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An interesting perspective on what the mainstream media thinks of as the chasm-wide distinction between "moderate" and "radical" Muslims. Mohammed Atif Siddique's family argues that he wasn't a terrorist, he was just growing more devout in his Islam, and it's just Whitey's racism that causes him to confuse the two. But of course it is also entirely possible that Mohammed Atif Siddique's devoutness led him to see Al-Qaeda's perspective on jihad as reasonable. It wouldn't be the first time: a fervent commitment to Islam is the one scarlet thread that unites all the jihadists. Atta's visits to strip clubs do not negate this point -- his devoutness is well established, and he may have thought that such visits were a good way to throw off any investigators who may have been nosing around, and/or that he was about to perform a great act of martyrdom that would outweigh all his sins, so he had nothing to lose by living it up a little.
By Michael Howie in The Scotsman (thanks to Twostellas):
THE family of Mohammed Atif Siddique, the Scottish student convicted this week of al-Qaeda terrorist offences, have come together to tell of their heartache and their anger at the way he has been treated.They described how their son adopted a stricter Islamic way of life, a change that fractured their close relationship and ultimately led to his conviction.
But they insisted Atif - who faces at least ten years in prison - was not a terrorist and that his actions were similar to those of thousands of ordinary young Muslims seeking answers about al-Qaeda and the "war on terror".
In a wide-ranging interview, the family claimed "thousands" of other people ran the risk of falling foul of the same offences for which Atif was convicted.
They said he had been criminalised for carrying out research on al-Qaeda.
Atif was the first person in Scotland to be convicted under controversial new terror laws that have raised questions about the balance between civil liberties and protecting the public.
Speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, Mohammed Siddique, the father of the 21-year-old, said: "After what's happened to my son, stop your children going on the internet in case they end up in jail.
"The sad thing is, why shouldn't our young people be able to find out what is happening in Iraq or Afghanistan? Does it mean every child that goes on to a website is considered to be a terrorist? Thousands of young people in the Muslim community will have accessed the same material."
His wife, Parveen, said: "I would like, as a mother, to tell their children not to go anywhere near their computers. But, despite all of that, you cannot say going on the internet is a crime.
"It's not just Muslims that go on these websites; white people also go on them. My son is being made a scapegoat.
The convicted student's brother, Asif, said: "Every Muslim is asking questions within themselves: what is happening in Iraq? Why it is happening? What is happening in Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine?
"I was of the opinion a few years ago that unless s*** was happening on my own doorstep, it was nothing to do with me.
"But Atif was different. He was of the belief that it was to do with us, because we are Muslims and what is happening to them could happen to us. Britain was going in there - they must have a reason, he thought. But the Taleban were retaliating, encouraging people to carry out suicide bombings. Was it justified? What's leading them to do that? These are the questions he was asking."
And...what answers did he discover?
Posted by Robert at September 22, 2007 2:38 PM
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Question is, was he actually LOOKING for answers?
I thought he was looking for "martyrdom".
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at September 22, 2007 5:09 PM
Why don't people ever wonder why muslims are constantly condemning the authorities who aprehend terrorists, instead of condemning the terrorists themselves? Eagle, care to answer? And how could the families not know if one of their own is engaged in some kind of jihad or martyrdom activiy? Isn't that suppose to be a proud moment for the family?
Posted by: mrockroll1969 at September 22, 2007 5:10 PM
'Our son is no terrorist, just a young Muslim'
Is there any difference?
at September 22, 2007 5:11 PM
"It's not just Muslims that go on these websites; white people also go on them. My son is being made a scapegoat".
Ummm..."Muslim" is an ethnicity? The race card will be played in any country for any imagined prejudice. Pathetic.
He wanted to discover for himself if the murders carried out by the Taliban were justified? Is that reasonable? Yeah...and I want to find out if the murders done by the KKK were justified. Some things ought to be self-evident.
For any others out there who might be reading this and wondering...murder is a bad thing. Killing innocent people with bombs is wrong. Forcing people through physical violence and threat of death to become Muslims is wrong. 'Kay?
at September 22, 2007 5:14 PM
"Our son isn't part of Sicherheitdienst, just the SS!"
Oh, gee, I feel so much better now!
(/sarc)
at September 22, 2007 5:15 PM
Mohammed Atif Siddique, 21. Jury members were told the young Muslim was a "wannabe suicide bomber" who had been apprehended by police targeting extreme Islamists. A jury took almost nine hours to reach a verdict at the end of a four-week trial.
