I agree...your last paragraph describes the Bush doctrine quite well.
Good to see you come around. Must be the success in Iraq.
I agree...your last paragraph describes the Bush doctrine quite well.
Good to see you come around. Must be the success in Iraq.
Yeah, that last paragraph works even better when you ignore his concluding sentence.
Nothing better for winning hearts and minds than bombing the shit out of a country and killing their people by the thousands
"We're building schools and hospitals!"
To replace the ones we destroyed during the first couple years.....
Nothing better for winning hearts and minds than bombing the shit out of a country and killing their people by the thousands
"We're building schools and hospitals!"
To replace the ones we destroyed during the first couple years.....
More Friendly Muslims in Europe
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Muslim-killed-Catholic-girl-in.4684216.jp
Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate
Lidia Motylska
« Previous
« Previous
Next »
Next »
View Gallery
ADVERTISEMENT
<!-- begin Dart Banner html tag --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> var adPos = 0; if (top != self) { try { adPos = parent.GetNextAdNum(); } catch(err) { adPos = parent.parent.GetNextAdNum(); } } else { adPos = GetNextAdNum(); } document.write('<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/yorkshire.jp/news;channel=editorial;tile='+adPos+';pos=mpu;sectionid=55;sz=300x250;mtfIFPath=/template/expandables/;ord=' + ord + '?" type="text/javascript"><\/script>'); </script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/yorkshire.jp/news;channel=editorial;tile=7;pos=mpu;sectionid=55;sz=300x250;mtfIFPath=/template/expandables/;ord=191468705?" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- Template Id = 1 Template Name = Banner Creative (Flash) --> <!-- Copyright 2002 DoubleClick Inc., All rights reserved. --><script src="http://m.uk.2mdn.net/879366/flashwrite_1_2.js"></script>
<noscript>
</noscript> <noscript>
</noscript> <!-- End Dart Banner html tag -->
Published Date: 12 November 2008
By Jeni Harvey
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> <!-- Article Start --> A TEENAGER was brutally murdered by her boyfriend's Muslim flatmate because he did not approve of him going out with a Catholic.
Lidia Motylska, 19, was strangled in an alleyway in Leeds by Iraqi immigrant Abobakir Jabari who objected to his Kurdish flatmate's relationship with her.
Yesterday Jabari, 39, who was given British citizenship in 2005, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court to murdering the petite Polish teenager.
The court heard he garrotted her from behind, using the cord from his tracksuit bottoms, before inflicting "gratuitous" wounds on her lifeless body. He stabbed her repeatedly in the chest and stomach and slit her throat.
Sentencing Jabari to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 19-and-a-half years, Mr Justice McKinnon said the murder involved an exceptional degree of violence.
"There is a suspicion that you lured this young woman to her death and marked your disapproval of her and her relationship by gratuitous violence upon her," he said.
The court heard that Jabari grew up in Iraq and was conscripted to the Iraqi army but then deserted. He became involved with the Communist party and later helped opponents of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime flee to Syria.
He came to England in 1999 with his then wife, but they separated in 2003 and he went on to gain British citizenship.
In July 2004 he began working at Symphony Kitchens in Gelderd Lane, Leeds.
Through his work, he met both Miss Motylska and Ajeen Jabaridia, a fellow Kurdish Iraqi who moved in with him at a flat in Oatland Heights in the Little London area of the city.
But he was to become increasingly hostile when the pair became romantically involved.
Prosecuting, Simon Myerson QC said: "He disliked the fact that his Kurdish friend was going out with a Polish Catholic.
"He did not like Lidia to sleep at their flat. He disapproved of Lidia's behaviour in public and thought it seemed sexually provocative."
He went on: "He told her that Ajeen should not be seeing her because she was a Polish and Catholic girl."
Miss Motylska, who lived with her mother Renata in Beeston, Leeds, thought she might be pregnant with Mr Jabaridia's child, the court heard, though this turned out not to be the case.
On the evening of the murder in October last year, she had arranged to meet Jabari and got off a bus near his home at 6.45pm.
Ten minutes later, two passers-by called 999, reporting that they had seen a woman on the ground in an alleyway in Lincoln Green, with a man sitting over her "grunting" and holding her around the neck.
When police arrived at 7pm, the teenager was dead, with deep stab wounds and her throat slit "from ear to ear".
The judge said one explanation for the slash injuries to her abdomen could have been an "expression of disapproval at her pregnancy and her relationship".
Immediately after the attack, Jabari set about creating an alibi by inviting friends to his flat to watch Arsenal play Slavia Prague in a Champions League football match.
