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'Cowards who can't fight': Muslim hate preacher taunts grieving families

2009-03-12

The families of soldiers killed by friendly fire in Iraq have reacted with fury after a firebrand preacher taunted them over the deaths of their loved ones. Anjem Chourdary added insult to the injury caused by Islamic extremists' hate-filled protest against soldiers returning home from the war-torn region by saying they were 'not heroes but closer to coweards who cannot fight, as their uncanny knack for death by friendly fire illustrates'. The three soldiers to whom he was referring - Privates Robert Foster, 19, John Thrumble, 21, and Aaron McClure, 19 - were killed in Afghanistan in August 2007 when an American F-15 jet dropped a 500lb bomb on their position. Choudary's extraordinary comments were delivered hours after Muslim protesters waved offensive placards as members of 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marched through Luton. The preacher, the right-hand man to cleric of hate Omar Bakri, went on to attack the 'vile' parade. He said the soldiers were 'terrorists', comparing them to Nazi troops who 'cannot be excused for simply carrying out their duty'. Private Foster's father John, 59, from Harlow, Essex, said: 'Words like this can endanger our soldiers abroad. They do not choose where they go. They are not interested in politics - they go and do the job to the best of their ability. 'Why mock those killed by friendly fire? He is calling the troops cowards but it's a cowardly act to mock them this way.' Private Thrumble's mother, Pearl, 45, from Chelmsford, Essex, said: 'He calls them cowards and terrorists but they are the opposite. They are brave young men and women doing a very good job.' The controversy threatened to overshadow a second homecoming parade yesterday by the Royal Anglians, known as the Poachers. This time, there were no protesters to spoil the occasion, however, as thousands lined the streets of Watford to wave Union Jacks and hold aloft banners with messages including 'Thank you to our boys' and 'Well done Poachers, welcome home'. Choudary, 32, posted the comments on a website run by the Islam For The UK group. He has close links with Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, the radical Islamist group believed to be behind the application to Bedfordshire Police for permission to stage the protest. ASWJ was founded in 2005 and took in members of Al-Muhajiroun when the Luton-based group formerly led by Bakri was outlawed. He said: 'Pathetic and cowardly British soldiers pompously marched through Luton to demonstrate their skill at murdering and torturing thousands of innocent Muslim men, women and children over a 24-month period. Astonishingly, hundreds from the Luton community too felt it necessary to maintain this vile parade by upholding banners of support and shocking slogans of praise for these brutal murderers. 'In light of this, a sincere demonstration was organised by Muslims from the local community to highlight the British state-sponsored terrorism that is currently ensuing in the lands of Afghanistan and Iraq, and how the return of active soldiers on such battlefronts should be marked with severe condemnation as opposed to welcoming rapture.' He added: 'Non-Muslims in Britain must appreciate that the actions of the British soldiers must be condemned unreservedly; they are not heroes but closer to cowards who cannot fight, as their uncanny knack for death by "friendly fire" illustrates. They are terrorists, and cannot be excused for simply "carrying out their duty", which incidentally (and vividly) was also used by Nazi soldiers in Germany to justify their notorious and bloody campaigns in the early 20th century.' Choudary, one of three children born to a market stall holder, was raised in a semi-detached house in Welling, Kent, and began a medical degree after taking his A-levels. When he failed his first year exams he switched to law. He was known as a party animal who regularly smoked cannabis, experimented with LSD, and could down a pint of cider in seconds. He became chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers but then embraced radical Islamism and becoming a founder member of Al-Muhajiroun. In Luton yesterday, one of the two members of public arrested on Tuesday during the Islamists' protest was released from police custody after being charged with racially aggravated harassment. Nathan Draper, 18, described how he was 'outraged' when he heard the protesters and shouted obsecenities back at them. 'A 6ft 5in copper jumped on me and chucked me to the ground,' said Mr Draper, who lives in Luton and plans to join the Army. 'He broke my glasses. I was held in the police station for ten hours and I still have the cuff marks. I'm being charged with racially aggravated harassment but it was them who were shouting racist things.' His mother Ruth Griffin, 42, said: 'He's quite outraged about it because he was sticking up for our soldiers. I don't understand how the protesters got away with it.' The second man, who was not named but is in his 40s, was issued with a fixed-penalty notice. Ishtiaq Alamgir, 29, was born and educated in Britain. But a few years ago he rejected the country that had nurtured him and became what police chiefs have labelled 'the enemy within' in the global war on terror. He adopted the name Sayful Islam - meaning Sword of Islam - and on Tuesday was among the protesters hurling abuse at soldiers marching past in Luton. Shortly after his transformation he became leader of the town's branch of the now-banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which was led by Sheik Omar Bakri, currently in exile in Lebanon. He claims this phase is now behind him and he has become a family man. His comments to the Daily Mail after the parade in Luton suggest differently. 'They [the soldiers] have killed, maimed and raped thousands of innocent people,' he ranted. 'They can't come here and parade where there is such a Muslim community. What do they have to be proud of?' The son of a British Rail engineer who came to this country from Pakistan, Alamgir grew up in a moderate, middle-class Muslim family in Luton. He became an accountant for the Inland Revenue and went on to marry and become a father. But a meeting with Omar Bakri and the events of 9/11 triggered the change in name and attitude. 'When I watched those planes go into the Twin Towers, I felt elated,' he said. 'That magnificent action split the world into two camps - you were either with Islam and Al Qaeda, or with the enemy.' Islam yesterday denied he had been living on benefits, saying he now teaches English and maths - although he refused to disclose where.

