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| Britain |
| UK cleric's bid to seize mosques |
| 2006-02-09 |
| JAILED radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri sent teams of young supporters around Britain with orders to take over other mosques. Rival clerics said they were threatened by gangs claiming to be members of Abu Hamza's Supporters of Sharia group. Some of the rival imams were beaten up inside their own mosques, and the worshippers were bullied into finding somewhere else to pray -- but police refused to intervene. Abu Hamza wanted to acquire more places where he and his lieutenants could brainwash a generation of young men and send them off to terror training camps abroad. Followers who tired of his behaviour said he behaved like a mafia godfather in dealing with anyone who opposed him. Two rival imams in London needed hospital treatment after being attacked, but no police action was taken. In one of Abu Hamza's sermons, heard by the jury during his trial at the Old Bailey, he boasted about his heavy-handed tactics, saying: "If the people know you are firm, they will back down. They all back down." His takeover attempts began in the late 1980s when he joined a group of Algerian-born radicals trying to take over the Central London Mosque in Regent's Park. Fazli Ali, 66, the former estates manager at the mosque, said: "Hamza and his cronies threatened me several times. I was head of security but they even threatened to kill me. Ours was a peaceful place, but he wanted to turn it into a political arena." The leadership of the mosque banned Abu Hamza from their premises, so he sought out other and more vulnerable targets around Britain. |
| Posted by: |
| #10 Uleash: "The good lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity." Willy Yeats, I believe. |
| Posted by: Hupomoger Clans9827 2006-02-09 19:00 |
| #9 Two rival imams in London needed hospital treatment after being attacked, but no police action was taken. The two imams had a moral obligation to bring charges against their transgressors. They did not and thereby allowed jihadist doctrine to gain ascendance. Once again, moderate Muslims who refuse to cause any sort of rift within their church are essentially propelling the jihadi's agenda. While it is possible that the two imams could not identify their attackers, it is this exact same motif, endlessly repeated around the world, that is submerging moderate Muslims into the pool of Islamists. When retaliation finally begins, these so-called moderates should not be surprised that no one takes the time to distinguish between them and their more violent brethern. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-02-09 17:31 |
| #8 A Pom is how Australians refer to the British. I'm not Australian; my Aussie buddies got me using the term. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-09 16:50 |
| #7 What's a Pom, Bomb? |
| Posted by: Sgt. D.T. 2006-02-09 16:37 |
| #6 Someone with better literary knowledge can come up with the actual quote, but there was a poem that has a line in it that went something like... "The good lack all conviction while the evil are filled with an unholy energy" Some things never change..... |
| Posted by: Uleash Glolunter7219 2006-02-09 15:51 |
| #5 This is why "law enforcement" is a poor tool to use against "terrorists" and their support organs. Targeted assisnations would be much more useful. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2006-02-09 14:44 |
| #4 In self-defense. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-09 12:32 |
| #3 ..but police refused to intervene. In order for the police to get involved, it has to be a white male Pom committing the offense, and he had to use a firearm. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-09 12:24 |
| #2 Yet more evidence that the Labour government is truly the greatest weapon in the jihadi arsenal. |
| Posted by: Quatermass 2006-02-09 11:10 |
| #1 brownshirts |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2006-02-09 10:55 |