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CAIR has willing allies at the St. Petersburg Times. From Erick Stakelbeck at FrontPage:
Over the past month, Mike Frazier has received, by his count, six death threats and 47 menacing phone calls. He’s been accosted by complete strangers in public and vilified as an “extremist” by the largest newspaper in his state. Frazier—a pastor at Landmark Baptist Church in Brooksville, Florida—has even seen several churchgoers leave his congregation during this period, because, according to him, “they were afraid.”...Frazier’s problems began on September 14, when he spoke at a meeting of the Hernando County (FL) Commission. Frazier, who hosts a local radio program, was troubled that several local and state officials had attended an awards dinner hosted by CAIR a few weeks before.
After calling attention to CAIR’s radical ties, Frazier requested that any officials who had attended the CAIR dinner and accepted awards from the group return them immediately and apologize to the people of Hernando County.
“As an elected official, you can’t sit down with just anybody,” says Frazier. “If these people would have bothered to check CAIR out beforehand they would have seen that it is a radical group. At the meeting, I made very clear that I wasn’t talking about all Muslims. I was only talking about CAIR. But it was absolutely unbelievable what followed.”
Two days after the county commission meeting, St. Petersburg Times reporter Jennifer Liberto wrote an article detailing the event. Her piece laid the groundwork for what would soon become a venomous assault on Frazier’s character by the paper.
“A taste of the Crusades broke out at the Hernando County Commission meeting Tuesday,” wrote Liberto. “When a local Baptist pastor accused county leaders of supporting terrorism by attending a private, educational forum on Islam last month.”
As if comparing Frazier’s actions to the Crusades weren’t sensationalistic enough, Liberto went on to allege that members of Frazier’s church chanted “terrorists, terrorists,” when elected officials tried to speak, a charge Frazier flatly denies.
“Only three people I knew were even at that meeting,” says Frazier. “My son-in-law and two friends who came for moral support. As I was speaking, two people sitting behind me—who I didn’t even know—said the word, terrorist. They certainly didn’t chant it. Another reporter who covered the meeting has backed me up on this.”
Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg Times gleefully hammered Frazier. The same day as Liberto’s screed appeared, the paper’s editorial page editor, Jeff Webb, penned a column titled, “Pastor’s Talk of Terrorists is What’s Truly Scary.”
In the piece, Webb labeled Frazier an “extremist” and a “fundamentalist zealot,” and accused him of “propagating fear, terror and disunity.” He also blamed Frazier for spreading “misinformation and exaggeration to stir the pot of intolerance.”
Furthermore, according to Webb, Frazier’s criticism of CAIR was nothing more than “irresponsible, alarmist, conspiratorial claptrap.”
First, some facts: CAIR was founded in part with seed money from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization that has been indicted for providing material support to Hamas. CAIR has also accepted substantial donations from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as well as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the International Islamic Relief Organization, two Saudi–funded, Wahhabist groups.
Two of CAIR’s founding members, Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, both previously worked for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a group which has “acted in support of” Hamas, according to a federal judge’s August 2002 ruling. Tellingly, during a 1994 speech at Florida’s Barry University, Awad, who is now CAIR’s Executive Director, stated, “I am in support of the Hamas movement.”
In addition, former CAIR employee Randall “Ismail” Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison last April for “participation in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia,” according to the Department of Justice. And Ghasan Elashi, the founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, was convicted of violating the Libyan Sanctions Regulations in July 2004 and has also been indicted for providing material support to Hamas.
Much of this information—which, incidentally, only begins to scratch the surface of CAIR’s radical activities—is readily available online. Yet the St. Petersburg Times, in its headlong rush to demonize Frazier, conveniently dismissed CAIR’s nefarious history.
Posted by Robert at October 28, 2004 4:49 AM
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Thus the ignorant and uninformed are complicit in the subjugation of the United States by cunning Islamic invaders.
How long will this go on? Until Americans (not Moslems that use their American citizenship to subvert us) demand that lawmakers and the administration abort the "silent invasion" by the Islamic enemy.
Posted by: unicorns62000![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 28, 2004 6:42 AM
to help everyone out so they do not have to go through
the same agonizing searches i had to (st. petersburg
times server is slow), i have listed below the links
to the original stories, letters to the editor, and
editorials:
first article on sept. 15, 2004 [note that the writr
jennifer liberto's phone no. & email address are
listed at bottom of article. also, this article ran
on p. 1 on the 15th and was run again word-for-word on
p. 8 on the 16th]:
column "pastor's talk of terrorists is what's truly
scary" on sept. 16, 2004 [note that the author has an
ongoing problem w/ pastor frazier due to frazier's
activism against public nudity in the past]:
letters to the editor from sept. 19, 2004 [all
one-sided -- i guess that passes for diversity w/ the
st. pete times]:
more letters to the editor from sept. 20, 2004.