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Down Under

Sheik: 'I'm Aussie, I can say what I like'

2006-10-31

MELBOURNE'S Sheik Mohammed Omran, who has caused fresh controversy with comments that Muslim rapists are more harshly treated than non-Muslims, has said he can say what he likes because he is an Australian. In a sermon last Friday, the sheik questioned the consistency of sentences handed down to Muslim rapists compared with other sex offenders, such as "bikies" and "football stars", saying Muslims received harsher penalties. The sermon has drawn him into a controversy surrounding Sydney's Sheik Taj al-Din Al-Hilaly. "What I said in the sermon, I say it here and I'll say it wherever I am," Sheik Omran said on ABC radio today. "We are part of the Australian society and, as an Australian, forget what I am, a cleric or not a cleric, I am an Australian, I have a view and I am free to tell the people about my view. "Even if you don't agree with it, we agree (that) everyone (can) say what he wants to say even if (others) disagree with it." Sheik Omran's said in his sermon, later published on his website and reported by The Australian newspaper: "I feel there is no justice here. Not 60 years and someone else three years and they did the same crime. Why?" "They make a big fuss about these kids because one of them, his name is Mohamed. Even if you kill someone you don't go for 60 years," he said, referring to the sentences, later cut on appeal, originally handed out to gang rapists who were active in Sydney in 2000. "We don't support criminals or crimes, but at same time we want justice for everyone." This means you're not in favor of Sharia, right? Omran Sheik Omran said he should be free to express his view, that the Muslim youths involved had first received excessive jail terms of up to "60 years" compared to less than 10-year terms for other sex crimes. "In that case, in particular, I couldn't see that (consistency), otherwise, I should see the one who rape his own daughter, or the priest who rape a child under his care, or the teacher who have a sexual relation(ship) with his student, they are equally dealt with. "And the journalists, and the radios and the stations and the Prime Minister are angry with them at the same level, but I don't see that, and that's what upset me." Sheik Omran also said he would confidently re-state his views. "I put it myself on my website, so I am not hiding my thoughts and I am not waiting for someone to spy on me," he said. Asked whether he felt Muslim leaders were being targeted by the Government and the media, he replied: "absolutely yes". The sheik said he understood why increased government scrutiny was needed in the wake of the September 11 attacks but but many Muslim leaders felt they were being muzzled. "Some issues we accept and some issues we don't accept," Sheik Omran said. Sheik Omran, one of the country's most outspoken and controversial fundamentalist clerics, said on Friday that attacks on Sheik Hilaly were attacks on Islam. "His name is a mufti and we should respect that name - we should respect the turban on his head," Sheik Omran said in the sermon, an audio copy of which was posted on his Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association website yesterday. "This is the sign of a scholar - you are not attacking Sheik Taj here, you are attacking the scholars, you are attacking Islam."

