PipeLineNews:

June 26, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - Today the FBI strongly denied a claim made earlier this week [see, FBI initiates official outreach to Hamas, http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026724.php] that there has been an, "official decision by FBIHQ to use ISNA as their official point of contact with the American Muslim community."

"Today, FBI Executive Assistant Director Tom Harrington is meeting at FBIHQ with Imam Majid of the ADAMS Center in Sterling,VA. Imam Majid is also the Vice-President of the Islamic Society of North America - a known Muslim Brotherhood entity and un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial in Dallas in which all defendants were found guilty of leading the Hamas front group. This was the largest terrorism financing trial in the history of the United States.

This meeting today follows yesterday's official decision by FBIHQ to use ISNA as their official point of contact with the American Muslim community. ISNA is one of the largest and most prominent Muslim Brotherhood entities in the US. The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 with two objectives (which are their same two objectives today): implement Islamic Law and re-establish the global Islamic Caliphate. Their creed, which is still their creed today, includes "...martyrdom in the way of Allah is our highest inspiration."

Agents and attorneys aware of this decision believe it obligates them to violate US law by forcing them to work with a front group for a designated terrorist group (Hamas). It is worth reminding you all that the Hamas Covenant states Hamas is a Muslim Brotherhood entity, and that Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the US government.

The controversy is understandable from a national security standpoint, since the establishment of a formal relationship with ISNA would mean that America's premier domestic law enforcement agency was partnering with a known wing of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, in effect providing it with an official seal of approval and much undeserved legitimacy.

Contacted by PipeLineNews.org, John Miller, FBI Assistant Director, Office of Public Affairs. TX., speaking for the Bureau, vigorously denied any new relationship, stressing that the "FBI official" named in the story, " oversees the criminal and cyber programs and was in no way related to the meeting."

"1. The information as reported is factually inaccurate and generally misleading.

2. There has been no "official decision by the FBI to use ISNA," or any other organization, "as the official point of contact with the American Muslim community."

3. Imam Magid, who leads the ADAMS center in Herndon, Virginia, is a longstanding liaison contact of the FBI's Washington Field Office, and a respected member of the national capital area religious community. He met with an FBI community relations official as part of that liaison relationship.

4. The FBI official identified in the story oversees the criminal and cyber programs and was in no way related to the meeting.

5. The FBI meets with contacts from many diverse groups as part of our mission to both understand and protect the communities we serve."

Under Eric Holder's problematic short tenure as Attorney General, a great deal of skepticism exists within the counter-terrorism community as to the direction law enforcement has taken in its dealings with American Muslim organizations [see for example, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=dojhijabid=6.8.09%2Ehtm, Unbelievable - Holder Justice Department Sues To Enforce "Right" To Wear Hijab By Corrections Officers] so initially, word that the FBI was partnering with ISNA fit into an established and believable pattern...

From The London Evening Standard
Three Muslim extremists who launched an arson attack on the home of a London publisher were jailed today and told: “If you choose to live in this country, you live by its rules.”
A judge made it clear they could not claim “a la carte” citizenship — picking and choosing what British laws and customs they observe.
The three men had doused the front door of the house in Islington with petrol and set it ablaze in a protest against a book they deemed “offensive” to Mohammed. In September last year the three defendants targeted Martin Rynja, owner of Gibson Square Publishing, days before Sherry Jones's novel The Jewel of Medina, which is about the Prophet's child bride A'isha, was due to be published in the UK.
Ali Beheshti, 41, and Abrar Mirza, 23, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and Abbas Taj, 30, was convicted of the same offence at Croydon crown court in May.
Today Mrs Justice Rafferty, sitting at the High Court, sentenced each of them to four and a half years. The judge described the victim Mr Rynja as “a principled man”. She added: “As he said, in an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear.”