[some of these equate pastor frazier w/ 9/11
hijackers. yes, you guessed it, all one-sided again.
my personal favorite quote is the following: "As the
terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 were all
Muslims, in the minds of the Rev. Frazier and his
followers, all Muslims who support CAIR are
terrorists. That might be analogous to asserting that
all Catholics were monsters because Hitler was a
devout Catholic." also, one letter says pastor
frazier would probably have been in support of
mcarthyism and then snidely snips "we all know what
happened there." apparently, not. mcarthy never
accused a single person of communist ties who did not
actually have them. spies were outed. and mcarthy
enjoyed something like an 80% approval rating w/ the
american populace]:
finally, a couple of letters from informed people
(could they be readers of jihadwatch?) on sept. 22,
2004:
followup editorial on oct. 1, 2004 [note the editorial
board is somewhat chastened, yet unconvinced of the
need to change their leftwing bias. they say "CAIR
was following its mandate of reaching out to debunk
myths about its members' faith." and what "myths"
would those be? the myth of taqiyyah and kitman? the
myth of the call to violent jihad? the myth of the
call to slay the infidel wherever they are? once
again, american higher education produces one-sided
journalists who refuse to fully investigate]:
at October 28, 2004 10:22 AM
Greater St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay area residents need to be acutely aware of the dangers lurking in their midst.
Here is another link to an article [Last modified October 22, 2004, 01:10:16] regarding surplus emergency vehicles being sought by M.E. individuals in FL:
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/22/Tampabay/Attempts_to_buy_vehic.shtml
Attempts to buy vehicles raise suspicions
After St. Petersburg College employees call the FBI, the buyers, described as Middle Eastern, vanish.
By RICHARD DANIELSON and NORA KOCH
Published October 22, 2004
TARPON SPRINGS - Four men described as Middle Eastern tried to buy a surplus ambulance, two former police cruisers and an old truck from St. Petersburg College this summer, prompting college employees to alert authorities, SPC administrators said Thursday.
"The minute I heard about it I got in touch with our law enforcement people and asked them to make immediate (contact) with the FBI," college president Dr. Carl Kuttler said.
In response, the FBI interviewed college employees, expressed an interest in the men and installed surveillance devices in the vehicles in advance of a scheduled pickup, SPC officials said.
But the buyers, who made at least two previous trips to the campus, never showed up for the third and final meeting.
FBI Tampa office spokeswoman Sara Oates said she couldn't confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. But college administrators said federal agents took the matter very seriously.
"The FBI agent did mention to our folks that she had suspicion of them having associates that had some al-Qaida contacts and that they were following a number of them and had some concerns about some possible suspicious behavior in the Daytona area around the time that they were pursuing these vehicles," said Susan Reiter, the college's director of facilities planning and institutional services.
"The FBI also indicated that they were interested in seeing exactly what these guys were going to do with these vehicles, where they were going and what they were going to do with them," said Reiter, whose staff ran the surplus property auction and dealt with the FBI.
The college has the vehicles because its Southeastern Public Safety Institute teaches programs in criminal justice, fire science and emergency management. At the time of auction, they were stored in a warehouse on the college's Tarpon Springs campus.
A bidder who wrote the name Abdalla Deiab of Clearwater on bid documents submitted the winning bids for all four vehicles, according to SPC records.
Efforts to reach Deiab Thursday night were not successful.
Deiab and his wife lived in a condominium on Shelley Street just north of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard for 10 or 11 months and moved out almost a year ago, said Panagiotis Thomaidis, who owns the condo unit. The couple was very clean, and always paid their $465 monthly rent, Thomaidis said.
When the FBI called him about a month ago, Thomaidis told him the couple had moved to another apartment in Clearwater. Deiab said he was Egyptian, Thomaidis said. He owned a big truck, which he used in a moving business.
College officials said no one can remember whether any of the men came to an event where buyers can look at surplus property before bidding.
The winning bids were submitted on Aug. 4, according to college records. At the time, college officials had seen media reports about suspicions that terrorists might try to acquire ambulances or other emergency vehicles.
Once the winning bid was opened, a college staff member raised concerns to supervisors who contacted law enforcement.
"When they won the bid, the light just went on," Reiter said. "Maybe there is a connection between what we've seen in the media, what these folks look like and what they were bidding on."
College officials could not provide a description of the men other than they were about 40 and appeared to be Middle Eastern.
Deiab submitted a high bid of $951 for the unmarked 1982 Chevrolet ambulance, which had been used by college electricians before it was declared surplus, according to college records.
Deiab also bid $951 for a large 1981 Ford truck, $276 for a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice and $751 for a 1991 Chevrolet Caprice that was equipped as a pursuit vehicle.
College officials contacted the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and heard back the same day from the FBI, said J.C. Brock, the director of the Southeastern Public Safety Institute at SPC.