Siddique, , was found guilty of possessing suspicious terrorism-related items including CDs and videos of weapons use, guerrilla tactics and bomb-making.
He was also found guilty of collecting terrorist-related information, setting up websites showing how to make and use weapons and explosives, and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications. He also showed students at Glasgow Metropolitan College images of suicide bombers and terrorist beheadings. "
A computer disc found hidden under a carpet in the accused's family home contained images including Islamic extremists looting the body of a dead US serviceman. Siddique's laptop had an al-Qaeda recruiting video urging young Muslim men to become suicide bombers.He also set up a website that had links on how to be a home-grown terrorist, including bomb making advice and how to strip weapons.
Assistant Chief Constable Maureen Brown, of Central Scotland Police, said the conviction concluded one of the most challenging investigations ever conducted by the force. .
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "The successful conviction of the individual today in Glasgow is a reminder that the threat we face from terrorism is real and not isolated to any particular region."
During the three-and-a-half week trial, prosecutor Brian McConnachie told the court that Siddique had been at the centre of top-level surveillance by police and security services.
at September 22, 2007 5:17 PM
zorkot was not charged with terrorism, zorkot was captured with an assault rifle his web site clearly defines his religious and political idealology in terms of jihad and hezbullah.
the british police force need to train hte US FBI and terrorism unit into who should and who shouldn't be charged with terrorism.
but i tip my hat to the british anti-terror unit for stepping in at the right moment and charging him with terror offences.
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at September 22, 2007 5:20 PM
This article contains many now standard excuses for the behavior of jihadist family members.
The parents, who sell alcohol in their store, are not in denial. They're simply posturing and lying.
They are non-compliant Muslims whose son 'got religion'.
And of course, they're afraid of 'a backlash', too.
Note, also, the statement: "It's not just Muslims that go on these websites; white people also go on them. My son is being made a scapegoat.
Their son was involved in the 'Canadian' plot to behead the Prime Minister.
He got busted, and Ma and Pa know it.
Posted by: PRCS at September 22, 2007 5:22 PM
Re: 'Our son is no terrorist, just a young Muslim'
Maybe John Derbytrotter can show us how there is nothing in the doctrines of Islam (different from Christianity, Buddhism, etc.) that does not account for this. Really, Derbytrotter?
Posted by: Frank at September 22, 2007 5:37 PM
"scapegoat: a terrorist who got caught."
Hmmm...looks like yet another new one to be tossed into the new islamicommie lexicon of lunacy.
Utterly hilarious.
at September 22, 2007 5:38 PM
Beware spineless British government:
You are questioning muslims who are COMMANDED to lie when under investigation or attack by non-muslim entities.
They are obeying their koran so you people need to realize every statement out of their mouths are pure lies to protect other muslims.
Sounds like sedition to me and time for deportation....screw the EU protocols and those people should demand their leadership to dissolve the EU altogether and just go national as in the old days.
This is what I have been saying for some time now we will NEVER see other muslims turn in a fellow muslim to help the authorities forestall or followup after an attack.
Its islam idiots!!
PS Where are all the Scottish muslims now protesting the attack on a Christian nation?!?!?
The silence is deafining....is that spelled correctly?
at September 22, 2007 5:50 PM
Hungarian Crusader
stupid question but what country do you live in?
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at September 22, 2007 5:51 PM
I am uncomfortably close to Midway Airport and that PIGmosque in Bridgeview, Illinois.
Posted by: Hungarian Crusader at September 22, 2007 5:55 PM
Ah, Cook County...sounds like you're right in the lion's den, HC...lol
at September 22, 2007 6:07 PM
I still vote independent or republican.
No democraps for me...and where is my property taxbill?
Posted by: Hungarian Crusader at September 22, 2007 6:13 PM
"His wife, Parveen, said: "I would like, as a mother, to tell their children not to go anywhere near their computers. But, despite all of that, you cannot say going on the internet is a crime"....from headline.
Parveen is blaming the computer for why her son went astray? How about Muhammad? What about the Qur'an? Think she'll ever connect the dots?
at September 22, 2007 6:14 PM
but you said this "Beware spineless British government:"
the US government is no better. at least the british are actually charging people with terror offences. zorkot, the hezbullah terrorist, was charged only with weapons offences when he was caught with an assault rifle, wearing camoflague and had just updated his hezbullah web page which read something like this "today is my start of jihad in hte USA".
why didn't the spinless american government charge him with terrorism?
and finally where are all the new yorkers protesting Ahmadinejad's visit to their city? which was attacked on 9/11 by islamic jihadists.
