Tennesseeans TORCH Mosque in Moore County

[AsheDina]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/28/national/main6814690.shtml

Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled Arson


 
Protesters, left, and counterprotesters shout at each other during a July 14 demonstration about a planned mosque and Islamic center, in front of the Rutherford County Courthouse in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Overnight a suspicious fire was started at the mosque's construction site.  (AP Photo/Christopher Berkey)
Stories
New Mosques Face Hostility Far from Ground Zero
(CBS/AP)  Updated at 9:25 p.m. ET

Federal officials are investigating a fire that started overnight at the site of a new Islamic center in a Nashville suburb.

Ben Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department confirmed to CBS Affiliate WTVF that the fire, which burned construction equipment at the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, is being ruled as arson.

Special Agent Andy Anderson of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told CBS News that the fire destroyed one piece of construction equipment and damaged three others. Gas was poured over the equipment to start the fire, Anderson said.

The ATF, FBI and Rutherford County Sheriff's Office are conducting a joint investigation into the fire, Anderson said.

WTVF reports firefighters were alerted by a passerby who saw flames at the site. One large earth hauler was set on fire before the suspect or suspects left the scene.

The chair of the center's planning committee, Essim Fathy, said he drove to the site at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning after he was contacted by the sheriff's department.

"Our people and community are so worried of what else can happen," said Fathy. "They are so scared."

The fire was smoldering by the time Fathy and the center's imam, Ossama Bahloul, had arrived. Fathy was told that responders had smelled gasoline near the fire.

Fathy was later contacted by members of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, who told him the incident was under investigation and to remain calm.

Digging had begun at the site, which was planned as a place of worship for the approximately 250 Muslim families in the Murfreesboro area, but no structure had been built yet, according to Saleh Sbenaty, a member of the planning committee and a professor of engineering technology at Middle Tennessee State University.

"This is a shock," said Sbenaty. "We've had small act of vandals. But this is going to be a crime and whoever did it, they should be punished to the full extent of the law."

The center had operated for years out of a small business suite. Planning members said the new building, which was being constructed next to a church, would help accommodate the area's growing Muslim community.

"We unfortunately did not experience hostilities for the 30 years we've been here and have only seen the hostility since approval of the site plan for the new center," said Sbenaty.

Opponents of a new Islamic center say they believe the mosque will be more than a place of prayer; they are afraid the 15-acre site that was once farmland will be turned into a terrorist training ground for Muslim militants bent on overthrowing the U.S. government.

"They are not a religion. They are a political, militaristic group," Bob Shelton, a 76-year-old retiree who lives in the area, told The Associated Press.

Shelton was among several hundred demonstrators who recently wore "Vote for Jesus" T-shirts and carried signs that said "No Sharia law for USA!," referring to the Islamic code of law.

Others took their opposition further, spray painting a sign announcing the "Future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro" and tearing it up.

Earlier this summer opponents criticized the planned mosque at hearings held by the Rutherford County Commission, as supporters held prayer vigils.

At one such prayer vigil, WTVF reported opponents speaking out against construction.

"No mosque in Murfreesboro. I don't want it. I don't want them here," Evy Summers said to WTVF. "Go start their own country overseas somewhere. This is a Christian country. It was based on Christianity."

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

Great News. May we continue the oppisition to this racist Death Cult

[cjd]

Whats with all this mosque building?? They should look into how all this is being funded!

[AsheDina]

Whats with all this mosque building?? They should look into how all this is being funded!

I agree. But here the thing; They are pushing Americans, and America does not care at this point where the $ is coming from, this is action we are talking about.
Southerners are gutsy.

[AsheDina]

Great News. May we continue the oppisition to this racist Death Cult

It is great news. I guess the good people of Moore Cty know that this is a cult of death and do NOT want it.

[TruthSpreader]

Finally some news worth hearing!!!!!  I've wanted someone to do this for some time.

 

[cjd]

Whats with all this mosque building?? They should look into how all this is being funded!

I agree. But here the thing; They are pushing Americans, and America does not care at this point where the $ is coming from, this is action we are talking about.
Southerners are gutsy.

