What is the American Islamic Leadership Coalition?

Briefly the group is a collection of Native Informants/House Moslem/Arabs who seem to have made it their business to openly attack and report anyone who takes a dissenting postion against US policies. They made baseless allegations against Imran Khan during his recent visit to North America, resulting in his detention and interrogation by US immigration. Craig Murray has a good write up exposing this group:

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition followed this up with a press release with the notably un-Islamic contact name of Gregg Edgar of Gordon C James Public Relations.

From Wikipedia on Gordon C James: James grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and moved to Iowa in 1969 where he served several years in the Iowa National Guard. James worked in the real-estate management business in Des Moines, renting space to presidential candidates in town for the caucuses. In 1978, he met and rented space to former President of the United States George H. W. Bush (then Ambassador Bush).[1] After the 1988 election James worked as Lead Advance Representative at the White House for two years under President George H.W. Bush and Director of Invitations and Ticketing for the 51st Presidential Inaugural Committee.[2] James was also employed as deputy director of events for the 54th and 55th Presidential Inauguration.[3] In 1990 he founded the public relations firm Gordon C. James Public Relations. In 2004, James was employed by former U.S. Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to improve U.S. public relations in Iraq during the transition of governments.[4] For more than five months he served as the Director of Advance and Special Events in the Office of Strategic Communications and Director of the Presidential Palace Studio for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq. While there he advised Ambassador Paul Bremer and was responsible for coordinating the Ambassador’s relations with Western and Pan-Arab media outlets and produced several events including the signing of the Tal (Iraq’s Declaration of Independence) and 100 Days to Sovereignty, the countdown to the transfer of power from the CPA to newly founded Iraqi government.[5] In 2004 James assisted in several political stops with the Bush-Cheney campaign and in 2005, he was employed as lead advance representative for President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton’s tour of the Tsunami-hit regions of Indonesia.[6] James has traveled to five continents as a lead advance representative for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

There are some Muslims in the American Islamic Leadership Coalition. In Phoenix with Gordon C James is M Zuhdi Jasser, of Syrian origin but for eleven years a medical officer in the US Navy. And the AILC has another interesting Syrian, leader of “The Reform Party of Syria”, Farid Ghadry.

The AILC website includes the quote: “Gossip is he is the next president of Syria” Ghadry lives in Washington and is the author of such fascinating blog posts as “Israel Builds for Nobel Prizes, Arabs are Suicide Bombers”.

Like the Quilliam Foundation in the UK, doubtless the AILC has hoovered up plenty of public funds for its useful work for the security services. BUt the idea that it genuinely represents a strand in Islamic thinking is ludicrous. It is marvellous what being an establishment shill can do for your media profile though. Zuhdi Jasser addressed his largest mass rally of supporters – highly optimistically estimated by the media as three dozen – in a New York rally in support of NYPD’s controversial surveillance and agent provocateur operations against Muslims. Rather than laughing at it, the tame mainstream media covered it infinitely better than they cover anti-war rallies 1,000 times larger, and portrayed it as a genuine sign of Muslim community support for the surveillance. Just as none of the mainstream media reporting the current Imran Khan story – most of whon quote the AILC – say anything about who the AILC really are. What do people working in the mainstream media think the purpose of their existence actually is?

Al Qaeda in Syria --- are "moderate" Muslims having a change of heart?

Remember Ed Husain? No? Well just click on the link... The guy was one of the most vociferous voices against "extremism" amongst Muslims and interpretations of Islam. The dude teamed up with the British government to create a "moderate Islam" outfit (check the link above for more information). These days he is a senior fellow with the Council of Foreign Affairs.

[More on Ed Husain here: Ed: With Friends like these

Ed Hussain: from Ineptitude to Inadequacy ]

So here is his recent piece on Syria - where he acknowledges that Al Qaeda is part and parcel of the western backed bloodshed now taking place in the region:

For Syrian opposition soldiers, the al-Qaeda fighters are welcome Arab and Muslim volunteers, mujahideen, religious brethren who call themselves Jabhat al-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Shaam (Front for the Victory of the Levantine people), among other names. Not since the days of the Afghan jihad against the Soviets has global jihadism found this rare combination of native Sunni Muslim hospitality, a powerful cause, available cash, eager Arab support, Western acquiescence, and the constant arrival of young Muslims to fight under its banner to create an Islamist government. While exact numbers of jihadist fighters are hard to come by, it is a fact that in every crucial battle of the last three months, from Aleppo to Homs to Deir al-Zor to Damascus, al-Qaeda has been prominent.