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of Egyptian mourners marched behind the coffin of the "martyr of the head scarf" on Monday — a pregnant Muslim woman who was stabbed to death in a German courtroom as her young son watched.
Many in her homeland were outraged by the attack and saw the low key response in Germany as an example of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Her husband was critically wounded in the attack Wednesday in Dresden when he tried to intervene and was stabbed by the attacker and accidentally shot by court security.
"There is no god but God and the Germans are the enemies of God," chanted the mourners for 32-year-old Marwa al-Sherbini in her hometown of Alexandria, where her body was buried after being flown back from Germany.
"We will avenge her killing," her brother Tarek el-Sherbini told The Associated Press by telephone from the mosque where prayers were being recited in front of his sister's coffin. "In the West, they don't recognize us. There is racism."
Al-Sherbini, who was about four months pregnant and wore the Islamic head scarf, was involved in a court case against her neighbor for calling her a terrorist and was set to testify against him when he stabbed her 18 times inside the courtroom in front of her 3-year-old son.
Her husband, who was in Germany on a research fellowship, came to her aid and was also stabbed by the neighbor and shot in the leg by a security guard who initially mistook him for the attacker, German prosecutors said.
"The guards thought that as long as he wasn't blond, he must be the attacker so they shot him," al-Sherbini told an Egyptian television station.
The man, who has only been identified as 28-year-old Alex W., remains in detention and prosecutors have opened an investigation on suspicion of murder.
Christian Avenarius, the prosecutor in Dresden where the incident took place, described the killer as driven by a deep hatred of Muslims. "It was very clearly a xenophobic attack of a fanatical lone wolf."
He added that the attacker was a Russian of German descent who had immigrated to Germany in 2003 and had expressed his contempt for Muslims at the start of the trial.
At its regular news conference on Monday, a German government spokesman Thomas Steg said if the attack was racist, the government "naturally condemns this in the strongest terms."
A German Muslim group criticized government officials and the media for not paying enough attention to the crime.
Egyptian commentators said the incident was an example of how hate crimes against Muslims are overlooked in comparison to those committed by Muslims against Westerners.
Abdel Azeem Hamad, chief editor of the independent Egyptian daily el-Shorouk, said that if the victim had been a Jew, there would have been an uproar.
The Egyptian Pharmacists' Association called for a boycott of German drugs. The victim was a pharmacist.
According to numerous interviews in Egyptian local papers with el-Sherbini family, the man who stabbed al-Sherbini used to accuse her of being a "terrorist," and in one incident, he tried to take off her head scarf. Mourners at her funeral called her the "martyr of the head scarf."
Laila Shams, al-Sherbini's mother, told the el-Wafd daily that her daughter said she'd difficulty finding a job in Germany because of her head scarf.
"One (employer) suggested she remove her head scarf to get a job. She said no," she said.
Officials from a German Muslim group and the country's main Jewish group made a joint visit Monday to the Dresden hospital where the victim's husband is being treated.
"You don't have to be a Muslim to act against anti-Muslim behavior, and you don't have to be a Jew to act against anti-Semitism," said Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews.
Two wrongs don't make a right and there were innocent children who have also suffered in this murder but I wish German and Egyptian Muslims were so vociferous at the deaths of other Muslim women at the hands of members of their own families - the family prestige murders erroneously called "honour killlings".

From WA Today
A West Australian court has ordered a prominent Muslim group to stop hosting compulsory Friday prayers at an industrial estate in eastern Perth.
The Daawah Association of Western Australia is allowed to use its building in Kent Street, Cannington, as a 'Community Purpose and Educational Establishment'. . .  approval requires Daawah not to let more than 20 people into the building at a time.
An investigation by the city (after a complaint from the firm next door about parking) found that on Fridays Daawah was exceeding its 20 person limit. Daahwah's subsequent application to accommodate 100 people at any given time was refused.
Adjudicating on Daawah's appeal, State Administrative Tribunal member Marie Connor found that Friday afternoon prayers conducted in the building put it in a 'Place of Public Worship' category prohibited under its 'Light Industry' zoning.
The city told Ms Connor that the building had developed the character of a mosque or masjid.
"The mere fact that Friday prayer is being held at the premises does not make that place a mosque, Islamically," Ms Rahman (called by Daawah as a witness) said.
However, the city tabled a Daawah document entitled 'Masjid Project - Appeal for help' that referred to 'Masjid As-Sunnah' operating at the premises. The document mentioned the difficulties experienced  in accommodating the large number of worshippers and that there was a need to purpose build a new Masjid. Photographs were produced showing a sign on the front window where the word 'Masjid' appeared beside an arrow indicating the location of the Masjid.
Ms Connor considered the Friday prayers involved congregational worship, thereby conferring a 'place of public worship' planning definition on the building prohibited under its 'Light Industry' zoning. She directed the association to stop using its building for more than 20 people, and to comply with the industrial zoning which precludes congregational worship.
Under Muslim tradition, it is compulsory for all males above the age of puberty to attend Friday prayers.