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Down Under

Sheik blasts judges over rapists

2006-10-30

THE leader of Australia's most radical Islamic group has fueled the Taj al-Din al-Hilaly controversy by accusing Australian judges of discriminating against Muslim rapists. As Sheik Hilaly yesterday took "indefinite leave" from preaching after a "heart attack", The Australian can reveal Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran told his flock on Friday that rapes committed by Australian non-Muslims - such as "bikies" or "football stars" - were treated more leniently than those committed by Muslims. "I feel there is no justice here. Not 60 years and someone else three years and they did the same crime. Why?" Sheik Omran told worshipers at his Brunswick mosque. "They make a big fuss about these kids because one of them, his name is Mohamed. Even if you kill someone you don't go for 60 years," he said, referring to Sydney's 2000 gang rapes in which Lebanese Muslim Bilal Skaf was initially sentenced to 55 years jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal. "This is where I think everything has gone unbalanced," Sheik Omran said. "We don't support criminals or crimes, but at same time we want justice for everyone." Sheik Omran strongly defended the besieged mufti, who until yesterday had defiantly resisted demands from Muslims and the wider community to step aside for likening women to uncovered meat and suggesting rape victims should be held responsible for enticing attackers. Soon after arriving at Lakemba Mosque yesterday morning for another crisis meeting over the Ramadan sermon that prompted the furore when it was revealed by The Australian last week, Sheik Hilaly collapsed and was rushed to hospital. In a statement issued in his name later, Sheik Hilaly - who came under more pressure yesterday when The Australian also uncovered recent comments supporting military jihad against US and Australian forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - said he would step aside. "The pressure of the last couple of days has had an obvious effect on my health and wellbeing," the statement said. "I ask the public to give my family and I some privacy, time and space to recover. I have also asked for indefinite leave from duties at Lakemba Mosque." The decision came as the federal Opposition demanded that the Government investigate whether Sheik Hilaly's support of jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan constituted treason and John Howard repeated his advice to Muslims to overthrow their spiritual leader. "One of the things that does bother me is that when he goes overseas he carries the title of Mufti of Australia and that represents to the world a view of Australian Islam which I feel very uncomfortable with," the Prime Minister said. Sheik Hilaly - in an interview on Arabic radio a fortnight ago - had also praised Egyptian philosopher Sayyid Qutb, the intellectual mentor of Osama bin Laden. And yesterday Immigration Department chief Andrew Metcalfe sought advice from the Prime Minister's office and intelligence agencies about whether he could discuss his knowledge of a 1984 intelligence report warning that Sheik Hilaly had links to extremist groups. Mr Metcalfe said he had a "personal knowledge" of the matter because he was working with the department in a legal capacity at the time. The intelligence report was provided to the department six years before Sheik Hilaly was granted permanent residency. A former Australian secret agent has alleged the report was shelved because of the importance of the ethnic vote to the Labor Party, which was then in government. The Weekend Australian revealed that Hawke government immigration minister Chris Hurford tried to have Sheik Hilaly deported in 1986. But senior party figures including treasurer Paul Keating and MP Leo McLeay, whose electorate included the Lakemba Mosque, opposed the move, allegedly for political gain. When asked about his knowledge of the intelligence report yesterday, Mr Metcalfe said he had "knowledge as to the answer of that question" but was concerned about revealing it because it could breach matters of privacy, national intelligence and protocol surrounding the decisions of a previous government. Sheik Omran, one of the country's most outspoken and controversial fundamentalist clerics, said on Friday that attacks on Sheik Hilaly were attacks on Islam. "His name is a mufti and we should respect that name - we should respect the turban on his head," Sheik Omran said in the sermon, an audio copy of which was posted on his Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association website yesterday. "This is the sign of a scholar - you are not attacking Sheik Taj here, you are attacking the scholars, you are attacking Islam." Sheik Omran has said bin Laden was a good man and the US, rather than the al-Qaeda leader, was behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

