Muslims Against America

What if, in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks, someone had made a documentary revealing the agenda of Osama bin Laden, describing the kinds of preparations he was making for his murderous attacks and identifying the infrastructure in America – the flight training schools, the mosques and communities from which he would mount them?

In other words, what if someone had produced a film that “connected the dots” before al Qaeda’s operatives did at a cost of nearly 3,000 American lives and, by some estimates, a trillion dollar loss to the U.S. economy?

One would like to think that such a movie would have resulted in the prevention of the terrorism of September 11th, saving those lives and avoiding the attendant destruction of property, disruption of economic activity and other traumas.  Surely the FBI, the rest of the intelligence community and relevant executive branch agencies – equipped with at least key parts of the enemy’s playbook – would have acted decisively and successfully.

As it happens, those authorities have just been given a comparable gift in the form of a documentary about the terror next time: A Washington premier last night unveiled “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.” – a film documenting the metastasizing danger posed by the Jamaat ul-Fuqra (JF) organization and what appear to be 35 terrorist training camps it operates across the United States and Canada.

Known in this country as Muslims of America, Jamaat ul-Fuqra is a creature of Mubarak Sheikh Gilani.  Gilani is renowned for his espousal of the Deobandi brand of Islam, which fiercely embraces the theo-political-legal code the faith’s authorities call Shariah and its obligation for all Muslims to engage in jihad (holy war) to impose Shariah on everyone, Muslim and non-Muslims alike. 

The Sheikh has been regarded for many years as an international terrorist.  He is not permitted to come to the United States.  Any lingering doubts as to the grounds for such treatment should be dispelled by Gilani’s prominent role in “Homegrown Jihad.”  The documentary features a training video he made for his followers, entitled “Soldiers of Allah,” replete with instructions on how to kill using knives, handguns, sniper rifles, automatic weapons and explosives.  It even shows the Sheikh himself firing such weapons and urging that his film not be allowed to fall into unfriendly hands.

Perhaps the most ominous part of the Gilani film is his description of the 35 camps Muslims of America operate around North America as a terrorist training infrastructure.  He uses it to show his adherents – most of whom appear to be African-American felons converted to Islam in prison – how to engage in assassinations, car-jackings, ambushes and other violent acts. 

This training is not academic.  “Homegrown Jihad” closes with a litany of crimes – from fraud to fire-bombing to murder to acts of deadly terrorism – with which Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s members have been implicated and/or charged.  Among JF’s victims have been Muslims who have espoused the practice of their faith in a tolerant, peaceable manner that is not Shariah-adherent and that seeks to assimilate in the West. 

Most of these JF facilities have received little national attention as they typically are located in rural areas.  At least in some cases, however, the camps are in proximity to strategic assets.  For example, a camp near Dover, Tennessee is within easy striking distance of Fort Campbell (home of the 101st Airborne), TVA dams and power plants and an ammunition up-load facility.

“Homegrown Jihad” shows the palpable fear the Muslims of America compounds have evoked in neighboring populations and even among local law enforcement.  This sentiment is understandable:  Not only are the surrounding communities aware of gunfire and bellicose behavior on the part of JF guards and members.  As Gilani’s training film makes clear, his followers are enjoined to offer a false face of friendship to outsiders and “then kill them.”

The danger associated with such an ominous training infrastructure in the service of Gilani’s jihadist agenda raises the obvious question:  What the hell is the U.S. government doing allowing these facilities to be established and operated by a group its agencies have, over time, described as a terrorist organization?

The film suggests that the short answer is not much.  In fact, law enforcement sources it cites indicate that the FBI – the nation’s front-line of defense against such threats – has refused to confront, to say nothing of shut down, JF’s operations in America.  One claims that that has been as a result of direction from the Bureau’s headquarters in Washington.  In the absence of a federal role, it has fallen to state and local authorities to come to grips with the terrorists in their communities.  It seems that, with few exceptions, they also have failed to do so.

It remains to be seen whether the distribution of “Homegrown Jihad” (copies may be obtained from the courageous filmmaker Marty Mawyer and his intrepid team at the Christian Action Network, www.christianaction.org) will change this appalling state of affairs.  If not, we seem likely to be condemned to a reprise of the tragedy of 9/11: connectable but unconnected “dots” causing mass death and destruction in an America that could have, and should have, been protected against these renewed scourges.