Jerry Jones in Dearborn--An Update

Yes, I know that it occurred last weekend (April 29), however, my son graduated on Saturday and I was tied up with relatives during the weekend so I did not get to address the Jones Speech in Dearborn. What occurred is what I felt would happen. 700 angry protesters were on one side of Michigan Avenue and Reverend Jones was on the other side in front of the Dearborn City Hall with his 50 or so supporters.  Only once during the speech did the protesters come across the street and police in riot gear had to intervene. According to reports, a couple people were arrested (not Jones this time). There were no riots and property destruction was very limited.  So all in all, it was a success for both sides.  Jones got his free speech rights supported and the protesters were able to express their disdain for his opinions.

So, what do I think?  Well, first of all Reverend Jones has the right under the Constitution to speak his mind and that right should never be restricted by a City, State or Federal government edict. I think the "trial" he was forced to undergo during his first visit to Dearborn was wrong.  And lastly, I fear that he might have a point when it comes to Sharia Law in this country.

Item one. We have seen and heard reports of the  "honor killing" defense being employed by Muslim defendants in murder cases. To my knowledge (if you know different, please enlighten me) none of the killers have successfully employed this tactic.  However, I sure sometime in the future, someone will.

Item two. In business, if two Muslims have a disagreement and wanted to settle their claim against each other using Sharia, would I oppose?  Probably so.  My rationale would be that this is the United States and we settle our claims in US courts, using US laws and not any other courts.  Otherwise, it would be a slippery slope.

The natural extension of the above question is, what happens when a Muslim and Non-Muslim (aka Dimi) are in a business or other conflict and the Muslim wants Sharia Law to settle the case?  Will the courts allow this?  (If it happens in Dearborn, I am sure they would.)  Under Sharia Law the Muslim has superior rights to the one not of that faith, so this would not be fair to the Non-Muslim, who would lose.

In the United States we presume to have the right to have our case heard in court by a judge or by a jury of our peers.  We would not have the same right under Sharia Law. So in my, not so humble, opinion, ANY use of Sharia Law in our court system will erode it and will eventually result in the very destruction of our system of laws.

What occurred in Dearborn over the past three weeks is only the start. The city with its large Muslim community is the incubator for the Sharia movement.  Demands by its Muslim citizens are agreed to without disagreement. This only encourages the Muslim leaders to demand more and more from the city fathers.

In the past two years, Christians handing out literature on a sidewalk outside the Arab Festival  have been arrested. In both cases, Dearborn lost the case in trial, however, this should have occurred in the first place. How long will it be before the city wins a case.  What will be the chilling effect of that win?

If America is to maintain its system of laws and  the rights of its citizens, Sharia Law must be defeated.  Jerry Jones may not be your favorite preacher but he pointed out the issue, are we alert enough to understand it?

We welcome your comments.

The Bin Ladin Story Keeps Changing

Every time I listen to the news the death of Bin Ladin story keeps changing.  What are the reasons? Should we be concerned about the various versions of information? My concern is the the government is either attempting to be straight forward and forthright or we are looking at amateurs trying to "manage" the news.

One of the most dramatic things that I remember was that the initial reports indicated  there was a 40 minute fire fight and that the people in the compound were highly armed.  Today we were told that there were several AK47s in a locker in his bedroom as well as a handgun but there was no major exchange.  Initially,  Obama was armed and now it seems that he was unarmed. First reports said that Osama had hidden behind his wife and now it seems that she jumped in front of him. These discrepancies not only cast questions on the validity of the information but the story itself. 

The interesting part is that these reports are coming from the White House.  Of course, in the heat of battle there can be various views of the situation and it is usually  better to delay the information until the participants can be debriefed.  Even  though the press might be pressing for details, it is much better to get the story right then to get the story out with incorrect or inaccurate information.

This is where the White House is blowing it.  They are consistently changing details and not the minor details of the attack but pretty important details such as a firefight. If they cannot get the big stuff right, how can we depend on anything?