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at September 22, 2007 6:24 PM
New Yorkers are disappointments.
Bushwacker is on his last term and hopefully will be replaced by someone with a spine.
We do protest against new pigmosques being built and other infiltrations in our schools.
Posted by: Hungarian Crusader at September 22, 2007 6:50 PM
hungarian
i stand corrected!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/22/2007-09-22_columbia_university_protesters_prepare_f.html
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at September 22, 2007 6:55 PM
Oh yes, just another 'Young Muslim.' After his Jail sentence this fella ought to be DEPORTED along with rest of Vipers' Nest back to Crapistan.
After decades of Denial by our supine,craven Leaders, it will come to this anyway...
at September 22, 2007 7:01 PM
Oh yes, just another 'Young Muslim.' After his Jail sentence this fella ought to be DEPORTED along with rest of Vipers' Nest back to Crapistan.
After decades of Denial by our supine,craven Leaders, it will come to this anyway...
at September 22, 2007 7:02 PM
"Mohammed Atif Siddique's family argues that he wasn't a terrorist, he was just growing more devout in his Islam"
Same difference.
Posted by: Prickzilla at September 22, 2007 7:03 PM
'Our son is no terrorist, just a young Muslim'
There's a difference?
Posted by: TheOmegaMan at September 22, 2007 7:06 PM
I am going to see that new Resident Evil movie.
It seems like it will be good.
Peace out.
Posted by: Hungarian Crusader at September 22, 2007 7:09 PM
"In a wide-ranging interview, the family claimed 'thousands' of other people ran the risk of falling foul of the same offences for which Atif was convicted."
Well, I guess the police had better get busy, then.
Posted by: Josephine at September 22, 2007 7:30 PM
I guess now it's a crime to "terrorize while Muslim". Somebody call CAIR.
Posted by: Josephine at September 22, 2007 7:37 PM
My son's no terrorist, he is a good boy...Where have we heard that before?
Posted by: duh_swami at September 22, 2007 8:10 PM
i did not know the two were mutually exclusive.
Posted by: precept at September 22, 2007 8:12 PM
Funny isn't it, How anti racists racists sound when calling out racism?
I am so tired of hearing these morons claiming islam to be a race.Not to mention calling thier cult a religion.
I suspect dear old son with have a different inner struggle where he is going.Bubba lou may even like a little struggle from his new play toy.
Allah does work in mysterious ways.
Posted by: Dar al-harb at September 22, 2007 8:40 PM
"It's not just Muslims that go on these websites; white people also go on them. My son is being made a scapegoat."
Someone must have told her, in the nick of time, that it's not quite the thing to say "kaffir, kuffar, etc. for the press. Surely she must know there are caucasian Mohammedans.
Posted by: Abscedere at September 22, 2007 8:51 PM
He's a good Boy alright. No Good and Good for Nothing.
Progressive Porn Therapy didn't seem to affect this one. He found a higher purpose in the use of the Net. Big No No.
Posted by: flowerknife_us at September 22, 2007 9:22 PM
The parents should be talking to Sheikh Omar Brooks. He would open their minds:
See
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/972
Occasionally sipping a can of Fanta and gesticulating wildly, he declared: "I am a terrorist. As a Muslim, of course I am a terrorist."
"I want to be blown into pieces," he declared, "with my hands in one place and my feet in another."
Muslim, Terrorist - arent they synonyms?
Posted by: UK Infidel Lover at September 22, 2007 10:14 PM
So they live in Scotlnd and they HATE "white people". Kind of like if you hated black people and moved to Jamaica.
But then, these mahometans see themselves as vanguard occupiers..
I say. pray for rain and TSUNAMIS.. I pray each and every day for earthquakes and tsunamis to sweep away this devilish brood...
Posted by: Allahfanculo at September 22, 2007 11:34 PM
but we cannot vote for the BNP, that would be really bad.
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at September 22, 2007 11:40 PM
It's surely convenient (to somewone) that the sentence is just long enough for the kid to be further radicalized by the religious training he will receive from his fellow inmates.
Think about it....
{^_^}
Posted by: jdow at September 23, 2007 3:51 AM
They described how their son adopted a stricter Islamic way of life,..."