The blogger Paul Ray who writes from Luton under the name Lionheart has received news from his solicitors that the potential charges of ’stirring up racial hatred’ that have been hanging over him for the last 18 months have been dropped by Bedfordshire Police.
And not before time. If they thought they had a case against him it should have been brought long since. Leaving him on bail for so long was anguish for him and his family and gave the mainstream press something to beat him with whenever his name came up in connection with events in Luton.
 

Take a look at Peter Whittle's blog in the Telegraph this morning. 
Some very pertinent questions on  why liberal gays and feminists are so reluctant to criticise Islam, when they have no such inhibitions around Christianity. (or Judaism)

Geert Wilders core message opposing  Islamization of Holland has resonated with his fellow Dutchman.  After the Freedom party's successful Parliamentary election results early last month, the current rulong coalition in the Hague parliament was rattled.  With this latest survey results, Wilders has vaulted to the top position in both major Dutch polls.  This Europe News report, "Geert Wilders Now Biggest Party in All Polls" that poll results would have his Freedom Party winning more than 32 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament, if an an election was held, today.  It notes:

According to the Synovate Political Barometer, the PVV would win 32 of the 150 Lower House seats if elections were held now. This makes it the largest party, although the Christian Democrats (CDA) also score 32 seats. The PVV currently holds 9 Lower House seats and the CDA 41.

Without apparent reason, the PVV has jumped from 23 to 32 seats in the Political Barometer, drawn up on behalf of TV programme Nova, over the past month. In the polls held by Maurice de Hond, the PVV has been stable at or around 32 seats for months.

Octavio Sánchez writes in the CSM:

Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d'état.

That is nonsense.

In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law.

To understand recent events, you have to know a bit about Honduras's constitutional history. In 1982, my country adopted a new Constitution that enabled our orderly return to democracy after years of military rule. After more than a dozen previous constitutions, the current Constitution, at 27 years old, has endured the longest.

It has endured because it responds and adapts to changing political conditions: Of its original 379 articles, seven have been completely or partially repealed, 18 have been interpreted, and 121 have been reformed.

It also includes seven articles that cannot be repealed or amended because they address issues that are critical for us. Those unchangeable articles include the form of government; the extent of our borders; the number of years of the presidential term; two prohibitions – one with respect to reelection of presidents, the other concerning eligibility for the presidency; and one article that penalizes the abrogation of the Constitution.

During these 27 years, Honduras has dealt with its problems within the rule of law. Every successful democratic country has lived through similar periods of trial and error until they were able to forge legal frameworks that adapt to their reality. France crafted more than a dozen constitutions between 1789 and the adoption of the current one in 1958. The US Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789. And the British – pragmatic as they are – in 900 years have made so many changes that they have never bothered to compile their Constitution into a single body of law.

Under our Constitution, what happened in Honduras this past Sunday? Soldiers arrested and sent out of the country a Honduran citizen who, the day before, through his own actions had stripped himself of the presidency.

These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the "Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly." In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.

Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an "opinion poll" about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.

Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" – as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."

Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America's authoritarian tradition. The Constitution's provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.

The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya's arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.

Don't believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions.

I am extremely proud of my compatriots. Finally, we have decided to stand up and become a country of laws, not men. From now on, here in Honduras, no one will be above the law.

Octavio Sánchez, a lawyer, is a former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras.

And not just any old spy, but head of MI6. From the Daily Mail:

The new head of MI6 has been left exposed by a major personal security breach after his wife published intimate photographs and family details on the Facebook website.

Sir John Sawers is due to take over as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in November, putting him in charge of all Britain's spying operations abroad.

But his wife's entries on the social networking site have exposed potentially compromising details about where they live and work, who their friends are and where they spend their holidays.

Amazingly, she had put virtually no privacy protection on her account, making it visible to any of the site's 200million users who chose to be in the open-access 'London' network - regardless of where in the world they actually were.

There are fears that the hugely embarrassing blunder may have compromised the safety of Sir John's family and friends.

Lady Shelley Sawers' extraordinary lapse exposed the couple's friendships with senior diplomats and well-known actors, including Moir Leslie, who plays a leading character in The Archers. And it revealed that the intelligence chief's brother-in-law - who holidayed with him last month - is an associate of the controversial Right-wing historian David Irving.