A keen Arsenal fan, Mr Jabaridia had tried to telephone his girlfriend each time the team scored, but got no reply.
He and Miss Motylska's mother reported the teenager missing the next day.
After the sentencing, Det Supt Bill Shackleton from West Yorkshire Police said: "This was a brutal and calculated murder."
The victim's family were too upset to speak.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Muslim-killed-Catholic-girl-in.4684216.jp
Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate
Lidia Motylska
« Previous
« Previous
Next »
Next »
View Gallery
ADVERTISEMENT
<!-- begin Dart Banner html tag --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> var adPos = 0; if (top != self) { try { adPos = parent.GetNextAdNum(); } catch(err) { adPos = parent.parent.GetNextAdNum(); } } else { adPos = GetNextAdNum(); } document.write('<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/yorkshire.jp/news;channel=editorial;tile='+adPos+';pos=mpu;sectionid=55;sz=300x250;mtfIFPath=/template/expandables/;ord=' + ord + '?" type="text/javascript"><\/script>'); </script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/yorkshire.jp/news;channel=editorial;tile=7;pos=mpu;sectionid=55;sz=300x250;mtfIFPath=/template/expandables/;ord=191468705?" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- Template Id = 1 Template Name = Banner Creative (Flash) --> <!-- Copyright 2002 DoubleClick Inc., All rights reserved. --><script src="http://m.uk.2mdn.net/879366/flashwrite_1_2.js"></script>
<noscript>
Published Date: 12 November 2008
By Jeni Harvey
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> <!-- Article Start --> A TEENAGER was brutally murdered by her boyfriend's Muslim flatmate because he did not approve of him going out with a Catholic.
Lidia Motylska, 19, was strangled in an alleyway in Leeds by Iraqi immigrant Abobakir Jabari who objected to his Kurdish flatmate's relationship with her.
Yesterday Jabari, 39, who was given British citizenship in 2005, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court to murdering the petite Polish teenager.
The court heard he garrotted her from behind, using the cord from his tracksuit bottoms, before inflicting "gratuitous" wounds on her lifeless body. He stabbed her repeatedly in the chest and stomach and slit her throat.
Sentencing Jabari to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 19-and-a-half years, Mr Justice McKinnon said the murder involved an exceptional degree of violence.
"There is a suspicion that you lured this young woman to her death and marked your disapproval of her and her relationship by gratuitous violence upon her," he said.
The court heard that Jabari grew up in Iraq and was conscripted to the Iraqi army but then deserted. He became involved with the Communist party and later helped opponents of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime flee to Syria.
He came to England in 1999 with his then wife, but they separated in 2003 and he went on to gain British citizenship.
In July 2004 he began working at Symphony Kitchens in Gelderd Lane, Leeds.
Through his work, he met both Miss Motylska and Ajeen Jabaridia, a fellow Kurdish Iraqi who moved in with him at a flat in Oatland Heights in the Little London area of the city.
But he was to become increasingly hostile when the pair became romantically involved.
Prosecuting, Simon Myerson QC said: "He disliked the fact that his Kurdish friend was going out with a Polish Catholic.
"He did not like Lidia to sleep at their flat. He disapproved of Lidia's behaviour in public and thought it seemed sexually provocative."
He went on: "He told her that Ajeen should not be seeing her because she was a Polish and Catholic girl."
Miss Motylska, who lived with her mother Renata in Beeston, Leeds, thought she might be pregnant with Mr Jabaridia's child, the court heard, though this turned out not to be the case.
On the evening of the murder in October last year, she had arranged to meet Jabari and got off a bus near his home at 6.45pm.
Ten minutes later, two passers-by called 999, reporting that they had seen a woman on the ground in an alleyway in Lincoln Green, with a man sitting over her "grunting" and holding her around the neck.
When police arrived at 7pm, the teenager was dead, with deep stab wounds and her throat slit "from ear to ear".
The judge said one explanation for the slash injuries to her abdomen could have been an "expression of disapproval at her pregnancy and her relationship".
Immediately after the attack, Jabari set about creating an alibi by inviting friends to his flat to watch Arsenal play Slavia Prague in a Champions League football match.
A keen Arsenal fan, Mr Jabaridia had tried to telephone his girlfriend each time the team scored, but got no reply.
He and Miss Motylska's mother reported the teenager missing the next day.
After the sentencing, Det Supt Bill Shackleton from West Yorkshire Police said: "This was a brutal and calculated murder."
The victim's family were too upset to speak.
Nice Friendly Muslims at it Again
MUSLIM FANATICS 'HIJACK BRITISH PRISON'
TERRORIST: Zia Al Huq is imprisoned at Whitemoor
Sunday November 23,2008
By James Murray
MUSLIM prisoners have launched a reign of terror inside a top security British jail.