So why are they handling the news this way?  My opinion is that either they want to keep us distracted from the real issues or they are totally incompetent.  If they can keep details of the killing in the news, the real issues facing the US (unemployment, collapsing home values, high gas prices et. al.) will take a far distant second place. If this scenario is accurate, we will continue to have revisions of the "story" coming out each day for months to come. Each one will change part of the story based on "new" information.  By the time we are finished, we will not know what the real story is, which is the ultimate goal.

Whether they are incompetent probably depends upon your political persuasion.  Republicans will believe that the Obama Administration is and Democrats will deny it.  However, history will be the final judge.

If it is planned or incompetency, our loss will be the TRUTH. I do not know what would be so wrong with  taking a few hours or even days to get the story right, letting the world know and only having to correct minor issues that arise later.  This is not the situation to which we are now exposed. Daily changes in the story only cause thinking people to start questioning the entire story.

Does the government/Administration think that we are so stupid, so naive that we will believe everything they put out? If so, all the details of the assassination/murder/killing of Osama should be questioned. An inquiry by an independent bi-partisan commission should be created and a report generated.

What is your opinion?



                                        

Hamas Riots In Jerusalem

Well, it should have been predicted and yes, I did.  Hamas now is rioting in Jerusalem after being encouraged by their leadership to avenge the death of Osama bin Ladin.  One would have hoped that cooler heads would have prevailed, however in this part of the world, there are no cooler heads.

How can the United States administration be demanding that Israel negotiate with this group of hate mongers? One can only wonder what the real end game is.

What do  you think the goal of the Obama Administration is?

Here is the story from the Israel National News.com


Arabs Riot in Jerusalem Over Bin Laden's Demise, Hamas Angry


Hillel Fendel - Israel National News.com, May 3rd, 2011

While most of the free world praised the United States for having rid it of arch-terrorist Bin Laden, the Hamas organization – which has recently all but merged with Fatah, headed by Mahmoud Abbas – condemned the act.

Similarly, Arabs in the village of Silwan, adjacent to the City of David neighborhood in Jerusalem, rioted Monday night in protest over the elimination of Osama Bin Laden. The rioters threw stones at police and attempted to block roads.

The Gaza-based website Al Qassam reports that Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the local Hamas chapter that runs Gaza, told reporters on Monday that Bin Laden was an “Arab holy warrior.”

Meeting with journalists in his office in Gaza City, Haniyeh said, “If this news [of Bin Laden's killing] is true, then this means that it is part of the American policy based on the oppression and bloodshed in the Muslim and Arab world.”

Haniyeh expressed his strong condemnation for the killing or assassination of Bin Laden, whom he referred to as “Mujahed” – someone in engaged in jihad, holy war against infidels. He said he was praying for mercy for Bin Laden.

Hamas reached a “reconciliation” agreement with Fatah last week, calling for the formation of a joint interim government in the coming days, and preparations for elections a year from now throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The agreement was hailed by most left-wing and anti-Israel organizations, but even President Shimon Peres, a strong supporter of a two-state solution and the Oslo process, said, “Israel would like to see the Palestinian people become united for peace – [but] this is not an agreement, this is a split. Hamas is a recognized terrorist organization. According to this agreement Hamas doesn't have to change their charter that calls for the destruction of Israel, they can continue to shoot at us as they did when firing [last month] on a yellow school bus [and murdering a teenager]. Hamas is a branch of Iran – Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah want a union for war

  

Osama Bin Ladin Questions

It is gratifying to find out that maybe I am not the only one with questions regarding the story that the U. S. Government is putting out.  Can we all be crazy?

A friend of mine emailed me the following:

"I questioned if he is really dead. Don't you think Obama might be trying to distract us and cover his mistake by killing Kadafi's grandkids and son? They sure got rid of the evidence (the body) fast. Now where is the proof?"

I cannot disagree with what she says, these are perplexing questions for which at present there are no answers.  What about you?

