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| Tennessee Jihadis |
| 2003-12-24 |
| A former member of a secretive Islamic fundamentalist organization in Knoxville helped funnel money to militant fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya during the 1990s, but local Muslims said Tuesday the group is no longer active. Mustafa Saied, a former University of Tennessee student and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Wall Street Journal in a story published Tuesday that money raised at the Annoor Mosque ostensibly for poor civilians actually went to Muslim warriors. Knoxville Muslims raised $6,000 to pay for tents, Saied told the paper, but in 1995 a representative of the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit, told him a portion of the money was diverted to fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya. FBI Special Agent James Van Pelt of the Knoxville office said he isn’t aware of any criminal prosecution of any people or groups arising from the activities described in the article. "If something like that would happen today, the person could be guilty of (giving) material support to terrorists," Van Pelt said. The foundation’s leader pleaded guilty in 2002 to buying supplies for fighters in the two countries. The U.S. Treasury Department alleged the group also had ties to al-Qaeda, though the charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement. The paper reported that Saied was part of an active group of Muslim Brotherhood members in Knoxville before he left the campus in 1996, a few credits short of graduating. The Muslim Brotherhood is an international fundamentalist political group. Rosalind Gwynne, faculty adviser to the UT chapter of the Muslim Student Association said she was surprised to find out the Muslim Brotherhood had been active on campus. There can be as many as 300 students in the association at any one time, and the mix can vary from year to year, she said. Knoxville’s mainstream Muslims said they weren’t aware of the group’s presence here either. "I’ve lived here for 30 years, and this is the first time I ever heard about it," said Hanan Ayesh, a founder of the Annoor Academy, a Muslim school. Most of those involved in the Muslim Brotherhood here were foreign students who get involved in Islamic politics before moving back to their countries of origin, said Mostafa Alsharif, a lifelong Knoxvillian. "The majority of Muslims in the United States couldn’t care less about the Muslim Brotherhood. They’re going to stay in the United States. There’s no need to be affiliated with something like that," Alsharif said. Alsharif said the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t active here anymore. "It’s not the reality of what’s happening in Knoxville today at all," he said. The lengthy Wall Street Journal article detailed Saied’s activities in Knoxville nearly a decade ago. Now an adherent of a less strident form of Islam, Saied is an executive at a Florida environmental-testing firm. Said’s tale offers a glimpse into how secretive organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood operate in the United States. "Anti-American sentiment is usually reserved for closed-door discussions or expressed in languages that most Americans don’t understand," Saied told Wall Street Journal reporter Paul M. Barrett. "While such rhetoric has been drastically reduced since 9/11, it is still prevalent enough to be a cause for concern." Saied told Barrett he and other fundamentalist Muslims would meet once a week to drink tea and eat sweets while discussing fundamentalist Islam in secret. Saied said the Knoxville chapter viewed violence as something "we don’t do here, unless necessary." Saied told Barrett he feels guilty about his years as an extremist and is applying for U.S. citizenship. He worries, according to the article, that areas of "venomous hatred toward Western society" persist on some campuses and in certain Islamic communities. Some in the local Muslim community fear that reports of such extremist activities - even those that occurred nearly a decade ago - will prompt other Americans to persecute law-abiding Muslims. Ayesh said she sometimes feels like she had more freedom when she first came to America 34 years ago than her children have today. "We’re an asset to this community," Ayesh said, "not a threat." |
| Posted by:TS |
| #3 blivet has it right. Tribal blood is thicker than water. I still see the same thing in some rural Alaska villages in issues ranging from child abuse to keeping incompetents in town jobs. Reforming Iraq is a major social engineering project that will require years of commitment. We are talking about a HUGE change in ME society. Some will get it. Some will be hauled into the 21st century kicking and screaming. And there will be some that will have to be killed because they will be trying to kill us and everyone else with their twisted crap-line. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-24 4:05:52 PM |
| #2 It is an intrinsic problem with Islam that Muslims are not supposed to be critical of other Muslims. That's why there are no (or very few 'whistleblowers'- I'll look up the relevant Koranic verse in a moment). This applies even when fundamentalist and Anti-West views, and more, are being expressed/acted out. If you recall the Muslim FBI agent who would not inform on other Muslims (to infidels), that is also obeying Koranic instruction. As you can see folks, we have a pretty big problem here to get moderate Muslims to act onside. Until the religion is reformed, which it is protected against by the astute Mo, we are in a difficult position dealing with (being able to trust) all Muslims. |
| Posted by: blivet 2003-12-24 3:49:41 PM |
| #1 Some in the local Muslim community fear that reports of such extremist activities - even those that occurred nearly a decade ago - will prompt other Americans to persecute law-abiding Muslims. Ayesh said she sometimes feels like she had more freedom when she first came to America 34 years ago than her children have today. "We’re an asset to this community," Ayesh said, "not a threat." Then do something. Point out these potential threats when they become apparent instead of acting like nothing's wrong. The fact that Mr. Saied's activities that were revealed happened ten years ago doesn't have a whole lot of value now. What is being done to combat terrorism benefits EVERYBODY, including law-abiding Muslims. If you're convinced that you're an asset to the community, then don't just talk like it. ACT like it, and report extremist activities in your midst to the proper authorities. We're waiting for large numbers of moderate Muslims to be heard - this is your chance. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-24 11:59:30 AM |