24 September 2003

But who else is there?

[source, source] The Pentagon uses three primary organizations to vet Islamic clerics for duty in the armed forces.
Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va.
This organization trains clerics in additon to vetting them. It was responsible for training the cleric recently arrested for espionage. It was raided by the Justice Department last year on suspicion of ties to Osama bin Lade.
American Muslim Foundation (AMF)
  • Raided by the Justice Department on suspicion of terrorist ties
  • The AMF was co-founded by Abdurahman Alamoudi, an acknowledged supporter of the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Islamic Society of North America
One of its board members, Siraj Wahhaj, was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as one of more than 100 "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the attempt to blow up New York monuments. Mr. Wahhaj also served as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abel Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Is it possible for the Pentagon to use Islamic organizations not suspected of being part of the Caliphascist network? Apparently not:
For months, the Universal Muslim Association of America, which is aligned with Shi'ite Islam, has tried to become an endorser of Muslim clerics in the military and federal prisons. But the group says it has been ignored, despite its warnings that the Wahhabi form of Islam is being propagated to troops and prisoners.
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The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is everywhere!

Instapundit actually writes something beyond "Indeed" or "Heh!". It's worth quoting in full how he lays down the smackie on Josh Marshall of "Talking Points Memo":http://talkingpointsmemo.com
JOSH MARSHALL FINDS THAT THE TRUTH HURTS. He's not happy about Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall (whom Josh originally misidentified as a Republican) saying that negative media coverage is getting our troops killed. But Marshall the Congressman, and a Vietnam vet, was there, and thinks negative publicity is encouraging the Baathist holdouts to believe that they can pull a Mogadishu and get the United States to pull out. Marshall the pundit might want to ponder the possibility that reflexive media negativity, counted on by our foes to advance their plans, might actually, you know, advance their plans. It's not the reporting of criticisms or bad things that's the issue -- the first-person accounts I link below all have criticisms and negative information. It's the lazy Vietnam-templating, the "of course America must be losing" spin, the implicit and sometimes explicit sneer, and the relentless bringing to the fore of every convenient negative fact while suppressing the positive ones that's the issue. It's what the terrorists are counting on, and it's what too many in the media are happy to deliver, because they think it'll hurt Bush. And it doesn't get any lower than _that_. UPDATE: Reader Richard Aubrey emails: "Do you think the journalist Marshall might want to explain what, factually, is wrong with Rep. Marshall's statement?" I hope he will.
I went and read TPM(Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall)'s comments and what comes through is the complete inability of TPM(Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall) to even _ponder_ whether maybe he and Big Media are simply wrong on this issue. It's telling that TPM(Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall)initially assumed that Representative Marshall was a Republican, because no Democratic Representative would say something like that. That's indicative not only of TPM(Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall)'s bias but the strong group think that takes the place of though in the Democratic Party these days, a frozen matrix of thought that's infected TPM(Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall), who used to be much more of a voice and not an echo. UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan weighs in as well.
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