OK so, by now it is common knowledge that the western backed "uprising" includes Al Qaeda... this is known and acknowledged by everyone (maybe excepting some Obama loving liberals, who cannot imagine that Obama would be supporting this nefarious extremist outfit... remember the chants of USA USA USA - when they repeatedly lauded themselves for the assassination of OBL? LOL! Little do they bother to realize that new OBLs are being created with US/NATO backings...)

But here is the interesting part, while Ed Husain (The great champion of "moderate Islam" - anti-extremist etc. etc. ) acknowledges the role of Al Qaeda here is how he comes to terms with real true extremism (not the bogus nonsense he was spouting in Britain):

There are no easy options in Syria. We cannot credibly ask the FSA to jettison its bravest fighters (Al Qaeda) while we refuse to send Western troops.

Really...? "we" (US/Western backers) cannot demand FSA to stop including Al Qaeda in its ranks? Really....? Al Qaeda? (Fact is that there would be no FSA without Al Qaeda, but that requires another analyses in another place).... And lets continue:

Al-Qaeda’s and the West’s interests merged in Afghanistan against the Soviets; Will they do so again in Syria? And will our common enemies — Hezbollah and Iran — hold this unmentionable alliance together after Assad?

Oh my... Have to hand it to Ed Husain he is telling the truth here... indeed the west's interest and Al Qaeda's interest have indeed merged in Syria! The great upholder of human rights has merged its interests with some of the most rotten extremist and sectarian terrorists: Al Qaeda. And all that Ed Husain (the great "moderate") do is close with a whimper:

No, because that same history teaches us not to ride the al-Qaeda tiger: It will soon enough turn on liberal Arabs, the West, and Israel. In Syria, with or without Assad, the only certain result will be the presence of al-Qaeda’s offshoots. We are yet to grasp the consequences of this reality.

No, Ed Husain it is you, you may not have grasped that reality, many of us have fully grasped this reality: That Al Qaeda and the extremist terrorism and sectarianism is a western imperialist creation, and that they will be used again and again to inflict massive damage on independent Muslim nations. And in the same vein - "moderate" "progressive" types, such as yourself, are also an output of that same production line - just the flip side of the coin. You see, now "moderate" "progressives" are soon to go out of style - as the flip side of that same coin once again become allies of the people you been hangin' out with... What will you do? Muslim "leaders" are already beginning to line up to join up ... will you, O' great moderate, join up with 'em?

Electronic Intifada exposes House Moslem Shahed Amanullah

"Shahed (Amanullah) currently serves as Senior Advisor for Technology for the US Department of State, working on digital diplomacy projects in the Office of the Special Representative to Muslim Communities Worldwide, which reports directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

 Mr. Amanullah is one of a number of self styled "leaders" who do not represent anyone, nor are they in touch with Muslim sentiments, but have been hand picked by the US State Department as advisors on Muslim affairs. Mr. Amanullah is also the founder of the online rag AltMuslim.

 "Hours after The Guardian announced it had dumped Joshua Treviño, a Senior Advisor at the US State Department (Shahed Amanullah) publicly defended the disgraced columnist, despite the fact that Treviño had openly called for, and gloated over, the murder of US civilians and called for acts of desecration offensive to Muslims in a series of controversial tweets."

 This is Shahed Amanullah's tweet wherein he calls Joshua Trevino his friend (could you imagine a senior advisor at the US State Department calling a Muslim, who made such statements about Jews or Christians, his or her "friend?") The guy would be fired before he could say tweet.

"The writings of my friend @jstrevino (Joshua Trevino) deserve to be engaged, not suppressed..." (Shahed Amanullah of altmuslim - and Senior Advisor at the US State Department reporting directing to Hillary Clinton).

"How long would Amanullah last at the State Department if he urged “engagement,” with Reverend Jeremiah Wright or Minister Louis Farrakhan, Americans whom President Obama has publicly rejected and denounced?

Indeed, Obama even had an American, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his 16-year old son,extrajudicially executed, for the elder al-Awlaki’s views."

Click here to read more

Anti-Palestinian/Islam Pakistani proggie/housie wants Pakistan-Israel "friendship"

The proggies/housie type Muslims don't restrict themselves to just pontificating on why they think Islam is a backward religion. They are essentially pawns of imperialism, and being enamored with the "west" - they also advocate relations with the aparthied/zionist entity of "israel" ... essentially what they advocate is for Pakistan and other Muslim countries to become absolute colonies.