......huh?.....his Islamic lifestyle did not have strict enough rules?.....I guess he found the purely evil Sha'ria just his cup of tea....The Sha'ria certainly provides for a more strict form of Islamic law....and it is ok to kill infidels too....perhaps the freedoms the infidels enjoy presented a type of hardship he could not endure or accept...he missed the old blood and guts regimen that Islam commands.....
"They said he had been criminalised for carrying out research on al-Qaeda."
.....sure he was...I suppose the photos of Muslims looting dead American soldiers showed him what to do when he encounters a dead American soldier.....he probably giggled with glee when fantisizing about the day when he could do this.....
"They said he had been criminalised for carrying out research on al-Qaeda."
......sure he was....I suppose he had planned to become an intrepreter for US Military to help combat Muslim terrorism,, and he would share his learned knowledge of Al-Qaeda with the US military....
and:
"Siddique, , was found guilty of possessing suspicious terrorism-related items including CDs and videos of weapons use, guerrilla tactics and bomb-making.
He was also found guilty of collecting terrorist-related information, setting up websites showing how to make and use weapons and explosives, and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications. He also showed students at Glasgow Metropolitan College images of suicide bombers and terrorist beheadings. "
A computer disc found hidden under a carpet in the accused's family home contained images including Islamic extremists looting the body of a dead US serviceman. Siddique's laptop had an al-Qaeda recruiting video urging young Muslim men to become suicide bombers.He also set up a website that had links on how to be a home-grown terrorist, including bomb making advice and how to strip weapons'''"
....this certainly shows where he was headed with his research....
...Ban Muslim Immigration....
at September 23, 2007 10:16 AM
With regard to Mama's statement about "white people":
Maybe someone told her, just in the nick of time that "kaffir, kuffar, khufr"(however you want to spell it), and "infidel", might not make The Scotsman's readers feel very sympathetic.
Flustered, with a reporter coming any minute now, and just time to cover herself from head to toe, "white people" was the best she could do, in her haste.
Posted by: Abscedere at September 23, 2007 10:42 AM
I've heard this garbage about "Moderate" Muslims for so long now, that it's really getting old and tiring.
People, remember this: There is no such thing as a "Moderate" Muslim; if he/she believes in the Koran (yes, with a K), they are no less evil than the terrorist, because the Koran teaches the killing of "infidels." Those of us who do not believe in this Muhammed clown are the "infidels", remember?
Many of us have neighbors who are supposedly self-admitted "moderate Muslims"; they proclaim (lie, is the operative word) that they do not claim the terrorist Muslim as their brother. Tell me this, Mr. "Moderate" Muslim: why are you not demostrating against your terrorist brother? Why are you not publicly denouncing the actions of the terrorist? I'll bet it's because that, when you get right down to brass tacks, you will not turn your backs on your Koran; you will not denounce your terrorist counterpart because if you do, you know what will happen to your head, and the heads of your family. Admit it!!! Stop your pretenses; Americans are sick and tired of them!!
Posted by: hardball at September 23, 2007 2:28 PM
I've heard this garbage about "Moderate" Muslims for so long now, that it's really getting old and tiring.
People, remember this: There is no such thing as a "Moderate" Muslim; if he/she believes in the Koran (yes, with a K), they are no less evil than the terrorist, because the Koran teaches the killing of "infidels." Those of us who do not believe in this Muhammed clown are the "infidels", remember?
Many of us have neighbors who are supposedly self-admitted "moderate Muslims"; they proclaim (lie, is the operative word) that they do not claim the terrorist Muslim as their brother. Tell me this, Mr. "Moderate" Muslim: why are you not demostrating against your terrorist brother? Why are you not publicly denouncing the actions of the terrorist? I'll bet it's because that, when you get right down to brass tacks, you will not turn your backs on your Koran; you will not denounce your terrorist counterpart because if you do, you know what will happen to your head, and the heads of your family. Admit it!!! Stop your pretenses; Americans are sick and tired of them!!
Posted by: hardball at September 23, 2007 2:29 PM
chilling:..
Springtime in Islamberg
Terrorism Dr. Paul Williams
May 12, 2007
Editor's Note: Douglas Hagmann, Bill Krayer and Michael Travis contributed to this article.
Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden.
The 70 acre complex is surrounded with “No trespassing” signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats.
The entrance to the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to navigate even on a bright sunny day in May. The road, dubbed Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created by torrential downpours. On a wintry day, few, save those with all terrain vehicles, could venture forth from the remote encampment.
A sentry post has been established at the base of the hill.