True enough... I think Muslims are making a big mistake if they think they are going to try and hide in small town USA... This is the place where they will be under the most scrutiny... They may get away with their mosque building here in New York however I think the Bible belt is still kind of strong in the south.

[White Israelite]

Whats with all this mosque building?? They should look into how all this is being funded!

I agree. But here the thing; They are pushing Americans, and America does not care at this point where the $ is coming from, this is action we are talking about.
Southerners are gutsy.

True enough... I think Muslims are making a big mistake if they think they are going to try and hide in small town USA... This is the place where they will be under the most scrutiny... They may get away with their mosque building here in New York however I think the Bible belt is still kind of strong in the south.

I live in the bible belt 30 minutes from the border of Alabama and ragheads are not looked upon kindly here.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

About damn time.

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

I've wanted to that too. In Seattle they crawl around the city like cockroaches

[Ari Ben-Canaan]

I would not be surprised if a Muslim did this and then blame "Islamophobia" [this has happened in the past, this will happen in the future].

1:  Muslim desires social views inconsistent with reality; "Islamophobia" is a real scourge, and all Muslims are under constant threat from maniacs.

2:  Muslim creates problem, blames it on others.

3:  People react to fake incident and demand "something must be done".

4:  Government enacts laws and legal rights to Muslims not available to others.

Of course I am not shedding any tears for any house which values the Koran being destroyed.

[Spiraling Leopard]

"experiencing hostility" will come wherever muslims start to dwell.

These people are heroes, though I would have preferred the burning after the mosque was finished.

[Ari Ben-Canaan]

I would not be surprised if a Muslim did this and then blame "Islamophobia" [this has happened in the past, this will happen in the future].

1:  Muslim desires social views inconsistent with reality; "Islamophobia" is a real scourge, and all Muslims are under constant threat from maniacs.

2:  Muslim creates problem, blames it on others.

3:  People react to fake incident and demand "something must be done".

4:  Government enacts laws and legal rights to Muslims not available to others.

Of course I am not shedding any tears for any house which values the Koran being destroyed.

It took me a bit to re-find this article...  about how Muslims stage fake "hate crimes" to benefit their cause. [there are linked articles embedded in the text on the original page I copied the text from.]

http://www.danielpipes.org/2627/cairs-hate-crimes-nonsense

Should you read Unequal Protection: The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2005, an annual report issued last week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), you'll learn how the Muslim experience in America is worsening. Specifically, the number of "anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States" has gone up dramatically: from 42 cases in 2002, to 93 cases in 2003, to 141 in 2004.

This news prompted headlines in the mainstream media. "Muslims Report 50% Increase in Bias Crimes," announced the New York Times; "Crimes, Complaints Involving Muslims Rise," broadcast the Washington Post; and "Muslims Cite a Rise in Hate Crimes," echoed the Los Angeles Times. That these leading newspapers treated the CAIR study as a serious piece of research served as an important endorsement.

But CAIR is part of the Wahhabi Lobby, so (unlike the mainstream media reporters) we thought it a good idea to take a closer look at the report. We examined in detail some "examples of anti-Muslim hate crime reports received by CAIR in 2004," on p. 43, plus some "samples" on p. 53 and discovered a pattern of sloppiness, exaggeration, and distortion:

   1.

      CAIR cites the July 9, 2004 case of apparent arson at a Muslim-owned grocery store in Everett, Washington. But investigators quickly determined that Mirza Akram, the store's operator, staged the arson to avoid meeting his scheduled payments and to collect on an insurance policy. Although Akram's antics were long ago exposed as a fraud, CAIR continues to list this case as an anti-Muslim hate crime.
   2.

      CAIR also states that "a Muslim-owned market was burned down in Texas" on August 6, 2004. But already a month later, the owner was arrested for having set fire to his own business. Why does CAIR include this incident in its report?
   3.

      CAIR lists the March 2005 lawsuit filed by the Salmi family for the firebombing of their family van as one example of a hate crime report it received in 2004. However, the crime named in the lawsuit occurred in March 2003, was already reported by CAIR in 2003, and should not have been tabulated again in the 2004 report.
   4.