Immediately after The Mail on Sunday alerted the Foreign Office to the astonishing misjudgment, all trace of the material – which could potentially be useful to hostile foreign powers or terrorists - was removed from the internet...

A little late, don't you think?

From The Times
Relatives of the victims of the July 7 London bombings gathered in raincoats and beneath umbrellas beside the newly unveiled memorial to their loved ones this morning.
As they passed the 52 pillars in Hyde Park, each representing a person killed in the terrorist attack, a distant clap of thunder rolled across the sky and spots of rain turned to thick droplets.
Family members stopped to rub the names of their relatives free of water as raindrops splashed against the steel plaque.
Sir Trevor MacDonald invited the crowd — that included the Duchess of Cornwall, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Boris Johnson — to observe a minute of silence. As he did so, rain began to fall.
Mourners were pleased with the memorial, which is made up of pillars – or stelae – marked with the times and places that victims came under attack, but not their names.
Mr Taylor (his daughter was killed) said  "I’m very pleased with it.  . .We had the opportunity of going to visit Norton’s, the Sheffield steel workers who made this. It’s a fascinating process. British steel, British companies. It shows what we can still do.”
Susan Verghese, 29, who survived the explosion in Russell Square, said that it was a fitting memorial fore the 21st century. “It’s a very modern tribute. There’s a feeling that maybe they should have put the names on the columns, but I don't know how individual families feel about the names.”
As (Anthony Gormley the artist who had a hand in the design) spoke, a pair of children who lost their mother to the attack, chased one another playfully between the posts of the memorial, which is between Park Lane and Lovers' Walk. Liam, 11, and Adan, 5, had moments before placed roses at the plaque to remember their mother, Marie Hartley.
Mr Gormley said: “Look at those children running between [the posts] now. There's something beautiful about the way in which the living can be among the memory [of the dead].”
Ian Targett, Ms Hartley’s brother, said that the children were enjoying the memorial. “They've already picked out which one they think is their mum. I like the way the rods of steel come up from the ground. They have a feeling of strength about them.”
If the families are happy and think their loved ones are commemorated with dignity that is good. I expect to be in the area before the end of the month and hope to makea visit, maybe take some photos.

Madeleine Gruen writes (thanks to Janet Levy):

Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) has booked the Hilton in Oak Lawn, IL for the "Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam" conference, according to an update on their Khilafah Conference web site. HTA was forced to find another venue at which to hold their conference after the original venue, the Aqsa School in Bridgeview, Illinois canceled. The Aqsa School's business manager told a CBS News reporter that the representatives of HTA had "misrepresented themselves and the event" and the school did not "want to be in the middle of something like that."

According to the announcement on the HTA conference web site, the conference will still be held on July 19th, from 11 am to 5 pm, as originally planned.

The Hilton Oak Lawn reservations department does not have any record of guest rooms held under the name "Hizb ut-Tahrir," or "Khilafah Conference," or "Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam." The Hilton's catering department, which keeps a record of the organizations that have booked event spaces at the hotel, was not open at the time of the publication of this article; therefore, it cannot be determined at this time whether HTA booked under its own name or if it has used a cover name to reserve the Grand Ballroom.

I tried calling the Hilton and they transferred me to the catering department. They didn't answer the phone. The Khilafah Conference web site doesn't list speakers, just the titles of the presentations.

Here is their nifty video promotion of the event.

After we posted  on the London rogue Energy  trader who had caused a spike last Tuesday to more than $73.50 a barrel for Brent crude oil, we sent a copy to Senator Lieberman's staff  who are concerned with energy futures commodity trading speculation.  They responded yesterday with thanks for drawing it to their attention. We  responded by email drawing their attention to the New York Times front page piece on oil markets pricing volatility, noting that it  had not covered the London OTC market kerfuffle.

This morning the  Dow Jones newswire  reported in a story, "CFTC to Consider Setting Position Limits For Energy Trading"  that the federal commodity futures market regulator-had announced hearings this summer on setting position limits for Energy Trading.  We don't know if our piece had any impact on that decision, but it was clear that the CFTC had come in for Congressional criticism, Senator Lieberman's staff being one possible source.  The CFTC announcement stated:

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said Tuesday the agency will hold hearings this summer to consider imposing position limits for "all commodities of finite supply." The agency will also review whether swap dealers, index traders and exchange-traded fund managers should be allowed to get around those limits through special hedge exemptions.

