We all like it when people lie to us. For example, when the daughter comes home from a date at 3 o’clock in the morning and explains a flat tire on the freeway and no one would stop to assist until two hours later when the highway patrol finally appeared, we tend to feel better about why she came home so late. We want to believe lies because we want to feel good about our circumstances. At least, that may be the theory employed by American media sources. I was doing some research the other day and came across an article published at Frontpagemag, written by Stephen Schwartz in 2003. Thanks to Stephen, I am no longer suffering under the illusion that all is well in River City, USA.
Mr. Schwartz tells us about how the media is either grossly uninformed, or involved in outright lies when it comes to providing useful, reliable, and trustworthy information about the terrorist threat within the United States. But he points out that this problem may be more than the media not doing its homework. Schwartz asserts:
“Americans have a lot to learn about Islam - even in the aftermath of the horrors of 9/11. While the atrocities of that day provided a wake-up call about terrorism, our political and media elites continue to show us that they haven't done their homework on the religious background of al Qaeda - and are likely not to.”
“An exceptionally irritating example of this came to light when a USA Today "Q&A on Islam and Arab Americans" appeared as a mass mailing around the country. Although the flier bore the USA Today logo, a call to the newspaper elicited the claim that the logo was used without its permission, even though the content of the flyer appeared on the paper's Web site.”
Was USA Today doing Americans a favor by presenting “warm and fuzzy” information about Islam? Here’s a sample of some of the information this “flyer” presented to the American public:
“What is jihad?” Jihad does not mean 'holy war.’ Literally, jihad in Arabic means to strive, struggle and exert effort. It is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense or fighting against tyranny or oppression."
Why in the world would USA Today do that? Well, as it turns out, the flyer was actually produced and distributed by the International Institute of Islamic Thought, located in Herndon, Virginia, an organization that was raided by federal authorities during an anti-terrorism investigation. Quoting Mr. Schwartz:
“IIIT advocates for the Wahhabi sect of Islam, the most extreme, separatist and violent trend in the faith of Mohammed. Wahhabism is the official religion in Saudi Arabia. Saudi oil royalties are spent to spread Wahhabism throughout the world - including right here in America.”While Wahhabism is the sworn enemy of any person who does not subscribe to this radical and violent sect of Islam, IIIT continues its efforts to convince Americans that there is only one true following of Islam, and that none of its teachings have anything to do with murder. Apparently the advocates of Wahhabism do not see much value in truth because this sect has been identified as being singularly responsible for Osama bin-Laden, the Taliban, and the Al-Qaeda network. It is dedicated to the destruction of non-Wahhabists Muslims, especially the Shi’as in Iraq and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. It should not give Americans of any religious preference good feelings to know that of the 300 Islamic mosques in the United States, 70% of them are governed by Wahhabi Imams.
I believe that Mr. Schwartz is correct: the media and our elected representatives are dangerously ignorant about Wahhabism generally, and about the terrorist threat in particular. Perhaps nothing I’ve said so far in this article can be clearer than the testimony of Alexander Alexiev before the U. S. Congress. Alexiev is a senior fellow for the Center for Security Policy and had quite a bit to say about the plan and process of world Islamification. According to Alexiev’s testimony:
“Despite . . . very positive developments, it would be highly premature to claim that we are close to winning the war [on terror]. Indeed, recent terrorist attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca, as well as the putative conspiracy to blow-up Brooklyn Bridge, have shown unmistakably that terrorist networks and groups retain considerable ability to wreak havoc.”
“This is the case because while the United States has been successful in inflicting strategic defeats on state sponsors of terrorism, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, it has not applied the same decisive strategic approach in dealing with the phenomenon of Islamic extremism, which is both the root cause and basic support structure of the terrorist phenomenon exemplified by Al Qaeda and others. It is worth reminding ourselves here, that Al Qaeda is not the cause, but rather the symptom of the malignancy called Islamic extremism and that even if we are able to defeat Al Qaeda totally, somebody else will almost certainly continue in its footsteps, as long as the underlying malignancy lives on.”
“To name just one egregious example, a key postulate of Wahhabist teaching asserts that Muslims who do not believe in his doctrines are ipso facto non-believers and apostates against whom violence and Jihad were not only permissible, but obligatory.”