      CAIR reports that "a home-made bomb exploded outside of the Champions Mosque in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas," staking its claim on eyewitness reports that on July 4, 2004, "two white males" were seen placing the bomb. We inquired about the incident and found that Spring's sheriff department could not locate any police files about an explosion. Further inquiries to the mosque and an e-mail to CAIR both went unanswered. There is scant evidence that any crime even occurred.
   5.

      CAIR notes that "investigators in Massachusetts are still investigating a potential hate-motivated arson against the Al-Baqi Islamic Center in Springfield." However the case was long ago ruled a simple robbery, news that even CAIR's own website has posted. The Associated Press reported on January 21, 2005, that prosecutors determined the fire was set by teen-age boys "who broke into the Al-Baqi mosque to steal money and candy, then set the fire to cover their tracks." The boys, they clarified, "weren't motivated by hatred toward Muslims."
   6.

      CAIR describes what happened to a Muslim family in Tucson, Arizona: "bullet shots pierced their home as they ate dinner in October 2004" and two months later their truck was smashed and vandalized. But the only evidence that either incident was motivated by hate of Muslims is the Dehdashti family itself, not the police. Detective Frank Rovi of Pima County Sheriff's Department, who handled the shooting investigation, said that according to the neighbors, the desert area by the Dehdashti house was often used for target practice. Neither incident was classified as a hate crime and both cases were closed by February 2005, long before the CAIR report went to press.

Of twenty "anti-Muslim hate crimes" in 2004 that CAIR describes, at least six are invalid – and further research could likely find problems with the other fourteen instances.

Nor is this the first unreliable CAIR report; earlier ones were just as bad. Speaking about the 1996 CAIR report, terrorism expert Steven Emerson noted in congressional testimony that "a large proportion of the complaints have been found to be fabricated, manufactured, distorted or outside standard definitions of hate crimes." The 1996 report included the arrest of Musa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader, and the trial of Omar Abdul-Rahman, the blind sheikh and ringleader of the foiled "Day of Terror" plot to blow up New York City landmarks.

Even more absurdly, CAIR classified as an American hate crime the shooting of Ahmed Hamida in Jerusalem on February 26, 1996, as he fled after driving his car into a crowd of Israeli civilians, killing one and injuring twenty-three others. One wonders why the killing of a terrorist in Israel would be classified as an American issue; more of CAIR's sloppiness?

Indeed, very little of what CAIR asserts checks out. CAIR's significant inaccuracy has potentially great consequence. Note what happened after Newsweek reported in its May 9, 2005, issue that the Koran had been desecrated at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo, Cuba. Protests raged in the Muslim world, including demonstrations that turned violent in Afghanistan and killed at least sixteen people. Newsweek eventually retracted the story, but a bit late. Had things turned out otherwise, CAIR's erroneous report could have provoked similar violence.

The staff at CAIR does not divulge to us its reasons for not retracting at least the provably false incidents embedded in its inflated "hate" figures, but we can think of two reasons: to scare its constituency, thereby raising more money; and to put the American public on the defensive, thereby winning more privileges for Islam, such as the 2000 U.S. Senate resolution inveighing against the "discrimination and harassment" suffered by the American Muslim community.

But why do journalists report the results of CAIR's survey – as though it came from a source without a viewpoint bias, as though past studies had been reliable, as though its polls are scientific, as though it has not been party to threats against an American Muslim dissident, as though it has not protected Osama bin Laden's image, as though five of CAIR's staff and board members have not already been associated with terrorism, and as though it is not named as a defendant in 9/11 terror lawsuit?

One wonders what it will take for old media to ignore CAIR's unreliable research and instead start reporting the words of Steven Pomerantz, a former chief of the FBI's counterterrorism section, that CAIR's activities "effectively give aid to international terrorist groups."

___________

May 23, 2005 update: For a follow up, see "MSM Criticizes CAIR, CAIR Brazens It Out."

http://www.danielpipes.org/2627/cairs-hate-crimes-nonsense