"My firm belief is that we must aggressively use all existing authorities to ensure market integrity," Gensler said.

If the CFTC ultimately decides to set limits across energy and other commodities, it would be a major change from the current policy, which hands off much of that authority to the exchanges.

Currently, the CFTC imposes limits on certain agricultural products and allows the exchanges to set limits on such other commodities as energy and metals in order to protect against manipulation.

While futures exchanges do subject traders to accountability levels, which trigger additional oversight if exceeded, those traders are not subject to position limits unless it's during the last few days of trading before a contract's expiration. Exchanges are not required to set limits to protect against excessive speculation.

The former Bush Administration CFTC chief economist in Senate hearings last year on this topic  had reported no evidence of price speculation in energy futures commodity trading. We disagreed with that  position  in our NER piece, "The Oil Bubble" of June 2008.

We noted in the NER article  this comment from the Engdahl report:

Persons within the United States seeking to trade key US energy commodities – US crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures – are able to avoid all US market oversight or reporting requirements by routing their trades through the ICE Futures exchange in London instead of the NYMEX in New York.

Is that not elegant? The US Government energy futures regulator, CFTC opened the way to the present unregulated and highly opaque oil futures speculation. It may just be coincidence that the present CEO of NYMEX, James Newsome, who also sits on the Dubai Exchange, is a former chairman of the US CFTC. In Washington doors revolve quite smoothly between private and public posts. 

In January 2006 when the CFTC allowed the ICE Futures the gaping exception, oil prices were trading in the range of $59-60 a barrel. [In June, 2008 we saw prices topping $147 a barrel.] This is not an OPEC problem, it is a US Government regulatory problem of malign neglect.

The Dow Jones news service report noted these market reactions to the CFTC announcement that ended " malign neglect."

H. Peter Haveles Jr., a Kaye Scholer LLP lawyer specializing in financial markets, said the proposal takes position limits "a step further as a tool to control price volatility."

"Now it's to regulate price movement and price volatility as opposed to making sure there is no misconduct in the marketplace," Haveles said.

Although some Democrats on Tuesday appeared thrilled by the CFTC's plans, market reaction was a bit more guarded.

"Having speculative position limits on deliverable futures is very sensible. But like anything, the devil's in the details," said Michael Cosgrove, New York- based head of commodities for brokerage GFI Group Inc. "If you're allowed to have 10 lots , then the effect on energy markets will be incalculably destructive."

Today's installment of "What choice does she have?" is from ArabNews.com:

JEDDAH: Police are searching for a 28-year-old woman who ran away from a Social Affairs-run women’s shelter in Jeddah on Friday.

Col. Misfar Al-Juaid, spokesman for Jeddah police, said the woman ran away while the police were preparing to take her to jail in line with a court order. He further urged the young woman to surrender and warned the public against giving her shelter.

The court had ordered the police to take the woman to jail while it examined a case filed against her by her father. The woman fled her parents’ home after accusing them of abusing her and sought refuge at the shelter.

The woman had earlier complained against her father at a summary court. The father had then filed a counter-case against her, accusing her of disobeying her parents, a culpable offense under Saudi [sharia] law. The court refused to entertain the woman’s petition and instead began examining the father’s complaint.

Before issuing a final verdict, the court ordered police to take the woman to jail. When police arrived to take her, the woman said she needed to use the toilet and on entering the ladies’ toilet she fled.

Urging the young woman to return to her senses and surrender to the authorities, Dr. Ali Al-Hanaki, director of the Ministry of Social Affairs Ministry in Jeddah, said, “The solution now lies in her own hands. Each additional day she refuses to obey the authorities will only worsen her problem.”

He added that the ministry had pledged to resolve her problem without sending her to jail. “We have informed the court of our plans, which include arranging for her to marry and reconciling her with her family,” said Al-Hanaki.

"OUR PLANS."  The Saudi Minister of Social Affairs has decided that the woman will marry someone of their choice.  Or else she goes to prison, or worse, to her family (death sentence).  Hello, feminists?  Anyone with a shred of human decency?  Anyone care to comment?

So the court has decided that the father has complete control over his 28-year-old daughter, he is worthy of deciding her fate.  And now for the punchline ...

He also requested her father to stop sending threatening messages to the authorities.