This article, advocating "israel"-Pakistan relations, is written by, one, Pirzada Hasaan Hashmi - who

"is a political activist and a spokesperson for IHRP (Interfaith Harmony for Religious Peace). He tweets @shanihashmi"

Writer is Founder of COMPACT a Think Tank On Media ,Peace & Culture , Spokesperson of IHRP(www.ihrp.net) , blogger, political & Anti-extremism activist from Pakistan, Working on ground level for Interfaith Harmony in Pakistan

brown sahibs

While I don't know or care much for Pakistani cricketer-politician Imran Khan, this book review of his autobiography does give an insight into the brown sahibs - who make up the bulk of proggies-housies of South Asian backgrounds:

The liberal and left factions in Pakistan also reprogrammed themselves after the end of the Cold War. Under Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party, once left-leaning, anti-imperialist, sought legitimacy in Washington and quickly embraced its neoliberal program to open the economy to Western capital. If the formerly liberal and left leaning forces completed this metamorphosis with little difficulty, this is not entirely surprising. Even when they proclaimed socialist ideals or employed anti-imperialist rhetoric, the thinking of the politically dominant classes in much of the Islamicate had been shaped by an Orientalist narrative. After the Western powers had destroyed or marginalized the traditional learned classes – judges and jurisprudents trained in Shariah, theologians, physicians, engineers, architects and artists – this created space for the emergence of new intellectual classes that were beholden to their colonial masters.

More often than not, they were secular and nationalist in their politics, and, following their Orientalist mentors, they blamed Islam for their backwardness; as a result, even when they paid lip service to Islam, they were determined to exclude it from their political discourse. In keeping with their colonialist thinking, they affected Western styles and mannerisms but did little to acquire the institutions, sciences and technology that were the motors of Western power and prosperity. It is no exaggeration to assert that these new elites – despite their nationalist rhetoric – felt closer to their colonial masters they had replaced than to the people they claimed to lead.

In Pakistan, different factions of the ruling elites – who variously claim to be ‘nationalists,’ ‘liberals’ or ‘leftists’ – strenuously lobby the Americans or the British to gain power or to keep it. They outbid each other in sacrificing vital national interests; they never tire of proclaiming that the nation’s economic salvation depends on attracting foreign investment; they have backed unconditionally America’s so-called war on terrorism; they oppose the Afghans’ right to free their country of foreign occupiers; they cheered when General Musharraf used Pakistan’s military to fight Pakistanis who aided the Afghans; they privately assure the Americans that – despite their public stance – they stand firmly behind the deadly drone strikes against ‘targets’ inside Pakistan. Disregarding Pakistan’s Islamic sensibilities, a tiny minority of ‘secularists’ in Pakistan want to impose Western sexual mores on Pakistan; they have campaigned to abrogate the nation’s laws against blasphemy, not prevent its abuse or mitigate its penalties; they refuse to defend the rights of Muslim minorities in Western countries; they support America’s demands to shut down the madrasas in Pakistan but have long supported a colonial system of education for the elites that uses syllabi and exams designed in Cambridge.

“Today our English-language schools produce ‘Desi Americans’ – young kids who, though they have never been out of Pakistan, have not only perfected the American twang but all the mannerisms (including the tilt of the baseball cap) just by watching Hollywood films.” In imitation, poorer children too are deserting the state-run Urdu schools to attend poorly staffed English medium schools run out of apartments but carrying exotic labels. Some are named after Catholic saints, in a tawdry attempt to bask in the prestige of Christian missionary schools. Others carry more hilarious names. One school, less inclined to borrow the halo of Catholic saints, calls itself, Oxford and Cambridge Islamic English-Medium School.

deconstructing housie - proggie Asra Nomani

in her article for The Daily Beast, Asra Nomani writes an article which implies that the orphaned children of Pakistan are being recruited by Al-Qaeda as future suicide bombers. Her answer to this problem? To undo the “antiquated, shortsighted, and regressive stricture that makes adoption illegal [within Islam].” This focus on Islam as a problem for adoptive parents who supposedly want to help the orphans of the world is quite loaded, and needs to be deconstructed on two levels, first in terms of the historical and economic/political function of adoption, and second in terms of linguistic and theologic use/misuse of the term.

Read more here 

liberal muslim imperial alliance - the strange case of Nafisa Haji

"Pakistani-American" author, with extensive family in Pakistan, gets tour of Pakistan via US Embassy in Pakistan to learn more about Pakistan! Right, so now the US Embassy gets to present Pakistan... not all that surprising, given that the country's liberal-elites have a colonized mind.