The fanatics are forcing fellow inmates to convert to Islam or face punishment beatings.
One man who stood up to the thugs was branded with a lump of hot metal, according to a prison source.
The crisis at Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire has led to calls by staff for the 100 Muslim inmates there to be dispersed to other prisons round the country.
Some Al Qaeda supporters have set up a kangaroo court, sitting in judgment on prisoners and ordering punishments, the source said.
The violent disciples of Osama Bin Laden have targeted even the toughest non-Muslim prisoners, including killers and rapists.
Local Tory MP Malcolm Moss said: “They are a law unto themselves. The governor should sort these problems out.”
Mr Moss, who recently visited the jail with Prisons Minister David Hanson, added: “There is a fear in the prison about what Al Qaeda stands for and what they can do. There are threats made to people to make them convert and if they lapse it is even worse.
“It is not an easy situation for the prison officers working there. Either additional resources should be made available or better training.”
Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “We have been calling for the Muslim leaders to be dispersed to other jails. The service must step in to break up this gang culture with immediate effect.”
<form action="/posts/search/"> <input name="where" value="section" type="hidden"><input name="section" value="1" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="534"> <tbody><tr> <td>
</td> <td> SEARCH UK NEWS for:
</td> <td style="width: 125px;"> <input style="margin: 10px 0pt 0pt 5px; width: 120px;" name="keyword" type="text"> </td> <td> <input src="http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/common/buttons/newsSearchButton.gif" style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;" type="image"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
</form>
Concern over the way Whitemoor is being run surfaced last week when it was revealed an Al Qaeda terrorist had been training to be a stand-up comic.
Zia Ul Haq, 29, jailed for 18 years for planning a bombing campaign in London, signed up to an eight-day comedy workshop at the jail.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw stepped in on Friday to cancel the workshop, saying it was “totally unacceptable”.
IRA prisoners exploited a lax regime at the jail in the 1994 to attempt a mass breakout in which a prison officer was shot.
Last September staff gave an effective vote of no confidence in governor Steve Rodford. Their main complaint was a change to shift patterns but they also exp*ressed concern about security.
Between April and October this year there have been nine serious assaults at the jail.
Governor Rodford said the claim that Muslim prisoners had become a law unto themselves was “entirely inaccurate”.
He added: “Robust monitoring of all prisoners takes place at Whitemoor irrespective of religion or affiliations.
“Whitemoor does have groups of prisoners who have formed themselves into gangs. It is clear that this gang culture is a reflection of issues that exist outside prisons.”
A Prison Service spokesman said: “There is no evidence to suggest prisoners are being branded or assaulted in an effort to radicalise them.”
MUSLIM FANATICS 'HIJACK BRITISH PRISON'
TERRORIST: Zia Al Huq is imprisoned at Whitemoor
Sunday November 23,2008
By James Murray
MUSLIM prisoners have launched a reign of terror inside a top security British jail.
The fanatics are forcing fellow inmates to convert to Islam or face punishment beatings.
One man who stood up to the thugs was branded with a lump of hot metal, according to a prison source.
The crisis at Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire has led to calls by staff for the 100 Muslim inmates there to be dispersed to other prisons round the country.
Some Al Qaeda supporters have set up a kangaroo court, sitting in judgment on prisoners and ordering punishments, the source said.
The violent disciples of Osama Bin Laden have targeted even the toughest non-Muslim prisoners, including killers and rapists.
Local Tory MP Malcolm Moss said: “They are a law unto themselves. The governor should sort these problems out.”
Mr Moss, who recently visited the jail with Prisons Minister David Hanson, added: “There is a fear in the prison about what Al Qaeda stands for and what they can do. There are threats made to people to make them convert and if they lapse it is even worse.
“It is not an easy situation for the prison officers working there. Either additional resources should be made available or better training.”
Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “We have been calling for the Muslim leaders to be dispersed to other jails. The service must step in to break up this gang culture with immediate effect.”
<form action="/posts/search/"> <input name="where" value="section" type="hidden"><input name="section" value="1" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="534"> <tbody><tr> <td>
</td> <td style="width: 125px;"> <input style="margin: 10px 0pt 0pt 5px; width: 120px;" name="keyword" type="text"> </td> <td> <input src="http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/common/buttons/newsSearchButton.gif" style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;" type="image"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
</form>
Concern over the way Whitemoor is being run surfaced last week when it was revealed an Al Qaeda terrorist had been training to be a stand-up comic.
