populations.
We have a strategy to fight the extremists:

Create and distribute pro-active educational briefs to every member of Congress as well as local and state policy makers and university professors
Execute an online media blitz to drive the public to demand action from policy makers
Initiate grassroots political action
Push ahead on the production of our next film on persecution and endangerment of native populations – Christians, Yazidis and other minorities – in Islamist-controlled territory

Provide training for local law enforcement and other officials to stop the horrific practice of female genital mutilation on girls and women
PLEASE SUPPORT US WITH A GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION NOW --
CLICK HERE.

We appreciate your support and any amount you are able to give. We thank you in advance for your generosity. Your gift is tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Sincerely,
Richard Green
Executive Director
The Clarion Project
The Clarion Project is a registered 501(c)(3) and donations are tax-deductible

Admin Wed 24 Dec 2014, 8:27 pm

GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE IN U.S. TO UNDERMINE N.KOREA - IRAN NEXUS
The Human Rights Foundation has launched a project to break North Korea’s information blockade through smuggling in DVDs
The Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons and cyber warfare programs are a single entity. And Americans outraged at the appeasement of the two by the U.S. government and Hollywood can now undermine the North Korean-Iranian programs for as little as $5.
The Human Rights Foundation has launched a project to break North Korea’s information blockade by smuggling in educational literature, DVD players and DVDs like Titanic, Braveheart and Team America, a raunchy comedy that famously lampooned the late dictator Kim Jong-Il.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/new-action-initiative-strives-undermine-nkorea-iran-nexus

FRANCE IN 'JIHAD DENIAL' OVER ATTACKS
Three attacks in France with possible terrorist motves have left two people dead and many wounded. Clarion's Ryan Mauro speaks to Fox News.
A man drove his van into a crowded Christmas market in France injuring 11 people. This was the latest "lone wolf" attack in three days.
Earlier attacks this week in France on Sunday night saw a driver in Dijon go on a half an hour rampage, killing two people and another on Saturday night in Tours where an attacker slashed policemen with a knife before being shot.
In both of those attacks, witnesses said the perpetrator shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great in Arabic)
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/ryan-mauro-says-france-jihad-denial-over-attacks

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti: Men May Marry Girls Under 15
Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia said that he does not intend to discuss a proposal prohibitting child marriage.
Mon, December 22, 2014
Saudi Arabia's leading religious figure has said that marrying a girl under the age of 15 is 'permissible.'

Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al ash-Shaikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia made the comments in his capacity as head of the Senior Council of Scholars. In an interview with the local daily Al-Riyadh in response to a proposal to prohibit child marriage he said, “There is currently no intention to discuss the issue."

The Grand Mufti was speaking in reference to a proposal made by the Justice Ministry to the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas two years ago, requesting a fatwa to set a minimum age for marriage. Because of the lack of separation between religion and state in Saudi Arabia, the Senior Council of Scholars is the only authority permitted to issue fatwas, save for a few other leading clerics. This has been the case since a royal decree on the matter in 2010.
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/saudi-arabias-grand-mufti-marrying-girls-under-15-permissible

THE NATION NOW WANTS BLOOD': PAKISTAN RAGES AGAINST RADICALS
Protesters have demonstrated against radical cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and formally opened a police investigation against him.
Protests have erupted in Pakistan over the massacre in Peshawar, in which the Taliban killed 145 people, mostly children in an attack on a school. Public ire is focused on a leading extremist cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, the head of Islamabad's famous Red Mosque, who failed to condemn the attack in a widely publicized TV interview on December 17.
One protestor said that the Red Mosque symbolized 'the Taliban mindset.'
Rage is the dominant mood in Pakistan in the aftermath of the bloodbath. Khalid Muhammed, 43, told The Guardian, "The nation now wants blood. We have not seen this level of support for a concentrated, all-out military assault on the terrorists in years."
READ MORE
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/nation-demands-blood-pakistanis-rage-against-radicals

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