“Saudi financing of Islamic extremism plays such a huge role in its emergence as a global phenomenon that a proper understanding of it is impossible without coming to terms with its dimensions. Simply put, without the exorbitant sums of Saudi money spent on supporting extremist networks and activities, the terrorist threat we are facing today would be nowhere as acute as it is.”
“Between 1975 and 1987, the Saudis admit to having spent $48 billion or $4 billion per year on overseas development aid, a figure which by the end of 2002 grew to over $70 billion. These sums are reported to be Saudi state aid and almost certainly do not include private donations which are also distributed by state-controlled charities. Such staggering amounts contrast starkly with the $5 million in terrorist accounts the Saudis claim to have frozen since 9/11.”
“The Saudi money is spent according to a carefully designed plan to enhance Wahhabi influence and control at the expense of mainstream Muslims . . . much of the aid goes to fund religious madrassas that teach little more than hatred of the infidels, while producing barely literate Jihadi cadres. There are now tens of thousands of these madrassas run by the Wahhabists.”
“It needs to be emphasized here that contrary to Saudi claims that charities such as Al Haramain, the World Muslim League (WML), the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) are independent and non-governmental, there is conclusive evidence from Saudi sources that they are tightly controlled by the government and more often than not run by government officials. It is also the case that as early as 1993, the kingdom passed a law stipulating that all donations to Muslim charities must be collected in a fund controlled by a Saudi Prince.”
”Early on in the Wahhabi ideological campaign, the penetration of the Muslim ommunities in non-Muslim Western societies was made a key priority. The objective pursued there was slightly different and aimed to assure Wahhabi dominance in the local Muslim establishments by taking over or building new Wahhabi mosques, Islamic centers and educational institutions, including endowing Islamic chairs at various universities. Taking over a mosque, of course, means more than just the ability to impose the Wahhabi version of Islam. The imam and the leadership of the mosque are also responsible for the collection of Zakat (the 2½% yearly tithe Muslims must donate), which gives them the ability to contribute these funds to extremist organizations.”
“While nobody knows for sure how much the Saudis have spent on getting a foothold in non-Muslim regions and especially in Western Europe and North America, the sums are clearly huge. According to official information, the Saudis have built over 1500 mosques, 210 Islamic centers, 202 Islamic colleges and 2000 schools for educating Muslims in non-Muslim countries. Most of these institutions continue to be on the Saudi payroll for substantial yearly donations assuring that Wahhabi control is not likely to weaken any time soon.”
“What have the Saudis been able to buy with this unprecedented Islamic largesse? Quite a bit it would seem. For starters, the Wahhabi creed, which is practiced by less than 2% of the Muslim population, has become a dominant factor in the international Islamic establishment through an elaborate network of front organizations and charities, as well as in a great number of national establishments, including the United States.”
“Saudi officials have stated that they do not intend to either change their anti-Western curriculum or stop their “charitable” activities. Yet the evidence of conscious Saudi subversion of our societies and values as partly detailed above is so overwhelming that to tolerate it further would be unconscionable.”
Americans like to be lied to, including the media and members of Congress. It is the only explanation for lethargy among our elected representatives, who we clearly do not see stepping forward to confront the Saudi influence in the United States, and the danger imposed on all citizens through the maintenance of a terror network within our own communities. The danger is as real as crossing a busy street without looking both ways, and while each of us implores our children to act safely, we as adults are not acting responsibly on behalf of our children. We have already seen, for example, where Muslim extremists have attacked a school in Russia and murdered the children and their teachers; we know that they also attacked a theater in downtown Moscow. What makes us think, even for a moment, that those dangers do not truly exist in our own home towns?
So, the way I see it, the problem is multi-dimensional. We allow ourselves to be lied to because it makes us feel better. Still, as parents, there is little doubt but that the errant daughter would find herself in very serious trouble, and we would be doing some first rate work to change her behaviors and get her home safely at a decent time in the evening. Should we not be doing the same with the media and our politicians? Our lethargy makes us part of the problem. We demand certain safety standards for our families in some areas, and ignore them in others. Perhaps the reader is thinking that I am over reacting—and you know what? Maybe I am. But the question is, are YOU willing to take that kind of a risk with your loved ones? I hope not.
I urge you to become better informed, to challenge the media, write letters to members of Congress and demand that they serve you and your families better. You can email friends and associates, talk to your neighbors, ask questions of local officials. Absent any of these proactive measures . . .
XPost: The Wide Awakes
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