The reason for our mistrust is that many of us feel like we need to verify before we can believe.  Are we Doubting Thomas'?  Are we all from Missouri? I do not think so.  I feel the reason we don't take the news at face value is that we feel we cannot believe the news as it is being fed to us.  Too often we are given the "spin".  We are given the headlines which ignore the real issues. In network news, there is so little investigative journalism done that they should be ashamed to call themselves news people. They are news readers and reporters of the press release. Shameful is the only word that should be applied to them.

If I was writing a book about this issue I would pose it this way.  Osama cooperates with the U. S. government to fake his death so that he could live out his life in safety. He could live under a fake name, live in a country of his choice and not fear the U.S. knocking on his door.  He might even collect the $25 million prize on his head. Meanwhile the current administration would get their "prize" which would help Obama get re-elected. This would be a win-win situation for both sides.

 In that light, I would hate to think that this was only a political action to help the President get re-elected. However, is it so implausible?  Could this Administration do something so dastardly? I certainly don't know that answer, but time will tell.

In the meantime, without the body, can we really know it was him? Yes, they say they have DNA, but if you go by my scenario posed above, that would be easily obtained. The body being buried at sea so that there is no evidence of who it is. Any pictures of the body also could be faked. What if the body removed was a body double? We would never know and our government would never admit their mistake.

To eliminate these questions, our  government should be transparent as they can be in this matter. The more information they provide, the less questions that others and I  will have.  Let's hope they follow my instructions, however, considering the record of this Administration, it is doubtful.  Remember it took over three years to get his actual birth certificate and we are yet to see college records.  So as far as transparency, I do not expect it.

My hope is that Osama has been sent to get his virgins and that the news we are receiving are real.  I also hope that Muslims around the world will not take this as an opportunity to riot, burn flags or attack U.S. assets.  Hopefully, Muslims will realize the Osama was not a hero but someone who did severe damage to their religion.

What are your thoughts.

Impact Of Bin Ladin Death

Amid all the back slapping and puffery the Obama Administration has been doing in the past 12 hours, I am concerned about an explosion of violence that might occur by Al-Qaeda trying to reassert itself and assure the world they are not meaningless. Where will they attack and how are questions without answers unless one is in the command structure of the organization. However, if I were to guess there would be three possible targets.

The first of which would be Israel. Always a target of Hamas and Al-Qaeda and the ready made "target of opportunity" for them.  The proximity to Gaza and the relationship to the "great Satan", the United States, makes this a natural.

The second would be military bases and embassies of the United States. Located throughout the world, these are another natural place for terrorists to attack.  The desire for Al-Qaeda to make a big splash may lower the risk to these targets. However, if there were to be a planned attack on several locations at the same time, then we might see  them come back into focus.

The last option would be an attack on the United States itself.  If Al-Qaeda or its proxies have established networks in this country, then we might see this occur. Obviously, this has to be the most desired attack scenario. To strike back at the very country that killed their leader would re-invigorate them and remove any stigma of that their movement died with Osama.

I think there will be an attack. How it would be done i.e. conventional weapons, dirty bomb, chemicals, bombing aircraft, or even an EMP attack could all be potential scenario.  Whatever the weapon, we all have to be on guard.

The timing of the attack will depend upon the preparedness of Al-Qaeda.  Do they have plans already in the ready mode or will they have to create them.  One thing for sure, they cannot wait very long. With every passing hour, their relevance is losing steam. To wait 6 months or a year, would let all of our defenses to drop but it would demoralize the true believers.  I think it will happen sooner than later.

Where do you think that the attack will occur and how?

I am attaching an article from the Israel Project published today which talks about the Hamas reaction   I did not expect anything different.

_____________________________________________________________
Hamas Condemns Bin Laden Killing, Calls Him a Holy Warrior


Hamas: Killing of "Arab holy warrior" is criminal

Netanyahu: Fight against terror rolls on

Ismael Haniyeh, Prime Minister of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.

Jerusalem, May 2 – "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."

This was the reaction of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

While Americans, Israelis and much of the rest of the world welcomed the death of the man who masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States which killed around 3,000 people, Hamas was plunged into sadness. The Iranian-backed terrorist group, whose official charter calls for the destruction of Israel, has fired 328 rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians so far this year.