Zia Ul Haq, 29, jailed for 18 years for planning a bombing campaign in London, signed up to an eight-day comedy workshop at the jail.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw stepped in on Friday to cancel the workshop, saying it was “totally unacceptable”.
IRA prisoners exploited a lax regime at the jail in the 1994 to attempt a mass breakout in which a prison officer was shot.
Last September staff gave an effective vote of no confidence in governor Steve Rodford. Their main complaint was a change to shift patterns but they also exp*ressed concern about security.
Between April and October this year there have been nine serious assaults at the jail.
Governor Rodford said the claim that Muslim prisoners had become a law unto themselves was “entirely inaccurate”.
He added: “Robust monitoring of all prisoners takes place at Whitemoor irrespective of religion or affiliations.
“Whitemoor does have groups of prisoners who have formed themselves into gangs. It is clear that this gang culture is a reflection of issues that exist outside prisons.”
A Prison Service spokesman said: “There is no evidence to suggest prisoners are being branded or assaulted in an effort to radicalise them.”
GUys guys...come on..
We REALLY need to treat these guys like decent human beings.
Let guys like barman and crew figure out how to handle these psychos and we will be just fine...
Just leave em alone and nothing will happen.
Bury our heads in the sand and just pretend like they arent there, and they will certainly go away.
We REALLY need to treat these guys like decent human beings.
Let guys like barman and crew figure out how to handle these psychos and we will be just fine...
Just leave em alone and nothing will happen.
Bury our heads in the sand and just pretend like they arent there, and they will certainly go away.
25 days and in a world of 6 Billion people Zit, you have managed to find...three story's relating to crazy ass Fundy Muslims. Is this supposed to mean something? Im sure if you dug, you could find three crazy ass Fundy christian story's as well....but in reality, nobody gives a rats ass to do so. Because religion in itself is just that... CRAZY!
Guilty on All Counts
[SIZE=+2]Holy Land Foundation defendants guilty on all counts
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]06:55 AM CST on Tuesday, November 25, 2008
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]By JASON TRAHAN and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
jtrahan@dallasnews.com; teiserer@dallasnews.com [/SIZE]
After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The verdicts by a Dallas federal jury are a significant victory for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case after a mistrial last year and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex evidence presented in the massive case.
Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges.
The verdicts are a major triumph for the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing have been troubled. Two other similar high-profile prosecutions targeting supporters of Palestinian militants have ended in acquittals, deadlocked juries or convictions on lesser charges.
"Today's verdicts are important milestones in America's efforts against financiers of terrorism," Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a prepared statement.
"This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups."
Peter Margulies, a Roger Williams University law professor who studies terrorism financing cases, said, "The government showed in a streamlined case that where special assistance to the families of terrorists is concerned, cash is the moral equivalent of a car bomb."
The jury also said Holy Land should forfeit $12.4 million because of several money-laundering convictions in the case. Prosecutors said the government probably will end up with about $5 million in Holy Land money frozen by federal authorities in 2001.
Monday's verdicts capped the government's second attempt to convict the men and the now-defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation itself. It took the jury eight days of deliberations to reach its decisions – less than half the time it took jurors to end up with an almost complete mistrial last year.
<!-- Refer begins here --> Also Online
Crime blog: Holy Land Foundation archive
Archive: The Holy Land Foundation saga
Bios: Defendants in the Holy Land Foundation case
<!-- Refer ends here --> "It's a sad day," said Mohammed Wafa Yaish, Holy Land's former accountant and a defense witness. "It looks like helping the needy Palestinians is a crime these days."
Defense attorneys declined to comment but are already discussing plans for appeals.
Prosecutor Jim Jacks called his nearly decade-long involvement in the case, gratifying.
"My kids were in junior high when we started this case. They're out of college now," he said. "We had a strong case last year. This year, we refined the case. ... We had the benefit of being able to talk to the jurors after that first trial."
Opening statements at the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas began Sept. 22. Prosecutors used more than 500 pieces of evidence to prove five former charity organizers used Holy Land, once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S., to funnel almost $60 million to the militant group.
Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1995, and the trial centered on the $12 million the government said Holy Land and supporters funneled to the group after that date. Prosecutors say Holy Land was formed about the same time as Hamas in the late 1980s and early on was designated as its chief financier in America.
The conspiracy, prosecutors alleged, was overseen by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egypt-based Islamist group that authorities say is the parent organization of Hamas.
Douglas Farah, a former Washington Post foreign correspondent who is now an author and terrorism expert, said the "trial provides an invaluable forum for publicly showing the true agenda of the international Muslim Brotherhood and its organizations in the United States – the abolition of the United States government as we know it and support for a designated terrorist organization."