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Down Under

Code to censor radical imams

2005-12-27

MUSLIM clerics would be subject to a strict new code of behaviour under a plan being devised by Islamic leaders in Australia to rein in the inflammatory language of some extremist imams. The head of John Howard's Muslim Advisory Council, Ameer Ali, told The Australian yesterday that guidelines to control religious leaders would be thrashed out at a special meeting next month. "At the moment, we have no control over these imams, we don't know what the credentials of these imams are, what their qualifications are -- everybody gives sermons," said Dr Ali, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. "So we want to have some sort of order in this chaos." Like I've said on a number of occasions, any idiot can issue a fatwah, and many do... Under the proposal, first discussed at a meeting of Muslim leaders in August, a new national board of imams would set guidelines for religious figures and monitor their sermons. Dr Ali said the board of imams would set "rules and regulations about sermons and who gives the sermons". The idea is believed to have the backing of many moderate Muslim leaders, but it has infuriated firebrand Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran. "They don't have authority, they don't have the power, they don't have any licence to talk about that," he said last night. No more license than the guys giving the jihad sermons, in fact... Dr Ali's comments come a day after the defiant Sheik Omran told The Australian the Howard Government should be held partly responsible for demonising Muslims and promoting terrorism. Keep in mind that as Moose limbs they're incapable of controlling their own actions... Allan helps those who can't help themselves. Sheik Omran, who was not invited to the Prime Minister's summit of moderate Islamic leaders earlier this year, said he was no more radical than many other imams in Australia, but accused other clerics of being too afraid to speak their mind. That tells me only that he's not the only turban in Australia who needs to be examined and... ummm... dealt with. But Dr Ali, spokesman for the Muslim Reference Group set up by the Howard Government to act as a go-between for the community and Canberra, said some clerics, including Sheik Omran, required "re-education" about their religion and advice on how to deliver sermons without encouraging "violence" or inciting young Muslims to extremism. "These (clerics) need some re-education about their own religion," Dr Ali said. "Not only in their subject matter, but how to communicate with youngsters; the language they use. In these sermons, these imams are not questioned. They have the monopoly, they say whatever they like and they get out of it." I'm sure the stemwinder sermons are a lot more fun than the guys who drone on and on, just like in churches. The Paks are quite enamored of "fiery" preachers. But I somehow doubt that reeducation is going to work. Now, a plane ticket for Sheikh Omran, that might work. While not singling out Sheik Omran, head of the Melbourne-based Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association, Dr Ali yesterday raised the prospect of censoring clerics. "If, in the interest of the wider community, certain language and the way of speaking should be censored, you should do that," he said. But Dr Ali said of Sheik Omran: "I don't think he directly promotes terrorism in this country." Not directly, of course. Indirectly is a different matter... He said Sheik Omran and other clerics should be more "guarded" in their language. "Young people are gullible. They are ready to listen to people who have radical views and I suppose Sheik Omran in his sermons has used that language and wants that support." I suppose he has and he does. It's part and parcel with the practice of moving in and setting up your own local caliphate. Once it's in existence and doing business, nobody can seem to figure how to get rid of it. Dr Ali also criticised Sheik Faiz Mohamad, from Global Islamic Youth Centre in Sydney, for a lecture he delivered to a crowd of more than 1000 people in March, in which he said female rape victims had only themselves to "blame". It's fairly common theme in sermons among the Faithful™, I believe. "There's an imam in Sydney ... who made a statement that there are girls in this country that deserve to be raped -- that's all rubbish," Dr Ali said. Sheik Faiz reportedly told public followers at a public meeting in Bankstown: "A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No one to blame but herself. She displayed her beauty to the entire world. Strapless, backless, sleeveless, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, miniskirts, tight jeans: all this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature." "Milk-white bosoms and smooth, trembling thighs! Rounded buttocks! Pouty red lips and... and... I must shoot off! My gun! I must shoot off my gun! That's it... The interpretation of certain aspects of Islam will also be discussed during a meeting of Muslim leaders, where the registration plan will be formalised. Mr Howard and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock will be invited to the meeting, scheduled to take place early in the new year. "How we interpret some of the concepts in Islam -- these are (also) the issues that the imams are going to discuss," Dr Ali said.