The sentry, at the time of this visit, is an African American dressed in Islamic garb – a skull cap, a prayer shawl, and a loose fitting shalwat kameez. He instructs us to turn around and leave. “Our community is not open to visitors,” he says.
Behind the sentry and across a small stream stand dozens of inhabitants of the compound – the men wearing skull caps and loose fitting tunics, the women in full burqa. They appear ready to deal with any unauthorized intruders.
The hillside is blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air.
The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. “They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won’t allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don’t know what’s going on there but I don’t think it’s legal.”
On the other side of the hill where few dare to go is a tiny village replete with a make-shift learning center (dubbed the “International Quranic Open University”); a trailer converted into a Laundromat; a small, green community center; a small and rather squalid grocery store; a newly constructed majid; over forty clapboard homes; and scores of additional trailers.
It is home to hundreds – all in Islamic attire, and all African-Americans. Most drive late model SUVs with license plates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. The locals say that some work as tollbooth operators for the New York State Thruway, while others are employed at a credit card processing center that maintains confidential financial records.
While buzzing with activity during the week, the place becomes a virtual hive on weekends. The guest includes arrivals from the inner cities of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and, occasionally, white-robed dignitaries in Ray-Bans from the Middle East.
Venturing into the complex last summer, Douglas Hagmann, an intrepid investigator and director of the Northeast Intelligence Service, came upon a military training area at the eastern perimeter of the property. The area was equipped with ropes hanging from tall trees, wooden fences for scaling, a make-shift obstacle course, and a firing range. Hagmann said that the range appeared to have been in regular use.
Islamberg is not as benign as a Buddhist monastery or a Carmelite convent. Nearly every weekend, neighbors hear sounds of gunfire. Some, including a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, have heard the bang of small explosives. None of the neighbors wished to be identified for fear of “retaliation.” “We don’t even dare to slow down when we drive by,” one resident said. “They own the mountain and they know it and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can’t even do that. Who wants to buy a property near that?”
The complex serves to scare the bejeesus out of the local residents. “If you go there, you better wear body armor,” a customer at the Circle E Diner in Hancock said. “They have armed guards and if they shoot you, nobody will find your body.”
At Cousins, a watering hole in nearby Deposit, a barfly, who didn’t wish to be identified, said: “The place is dangerous. You can hear gunfire up there. I can’t understand why the FBI won’t shut it down.”
Islamberg is a branch of Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," Gilani, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “community of the impoverished,” an organization that seeks to "purify" Islam through violence.
Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in New York and openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in hamaats or compounds, such as Islamberg, where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority. Additional hamaats have been established in Hyattsville, Maryland; Red House, Virginia; Falls Church, Virginia; Macon, Georgia; York, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee; Buena Vista, Colorado; Talihina, Oklahoma; Tulare County, California; Commerce, California; and Onalaska, Washington. Others are being built, including an expansive facility in Sherman, Pennsylvania.
Before becoming a citizen of Islamberg or any of the other Fuqra compounds, the recruits – primarily inner city black men who became converts in prison – are compelled to sign an oath that reads: “I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah’s sake.”
In the past, thousands of members of the U.S. branches of Jamaat ul-Fuqra traveled to Pakistan for paramilitary training, but encampments, such as Islamberg, are now capable of providing book-camp training so raw recruits are no longer required to travel abroad amidst the increased scrutiny of post 9/11.
Over the years, numerous members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra have been convicted in US courts of such crimes as conspiracy to commit murder, firebombing, gun smuggling, and workers’ compensation fraud. Others remain leading suspects in criminal cases throughout the country, including ten unsolved assassinations and seventeen fire-bombings between 1979 and 1990.
The criminal charges against the group and the criminal convictions are not things of the past. In 2001, a resident of a California compound was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy; another was charged with gun-smuggling’ and twenty-four members of the Red House community were convicted of firearms violations.
By 2004 federal investigators uncovered evidence that linked both the DC “sniper killer” John Allen Muhammed and “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid to the group and reports surfaced that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded in the process of attempting to obtain an interview with Sheikh Gilani in Pakistan.
Even though Jamaat ul-Fuqra has been involved in terror attacks and sundry criminal activities, recruited thousands of members from federal and state penal systems, and appears to be operating paramilitary facilities for militant Muslims, it remains to be placed on the official US Terror Watch List. On the contrary, it continues to operate, flourish, and expand as a legitimate nonprofit, tax-deductible charity.
Paul Williams is the author of "The Al Qaeda Connection" and forthcoming "The Day of Islam".
at September 24, 2007 6:35 AM
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