Defense attorneys argued that the foundation was a legitimate charity that helped distressed Palestinians under Israeli occupation. They accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure and of relying on evidence predating the 1995 designation.
"The community sentiment ... was that this was a political trial trying to achieve a government policy," said Mohamed Elibiary, president of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, a Muslim group based in Plano.
"Most sense that this isn't over," he said, adding that many in the Muslim community are still offended by the government's list of more than 300 unindicted co-conspirators, which includes Muslim leaders and groups in the U.S.
"That list implicates most of the Muslim community in a wider conspiracy," he said.
The FBI's investigation of Holy Land began in 1993 and the charity was shut down by the government in December 2001. The first trial ended in a hung jury in October 2007.
Terrorism experts say Monday's verdicts demonstrate that complicated terrorism financing cases can be successfully prosecuted in American criminal courts. The verdicts also lend credibility to the Treasury Department's oft-criticized program of designating terrorist entities and freezing assets.
The verdict "sends a crystal-clear message that the United States will neither allow itself to serve as a cash cow for terrorist groups nor allow the charitable sector to be abused by groups financing terrorism under the cover of charity," said Matt Levitt, a Hamas expert and former high-ranking government intelligence official who testified in both trials.
But critics of the government noted that it took untold millions of taxpayer dollars, 15 years of investigation and two long trials to get guilty verdicts.
"Retrials tend to favor the prosecution," said Tom Melsheimer, a former federal prosecutor in Dallas now in private practice. "The government can figure out what worked and what didn't and streamline their presentation of the evidence. The defense, on the other hand, has already shown their cards.
"To spend millions of dollars in time and expenses to prosecute people who were of no real threat to anyone, under the banner of a terrorism case, is a waste of precious federal resources," he said.
Mark Briskman, regional director of the North Texas office of the Anti-Defamation League in Dallas, said funding terrorism in any form is a big threat to national security.
"By funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, this organization and its leaders believed that it could help those who resort to violence to support their cause," he said. "All Americans should thank the Justice Department for their aggressive and tenacious pursuit of this group and its leaders."
[SIZE=+2]Holy Land Foundation defendants guilty on all counts
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]06:55 AM CST on Tuesday, November 25, 2008
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]By JASON TRAHAN and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
jtrahan@dallasnews.com; teiserer@dallasnews.com [/SIZE]
After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The verdicts by a Dallas federal jury are a significant victory for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case after a mistrial last year and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex evidence presented in the massive case.
Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges.
The verdicts are a major triumph for the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing have been troubled. Two other similar high-profile prosecutions targeting supporters of Palestinian militants have ended in acquittals, deadlocked juries or convictions on lesser charges.
"Today's verdicts are important milestones in America's efforts against financiers of terrorism," Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a prepared statement.
"This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups."
Peter Margulies, a Roger Williams University law professor who studies terrorism financing cases, said, "The government showed in a streamlined case that where special assistance to the families of terrorists is concerned, cash is the moral equivalent of a car bomb."
The jury also said Holy Land should forfeit $12.4 million because of several money-laundering convictions in the case. Prosecutors said the government probably will end up with about $5 million in Holy Land money frozen by federal authorities in 2001.
Monday's verdicts capped the government's second attempt to convict the men and the now-defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation itself. It took the jury eight days of deliberations to reach its decisions – less than half the time it took jurors to end up with an almost complete mistrial last year.
<!-- Refer begins here --> Also Online
Crime blog: Holy Land Foundation archive
Archive: The Holy Land Foundation saga
Bios: Defendants in the Holy Land Foundation case
<!-- Refer ends here --> "It's a sad day," said Mohammed Wafa Yaish, Holy Land's former accountant and a defense witness. "It looks like helping the needy Palestinians is a crime these days."
Defense attorneys declined to comment but are already discussing plans for appeals.
Prosecutor Jim Jacks called his nearly decade-long involvement in the case, gratifying.
"My kids were in junior high when we started this case. They're out of college now," he said. "We had a strong case last year. This year, we refined the case. ... We had the benefit of being able to talk to the jurors after that first trial."
Opening statements at the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas began Sept. 22. Prosecutors used more than 500 pieces of evidence to prove five former charity organizers used Holy Land, once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S., to funnel almost $60 million to the militant group.
Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1995, and the trial centered on the $12 million the government said Holy Land and supporters funneled to the group after that date. Prosecutors say Holy Land was formed about the same time as Hamas in the late 1980s and early on was designated as its chief financier in America.
The conspiracy, prosecutors alleged, was overseen by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egypt-based Islamist group that authorities say is the parent organization of Hamas.