After Deiab was declared the winning bidder, four men came to the warehouse twice to inspect and take photos of the vehicles, Reiter said. One told college employees that he was a vehicle dealer.
Meanwhile, the FBI "became very interested in this whole process," Reiter said. "They came on our site and worked with us and put some surveillance apparatus in the vehicles."
Reiter said she thought the devices would enable agents to track the vehicles. A final appointment was scheduled for the buyers but they never showed.
Kuttler praised the college employee who first raised the concern as being "very alert" and a "hero" who "served her community well." Her name was not released.
"It's a little scary," Kuttler said. "The thing that got to me and gave me chills was the fact that when I knew about this I would be going home at night and seeing across the bottom of the (television) screen that this was national phenomenon."
at October 28, 2004 11:57 AM
Liberto, and Webb, and the paper, should be sued for defamation. What "defamation" you ask? Describing Mike Frazier's behavior as "a taste of the Crusades," being an "extremist" and a "fundamentalist zealot" who is "propagating fear, terror, and disunity." And so on.
In court, Frazier's lawyer can present the full list of the various officers and members of CAIR who have been convicted of terrorism-related charges. He can explain about taqiyya and kitman. He can quote, chapter and verse, or sura and verse, from the Qur'an and the hadith. He can fill people in, the people of that part of Florida, on what Muhammad did to the Jews of Khaybar, or the Bani Qurayza. They can learn about his long history of ordering the assassinations of those who opposed him, or simply mocked him.
Surely it will be a salutary lesson for everyone. In fact, judging by how willing school officials, the press, and everyone else seems to be to ignore the actual content of Islam, the teachings that are retrievable, on-line, with a click or two, this may be the only way to begin to educate the public. Jennifer Liberto may be a cub, naively parroting the party line that she has picked up, but Jeff Webb, the editorial page director -- who has clones everywhere, in the same position (see the Boston Globe, for some particularly nasty examples) -- should be exposed for his spectacular ignorance, an ignorance that is amazing, considering the responsibility he has, and the time he has had, to study the real tenets of Islam. He failed completely. He failed to investigate CAIR. He is a menace to those whom he presumes to instruct. He should be discharged, and his paper -- respondeat superior and all that -- made to pay Mr. Frazier for their calumny.
Please, Mr. Frazier, use the courts here. It is the only way, alas, to get the information before the public. Every such case helps. No doubt there are others who will be in a position either to offer their services, or to help pay for the services of others.
What, in such matters, after all, is the responsibility of the press? It cannot any longer make such charges. It has lost the moral, and the legal, right, to do so. Colunnists and reporters and editorial writers must be forced to both learn about Islamic teachings, and Muslim history, and to accurately report on all matters related to Islam, to the jihad, to dhimmitude.
They could begin -- if they chose -- by starting with the daily fare, and the all-important archives, right here.
Posted by: Hugh at October 28, 2004 7:58 PM
Even CAIR Canada continues to back Muslims suspected of being connected to terrorism,the first defence is "Islamophobia" or the "Out of context" claim,then there's the admission to telling lies to get refugee status for access to all the social services,and don't forget the slick claim that "I didn't know the orphan charity I worked for financed terrorist groups".
CAIR Canada has a habit of screaming Racism until the actual person arrested either confesses or is proven guilty,then they distance themselves by insisting the person isn't a "True Muslim" or that the Police forged evidence and the USA was behind the arrests.
The paranoia and denial is amazing,and now the 350,000 Canadian Muslims have somehow grown according the the newspapers,the new claim is that there are 1 Million Muslims in Canada.
I guess the federal census doesn't count when you're wanting to threaten Politicians,Muslim leaders lowball the population when bitching for Government handouts as a minority group,by then
pad the population when making claims of injustice
and Islamophobia while wanting clout to change
laws or speak for a large part of the population.
There are about 12 Islamic Org's that all claim they speak for the professed 1 million Muslims in Canada,maybe in their mind thats 12 million supporters.
at October 28, 2004 10:01 PM
God, such apalling obscenity....
I wouldn't be surprised if these 'columnists/ analysts' were both indirectly funded by saudi money (like are so many univ chairs and grants in our universities).
Somehow, I dread reading Dhimmiwatch sections these days, they so easily tend to be so depressing.....
Posted by: voletti at October 29, 2004 12:55 AM
Perhaps Miss Liberto should be given a 2 week holiday to Saudi Arabia so that she can see firsthand how accepting and progressive islam is for women....then, if she hasnt been stoned to death, she can come back and write an article about how wonderfuly the Saudis treated her, how she could freely stroll the streets in her own clothing, how she could rent and drive a car, how she could walk around alone...go ahead Jen, live it then write about it.
Posted by: USAgirl at October 29, 2004 12:03 PM
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