Haniyeh, who acts as Prime Minister in the Gaza Strip, referred to bin Laden as a “spiritual leader” and equated his death with an “American policy based on oppression and bloodshed in the Muslim and Arab world.”

Hamas, which a few days ago announced a unification agreement with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, refuses to recognize Israel or enter into any peace negotiations with it.

Palestinian officials are scheduled to meet in Cairo on Wednesday to sign a reconciliation agreement and choose a new candidate for prime minister. Senior Hamas officials have already stated that the prime minister of the new unity government should come from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Article seven of the Hamas charter states, “Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! …there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, called the targeting of bin Laden a “resounding victory for justice, freedom and the common values of all democracies that are resolutely fighting shoulder to shoulder against terrorism,” in a statement.

Other Israeli officials expressed concern that the death of bin Laden could provoke terror groups to retaliate.

Al-Qaeda has “infiltrated the Palestinian territories with help from Hamas,” Abbas confirmed in a 2008 interview.

“I can say without doubt that Al-Qaeda is present in the Palestinian territories and that this presence, especially in Gaza, is facilitated by Hamas,” Abbas told the Arabic paper al-Hayat, The Times reported.

Analysts believe that al-Qaeda is trying to establish itself in new areas, particularly Gaza, because it is losing ground in traditional strongholds, such as Iraq.

“Under the Hamas strategic umbrella several salafis and jihadists have proliferated in the Gaza Strip and during the last year have attacked Israeli territory with missiles and rockets, sometimes in coordination with Hamas, sometimes independently,” Ely Karmon, a leading expert at Israel’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism, told The Israel Project.

“In my evaluation these groups will try to revenge Bin Laden's death by attacking Israel, the best U.S. ally in the region… If these attacks will produce Israeli casualties, they could provoke an Israeli retaliation and a new crisis between Israel and Hamas,” Karmon added.

“This might empower [al-Qaeda] to do more,” Theodore Karasik, the director for research and development at the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis told Al Jazeera.

Referring to the fear of reprisal for bin Laden’s death, Karasik said the younger generation of al-Qaeda is “more vicious” and more willing to take chances.

Andrew White, known as the “Vicar of Baghdad” who runs the only Anglican Church in Iraq, dubbed Bin Laden’s death as “very dangerous” because al-Qaeda “will try to show the world that they can and will still commit terror.” He made the comments on his Facebook page.

Experts Available for Comment:



Jonathan (Yoni) Fighel

Affiliations: Senior researcher (IDC Herzliya), former Military Governor of Ramallah, Jenin, & Tul Karem

Fields: Palestinians & the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Tanzim, Hamas, & Islamic jihad, security policy in the territories, Fighting terrorism, suicide terrorism, Islamic culture

Tel: 09-952-7364, 09-952-7277

E-mail: pr@idc.ac.il



Ely Karmon

Affiliations: Senior researcher, Institute for Counter-Terrorism (IDC Herzliya)

Fields: International terrorism, strategic issues in the Middle East & beyond, weapons of mass destruction

Tel: 09-952-7277, 09-951-3768

Cell: 052-265-3306

E-mail: ekarmon@idc.ac.il



Yoram Meital

Affiliations: Chairman, Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy, Ben Gurion University

Fields: Terrorism, Israeli-Palestinian relations, Egypt

Tel: 08-647-2539

Cell: 052-879-5831

E-mail: ymeital@bgu.ac.il



Shabtai Shavit

Affiliations: Chairman of the Board of Directors, Institute for Counter-Terrorism (IDC Herzliya), former head of Mossad

Fields: Counter-terrorism

Via spokesperson:

Office: 03-557-2412

E-mail: pr@idc.ac.il



Emmanuel Sivan

Affiliations: Department of History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Fields: Contemporary and comparative Islamic fundamentalism, religious radicalism and politics in the Middle East

Office: 02-643-1996

E-mail: ESivan@vms.huji.ac.il







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