Douglas Farah, a former Washington Post foreign correspondent who is now an author and terrorism expert, said the "trial provides an invaluable forum for publicly showing the true agenda of the international Muslim Brotherhood and its organizations in the United States – the abolition of the United States government as we know it and support for a designated terrorist organization."
Defense attorneys argued that the foundation was a legitimate charity that helped distressed Palestinians under Israeli occupation. They accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure and of relying on evidence predating the 1995 designation.
"The community sentiment ... was that this was a political trial trying to achieve a government policy," said Mohamed Elibiary, president of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, a Muslim group based in Plano.
"Most sense that this isn't over," he said, adding that many in the Muslim community are still offended by the government's list of more than 300 unindicted co-conspirators, which includes Muslim leaders and groups in the U.S.
"That list implicates most of the Muslim community in a wider conspiracy," he said.
The FBI's investigation of Holy Land began in 1993 and the charity was shut down by the government in December 2001. The first trial ended in a hung jury in October 2007.
Terrorism experts say Monday's verdicts demonstrate that complicated terrorism financing cases can be successfully prosecuted in American criminal courts. The verdicts also lend credibility to the Treasury Department's oft-criticized program of designating terrorist entities and freezing assets.
The verdict "sends a crystal-clear message that the United States will neither allow itself to serve as a cash cow for terrorist groups nor allow the charitable sector to be abused by groups financing terrorism under the cover of charity," said Matt Levitt, a Hamas expert and former high-ranking government intelligence official who testified in both trials.
But critics of the government noted that it took untold millions of taxpayer dollars, 15 years of investigation and two long trials to get guilty verdicts.
"Retrials tend to favor the prosecution," said Tom Melsheimer, a former federal prosecutor in Dallas now in private practice. "The government can figure out what worked and what didn't and streamline their presentation of the evidence. The defense, on the other hand, has already shown their cards.
"To spend millions of dollars in time and expenses to prosecute people who were of no real threat to anyone, under the banner of a terrorism case, is a waste of precious federal resources," he said.
Mark Briskman, regional director of the North Texas office of the Anti-Defamation League in Dallas, said funding terrorism in any form is a big threat to national security.
"By funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, this organization and its leaders believed that it could help those who resort to violence to support their cause," he said. "All Americans should thank the Justice Department for their aggressive and tenacious pursuit of this group and its leaders."
5 Muslims GUILTY in Plot to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers
5 Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers
Monday, December 22, 2008
<script type="text/javascript"> yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "5 Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers"; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "A federal jury in New Jersey found five men guilty of plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, but acquitted them of attempted murder."; yahooBuzzArticleCategory = "U.S."; yahooBuzzArticleType = "text"; yahooBuzzArticleId = window.location.href; </script>
AP
Oct. 20, 2008: Shain Duka, bottom left, Eljvir Duka, Dritan Duka, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and Serdar Tatar in federal court.
Oct. 20, 2008: Shain Duka, bottom left, Eljvir Duka, Dritan Duka, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and Serdar Tatar in federal court.
CAMDEN, N.J. — Five Muslim immigrants were convicted Monday of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist conspiracies in their earliest stages.
The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April.
The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of attempted murder, after prosecutors acknowledged the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan. Four defendants were also convicted of weapons charges.
Click here for photos.
The federal jury deliberated for 38 hours over six days.
The government said after the arrests in 2007 that case underscored the dangers of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil. Although investigators said the conspirators were inspired by Usama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.
Defense lawyers argued that the alleged plot was all talk — that the men weren't seriously planning anything and that they were manipulated and goaded by two paid FBI informants.
Faten Shnewer, the mother of defendant Mohamad Shnewer, said the informants should be the ones in jail. "Not my son and his friends. It's not right, it's not justice," she said after the verdict. The government "sent somebody to push him to say something; that's it."
Convicted were: Shnewer, a Jordanian-born cab driver; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business. A sixth man arrested and charged only with gun offenses pleaded guilty earlier.
"These criminals had the capacity and had done preparations to do serious and grievous harm to members of our military," Ralph Marra, the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said after the verdict.
But some Muslim leaders in New Jersey disputed that.
"I don't think they actually mean to do anything," said Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union. "I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."
Jim Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: "Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment. From what I saw, there was a significant role played by the government informant."
The yearlong investigation began after a clerk at a Circuit City store told the FBI that some customers had asked him to transfer onto DVD some video footage of them firing assault weapons and screaming about jihad.
The FBI asked two informants — both foreign-born men who entered the U.S. illegally and had criminal records — to befriend the suspects. Both informants were paid and were offered help obtaining legal resident status.