From sometime now, the US state department has been sending wannabe House Muslims (housies) to Muslim countries to spread the gospel of Americanism. The message that the housies bring is basically that America is really pretty good (just ignore the latest killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Syria etc etc... ) They do this thorough meetings with the liberal - elites, students etc. of the respective Muslim majority countries - and then report back their findings and success stories to the US State Department.   In the war on Muslims and Islam, this is the soft propaganda aspect.  This site, over the years (with some lapses due to time constraints) has attempted to document this arm of the war - while exposing the individuals and groups who partake in this propaganda effort.

 Saba Mahmood has describes this effort:

"Taking the U.S. government’s current project to reshape and reform Islam on a global scale as my focus, I want to think about the place of the secular in relation to the current strategies of domination pursued by the United States. As I will show, over the last two years, in addition to its military “war against terror,” the United States has embarked upon an ambitious theological campaign aimed at shaping the sensibilities of ordinary Muslims whom the State Department deems to be too dangerously inclined toward fundamentalist interpretations of Islam. As such, it is the ideological arm of an otherwise military campaign to subdue and discipline the vast population of Muslims who, in their religious beliefs and lifestyles, are judged to be the recruiting ground for more extremist and fundamentalist forms of Islamic opposition to U.S. strategic interests and what are now loosely termed “Western values.” In this elaborate undertaking, the U.S. government has found an indigenous ally in the form of moderate or liberal Muslims who, in the opinion of State Department planners, are most open to a “Western vision of civilization, political order, and society.”

A recent recruit to this effort has been author Nafisa Haji, who has written two novels depicting Muslim lives - especially focused on Southern Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh etc.) A "sufi" affiliated with the International Association of Sufism http://ias.org/ Ms. Haji, recently took a trip to Pakistan at the invitation of the US Embassy in Pakistan! Here is her own press release:

Nafisa Haji, Pakistani-American author of “The Writing On My Forehead” and recently published “The Sweetness of Tears”, has just returned from a visit to Pakistan at the invitation of the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan. In Karachi, Nafisa attended the Karachi Literature Festival, where she led a Creative Writing Workshop and participated on a lively authors' panel moderated by Dr. Marilyn Wyatt, wife of U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter. From Karachi, Haji went on to Lahore and Islamabad, visiting and speaking at universities and colleges, engaging with Pakistani students who helped to dispel stereotypes about Pakistan and Pakistanis with their eager engagement with the world and the challenges their nation faces. Haji says the visit was eye-opening on many levels, affording her a broader and deeper perspective of Pakistan, far more optimistic than the usual headlines imply. In addition, she was impressed with the cultural and diplomatic efforts of the State Department staff she met with, admiring the hard, behind-the-scenes work they do in a challenging part of the world.

So let's see, Nafisa Haji went to Pakistan at the behest of the US Embassy, so that Pakistani students could dispel stereotypes about Pakistan? This is of-course, plain nonsense, Ms. Haji has extensive family in Pakistan, she has mentioned this in her interviews, and she was able to do a significant amount of research in that country for her books because of her family. And she needed to have stereotypes dispeled on a trip sponsored by the US State Department/US Embassy in Pakistan? This is ludicrous, to say the least.

And praise for the efforts of the US state department, in a country that the US  has been engaged in almost daily killings? All of that she encapsulates in what she describes as "challenging part of the world." The stories of mothers, children, wives, husbands, men and women killed by the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, brushed aside with the word "challenging."

These trips are not organized for what Ms. Haji claims, rather they are organized for the purpose that Ms. Mahmood has identified above, and so that the United States is presented in a softer light by such housies, in a way that diminishes the impact of the relentless wars that the empire has been waging. A way to even further disconnect the liberal-elites, and so-called "open minded" "free thinkers" individuals from the mass of Muslims. Not to say that the liberal - elites and "free thinkers" need any assistance in becoming disconnected, they already live in a different world. But it does serve to reinforce, and create a false sense that the US war policies are pretty OK.

Nafisa Haji ‏ @nafisahaji: Mabrouk #Libya!! People of #Tunisia and #Egypt, look what you started! Your turn, #Syria,#Bahrain,#Yemen! Last stop, #Saudi! Allaboard!

It is interesting to see how an opportunistic "sufi" ended up supporting a reactionary NATO allied group to take over of Libya. Like other liberal imperialists, while she may oppose war and violence led by Republicans, she, apparently has no problem supporting such wars and violence if they are led by liberal Democrats.  The above is a tweet from August 21st, 2011 expressing her support for the NATO led violent takeover of Libya - including a bombing campaign that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Libyans that Ms. Haji has chosen to ignore. This kind of hypocrisy is what liberal-housie-Muslims are made up off...