Clowns & Jokers

Stuck in the middle.... Left, right, centre. It's a mess out there.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Update on Dispatches

Keeping an eye on the Dispatches follow up amidst the Jade obsession

The Birmingham mosque exposed in a Channel 4 documentary as a Mecca for extremist Muslims is being investigated by police after calls from an MP for police to intervene.

Eight MPs have signed an early day motion condemning the preacher's views.

Labour MP Roger Godsiff wrote to the West Midlands Chief Constable asking for an investigation, and police have confirmed they are studying the documentary.


"I am delighted the police are looking into this. I will see what conclusions they draw," Mr Godsiff said, according to ITN.

"If the police or Director of Public Prosecutions decide these comments were not racist, I think they are going to have a very difficult time"

Also:

THE firebrand Midland Islamic preacher at the centre of a controversial TV documentary was questioned by the FBI in America about alleged links with an al Qaida operative, the Sunday Mercury can reveal.

Abu Usamah At-Thahabi, who was secretly taped by undercover reporters as he delivered extremist lectures at a Birmingham mosque, was quizzed by US agents just months after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

The New Jersey-born Muslim convert was an imam at the Islamic Center of Peoria in Illinois when federal agents swooped in December 2001 and arrested Qatari student Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who was a regular worshipper.

Abu Usamah was questioned by federal agents who believed he may have had
some influence on the student - but he was never arrested.

4 Comments:

At Tuesday, 23 January, 2007, Blogger Always On Watch said...

And how many others in Peoria did Abu Usamah influence? I hope that we don't find out one day in a "spectacular" manner!

I believe that it's foolish to assume that that he had few contacts at an Islamic center, which often reaches large numbers of Muslims.

 
At Tuesday, 23 January, 2007, Blogger Always On Watch said...

More from that article:

Al-Marri was later charged with using false documents to open bank accounts. He was also in possession of a telephone credit card which he had used to call a number in Dubai.


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The FBI said the number was linked to reputed Al-Qaida financier and September 11 organiser Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

Al-Hawsawi, a Saudi known as 'the paymaster' reportedly filtered more than $325,000 (£165,000) to the September 11 hijackers, and is currently being held at the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

Al-Marri, meanwhile, remains in custody and is awaiting trial by a military tribunal as an enemy combatant.

Among the evidence reportedly seized by federal agents was his computer, which contained a folder labelled 'jihad arena'.

According to court documents, the folder contained information on hydrogen cyanide - used in chemical weapons - and the teachings of Osama Bin Laden.

The Joint Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism said the information about hydrogen cyanide on the computer 'far exceeds the interests of a merely curious individual'.

The task force report also alleges that Al-Marri was instructed by Al-Qaida to hack into the American banking system to wreak havoc on the US economy.


And some fools here in America don't think there are sleeper cells???

 
At Tuesday, 23 January, 2007, Blogger Mike's America said...

Both CNN and Fox News ran special reports this Saturday describing different Muslim activities related to terrorism and spreading hate.

I didn't watch the CNN report, but the Fox News report was regarding a Hezbollah criminal gang near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fox News is set to air another piece, perhaps next weekend as well.

I haven't seen any undercover investigations of preaching hate in this country other than the rather tame Freedom House publication.

 
At Tuesday, 23 January, 2007, Blogger Grizzly Mama said...

Thanks Alison - and AOW and Mike for all of this information.

I had read a description of the CNN report. Chistiane Amanpour was the reporter and she made a comment to the effect of 'that terrible war in Iraq is causing all of these British moslems to go fundamentalist'. I haven't watched it though. Things are too crazy right now - I haven't watched anything.

I will be interested to see how the police interest in Birmingham mosque develops. I am also interested to see if any American journalists move to report on activities in mosques in the US.

 

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