During the eight-week trial, the government relied heavily on information gathered by the informants, who secretly recorded hundreds of conversations.
Prosecutors said the men bought several assault rifles supplied by the FBI and that they trekked to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to practice their shooting. The government also presented dozens of jihadist speeches and videos that the men supposedly used as inspiration.
According to prosecutors, the group chose the Army post because one of the defendants was familiar with it. His father's pizza shop delivered to the New Jersey base, which is 25 miles from Philadelphia and used primarily to train reservists for duty in Iraq.
The group's objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," prosecutors said.
But the men's lawyers attacked the credibility of the informants and accused them of instigating the plot.
After the verdict, Schnewer's attorney, Rocco Cipparone, said there would not have been a conspiracy without the involvement of the informants. "I believe they shaped the evidence," he said.
Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick defended the government's handling of the case, telling the jury: "The FBI investigates crime on the front end. They don't want to have to do it on the back end."
Members of the jury would not speak to reporters after the verdict and instead released a statement that said, in part, "This has been one of the most difficult things that we have ever had to do."
None of the defendants testified.
The government said after the men's arrest that an attack was imminent, though prosecutors backed off that assertion at the trial.
The government has had a mixed record on terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11. It won guilty pleas from Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with a shoe bomb; and the Lackawanna Six, a terrorist cell outside Buffalo, N.Y. And it convicted Jose Padilla of plotting terrorist attacks.
But a case against four men in Michigan fell apart after a federal prosecutor was accused of withholding evidence. And a case in Miami against seven men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower has produced one acquittal and two mistrials.
5 Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers
Monday, December 22, 2008
<script type="text/javascript"> yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "5 Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers"; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "A federal jury in New Jersey found five men guilty of plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, but acquitted them of attempted murder."; yahooBuzzArticleCategory = "U.S."; yahooBuzzArticleType = "text"; yahooBuzzArticleId = window.location.href; </script>
- Share:
-
-
-
-
- <script type="text/javascript">farkItButton('5 Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Kill Fort Dix Soldiers','','16x16',false);</script>
- <script type="text/javascript" src="http://d.yimg.com/ds/badge2.js" badgetype="logo"></script>http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/pub/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fstory%2F0%2C2933%2C470900%2C00.html
-
APOct. 20, 2008: Shain Duka, bottom left, Eljvir Duka, Dritan Duka, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and Serdar Tatar in federal court.
Oct. 20, 2008: Shain Duka, bottom left, Eljvir Duka, Dritan Duka, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and Serdar Tatar in federal court.
CAMDEN, N.J. — Five Muslim immigrants were convicted Monday of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist conspiracies in their earliest stages.
The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April.
The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of attempted murder, after prosecutors acknowledged the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan. Four defendants were also convicted of weapons charges.
Click here for photos.
The federal jury deliberated for 38 hours over six days.
The government said after the arrests in 2007 that case underscored the dangers of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil. Although investigators said the conspirators were inspired by Usama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.
Defense lawyers argued that the alleged plot was all talk — that the men weren't seriously planning anything and that they were manipulated and goaded by two paid FBI informants.
Faten Shnewer, the mother of defendant Mohamad Shnewer, said the informants should be the ones in jail. "Not my son and his friends. It's not right, it's not justice," she said after the verdict. The government "sent somebody to push him to say something; that's it."
Convicted were: Shnewer, a Jordanian-born cab driver; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business. A sixth man arrested and charged only with gun offenses pleaded guilty earlier.
"These criminals had the capacity and had done preparations to do serious and grievous harm to members of our military," Ralph Marra, the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said after the verdict.
But some Muslim leaders in New Jersey disputed that.
"I don't think they actually mean to do anything," said Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union. "I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."
Jim Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: "Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment. From what I saw, there was a significant role played by the government informant."
The yearlong investigation began after a clerk at a Circuit City store told the FBI that some customers had asked him to transfer onto DVD some video footage of them firing assault weapons and screaming about jihad.
The FBI asked two informants — both foreign-born men who entered the U.S. illegally and had criminal records — to befriend the suspects. Both informants were paid and were offered help obtaining legal resident status.
During the eight-week trial, the government relied heavily on information gathered by the informants, who secretly recorded hundreds of conversations.
Prosecutors said the men bought several assault rifles supplied by the FBI and that they trekked to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to practice their shooting. The government also presented dozens of jihadist speeches and videos that the men supposedly used as inspiration.
According to prosecutors, the group chose the Army post because one of the defendants was familiar with it. His father's pizza shop delivered to the New Jersey base, which is 25 miles from Philadelphia and used primarily to train reservists for duty in Iraq.
The group's objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," prosecutors said.
But the men's lawyers attacked the credibility of the informants and accused them of instigating the plot.
After the verdict, Schnewer's attorney, Rocco Cipparone, said there would not have been a conspiracy without the involvement of the informants. "I believe they shaped the evidence," he said.
Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick defended the government's handling of the case, telling the jury: "The FBI investigates crime on the front end. They don't want to have to do it on the back end."
Members of the jury would not speak to reporters after the verdict and instead released a statement that said, in part, "This has been one of the most difficult things that we have ever had to do."
None of the defendants testified.
The government said after the men's arrest that an attack was imminent, though prosecutors backed off that assertion at the trial.
The government has had a mixed record on terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11. It won guilty pleas from Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with a shoe bomb; and the Lackawanna Six, a terrorist cell outside Buffalo, N.Y. And it convicted Jose Padilla of plotting terrorist attacks.
But a case against four men in Michigan fell apart after a federal prosecutor was accused of withholding evidence. And a case in Miami against seven men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower has produced one acquittal and two mistrials.
zit is just covering his ass. i've been around people like zit in my area.
these evangelical clowns come to your door every day with there pamphlets. these are robots working for there leader, leader of the local branch. they will hound you until they get you. these terrorists use mind control, and belonging as a way to get you to go to there church. once you go in, you don't come back the same. zit is perfect example of that.
religion is a waste of time though. people who believe in noah's ark, parting the seas and all that dumb shit need to be put away.
i will say this though. islam is the superior religion, which is why you see it spreading around the world. the islam will kill you if you don't convert, the christian will just annoy the hell out of you if you dont convert and put a cross on your lawn. the christians use fear, islam uses violence. violence>fear.
these evangelical clowns come to your door every day with there pamphlets. these are robots working for there leader, leader of the local branch. they will hound you until they get you. these terrorists use mind control, and belonging as a way to get you to go to there church. once you go in, you don't come back the same. zit is perfect example of that.
religion is a waste of time though. people who believe in noah's ark, parting the seas and all that dumb shit need to be put away.
i will say this though. islam is the superior religion, which is why you see it spreading around the world. the islam will kill you if you don't convert, the christian will just annoy the hell out of you if you dont convert and put a cross on your lawn. the christians use fear, islam uses violence. violence>fear.
Two stories about cases that were 15 years ago and the other almost two years ago... a little tough now to get a story even in a 24 hour news cycle eh? Unreal, what a fucking troll you have become Zit, seriously. A partisan hack troll. Anti liberal, Anti Muslim and anti gay.... what other minority am i leaving out? I used to have respect for the arguments you brought up, but now its not even debatable anymore with you. It s a good thing you dont represent all of Texas...with your backwards logic and close mindedness you must make one bitter SOB to live with.
Fletch,
You are quite right, I am very anti-muslim, as it's a false religion that is
the scourge of the earth. I am anti-gay, because it is extremely
destructive to society. I am anti-liberal, for every reason that
I've posted on here in the past. I am very proud of these views,
and I stick by them.
Have a nice day.
You are quite right, I am very anti-muslim, as it's a false religion that is
the scourge of the earth. I am anti-gay, because it is extremely
destructive to society. I am anti-liberal, for every reason that
I've posted on here in the past. I am very proud of these views,
and I stick by them.
Have a nice day.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o
> </o>So, you at least acknowledge you’re running low on material; hence you avoided the first sentence of my post? And what about my other question? What other minorities are you leaving out? I want a statistic or something tangible that proves that gays are destructive to society. Please show me one. If you’re halfway smart, you’ll leave this one alone...but lets see. <o
></o><o
So, you at least acknowledge you’re running low on material; hence you avoided the first sentence of my post? And what about my other question? What other minorities are you leaving out? I want a statistic or something tangible that proves that gays are destructive to society. Please show me one. If you’re halfway smart, you’ll leave this one alone...but lets see. <o
Fletch, I've spent whole threads on this. Keep pretending on
ignoring them.
Nice rhetoric on the halfway smart comment.
Nice deflective work there. Your debate skills remind me of the great John Ruiz. Just hold on for desperation and evade to the hilt.... hey, someone has to take up these positions, kudos for taking up anchor for the undesirable ones. Are you going to answer my questions though? <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o></o>What would be of more interest is not some long rambling theoretical vision of how gays harm 'society', but rather tell us how gays have caused damage in YOUR life personally.
How has your individual life or home been damaged by any or all of the tens of thousands of gays who have legally married within the past five years in various places throughout North America?
How has your individual life or home been damaged by any or all of the tens of thousands of gays who have legally married within the past five years in various places throughout North America?