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Down Under

Prayer halls linked to Australian plot

2005-11-09

CLOSE links have emerged between Australia's most radical prayer halls and the alleged terror cells in Melbourne and Sydney amid calls for Islamic clerics to abandon their inflammatory rhetoric. The Australian has learned that at least six of the nine men charged with terror-related offences in Melbourne this week are, or were, devotees of controversial Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran and his group, the Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association. One of them, Adbulla Merhi, who is alleged to have been impatient to carry out Australia's first suicide bombing, has an article on the group's website in which he urges Muslims to stand up for their rights and never "compromise our religion". The accused men have, until recently, attended prayers at Sheik Omran's Brunswick prayer hall in Melbourne's north, despite also being devotees of another radical cleric, Abdul Nacer Benbrika. The Algerian-born Mr Benbrika, 45, who was once a teacher with Sheik Omran's group but who left some years ago because it was not radical enough, is accused of being the spiritual leader of the alleged terrorist cell. He has been charged with directing a terrorist organisation, an offence carrying up to 25 years in jail. All 17 men involved in the alleged plot to carry out a massive attack on Australian soil remain behind bars today after bail was rejected for two of them, Hany Taha, 31, and the alleged would-be suicide bomber, Mr Merhi, 20. The decision came as the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, urged the nation's radical clerics not to "hijack" Islam and to tone down their inflammatory language. "I tell the clerics, please guard your language when you talk," he said. "This is a country that believes in pluralism, it's a multicultural society, we live in a plural society. Your religion does not preach intolerance and I ask them not to hijack the religion." And then his lips fell off. Sheik Omran was criticised by John Howard for his inflammatory rhetoric after he effectively proclaimed Osama bin Laden a good man and claimed that the US, rather than bin Laden, was behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The cleric is also a good friend of jailed British-based al-Qaeda leader Abu Qatadah, whom he hosted on a speaking tour of Australia in 1994. The leader of Sheik Omran's group in Sydney, Sheik Abdul Salam Zoud, has also courted controversy, having presided over the marriage of French terror suspect Willie Brigitte and been named in French terror documents as "the recruiter in Australia for volunteers for the jihad". Sheik Omran and Sheik Zoud's fiery prayer sessions on Fridays are hugely popular among fundamentalist communities in Melbourne and Sydney, with hundreds turning up to hear their sermons. A source familiar with the circle of friends that the eight Sydney terror suspects moved in said they prayed at the Haldon Street prayer hall in Lakemba, but belonged to a subset of Muslims there, not the mainstream followers of Sheik Zoud. Sheik Omran said in a statement his group "considers the security of our nation with high priority. (But) we would like to express our alarm and uneasiness over the recent arrests (and) hope all those accused receive a fair trial and the presumption of innocence is preserved." A spokesman for Sheik Omran said the cleric would not comment further on the arrests. Islamic sources said Sheik Omran was currently in Jordan. Where in Jordan? Zarka? Sheik Zoud also declined to comment yesterday on links between his group and the accused terror suspects. Sources close to Sheik Omran's group say those accused terror suspects who have attended the cleric's sermons include Fadal Sayadi, Ahmed Raad, Shane Kent, Amer Haddara and Mr Merhi. In his statement on the association's website, Mr Merhi tells Muslims about their right to pray at work. He says Muslims are allowed by Victorian law to pray at work and warns that "when negotiations fail we must not compromise our religion". He quotes Allah as saying that those who give up prayer "will be thrown in hell" and says "work/education will not be an excuse on the day of resurrection if we neglect our duties regarding prayer. So stand up, oh servants of Allah, and implement Allah's gift of Islam through your whole lives - do we not want to be among the dwellers of paradise?" A newspaper run by Sheik Omran's group, Mecca News, is currently running a series of articles promoting the theory that September 11 was a giant conspiracy perpetrated by the US Government.

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Down Under

Bloodthirsty holy men still active in Australia

2005-11-04

MUSLIM clerics in Sydney and Melbourne - led by radicals Sheik Mohammed Omran and Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud - are still preaching hatred against the West, urging followers in Arabic to resist peace and support insurgents waging war against Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. In open defiance of John Howard's proposed new terror laws and the Prime Minister's demand that Muslim leaders desist from inflammatory rhetoric, Lakemba cleric Sheik Zoud has used his Friday prayer meetings over the past month to praise Muslim fighters. "Allah yinsur el-mujaheddin fe-Iraq (God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Iraq)," he repeatedly screamed during a 35-minute Arabic sermon at Lakemba's Haldon Street prayer hall in Sydney's southwest last week. In further contempt of Mr Howard, Sheik Zoud's high-profile counterpart in Melbourne, Sheik Omran, also declared last month: "No victory (for Islam's brothers and sisters) can be stopped by George Bush or Tony Blair or John Howard." Under expanded sedition provisions, people face up to seven years' jail for promoting feelings of ill will or hostility between different groups so as to threaten the peace, order and government of the commonwealth. This would include urging another person to engage in conduct that supports an organisation or country at war with Australia. A third cleric - Harun Abu Talha, editor of contentious newspaper Mecca News - has also used Friday prayers at Sheik Omran's Brunswick mosque in Melbourne to attack "the criminal government of Israel that has been hurting our brothers and sisters in Palestine for so many years". And during a prayer meeting last month, Abu Talha said: "We should not compromise our dean (religion) for the sake of peace." He concluded his sermon: "May Allah help the mujaheddin in Iraq." The message the fundamentalist clerics are delivering to their supporters - mostly in Arabic - is in dramatic contrast to their public statements. Last month, Sheik Zoud told about 400 followers in Arabic: "God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Kashmir and Chechnya, and Palestine and Afghanistan." Sheik Zoud, head of the Sydney arm of the Melbourne-based organisation Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah declared: "Inshallah (God willing), dark days will descend upon America soon." But during a newspaper interview last year, Sheik Zoud said: "I'm against all terrorism over the world. I'm against all terrorists who kill civilian people. "Let the Australian people relax. Why everyone make the Australian people scared from the Muslims? "We left our countries because of all of the problems there, and we move to this safe country to live the rest of our life." After Mr Howard singled out Sheik Omran earlier this year for not doing enough to denounce terrorism, the cleric wrote to The Australian: "We consider ourselves Australians working for the betterment of Australia. Those of us who came from other countries appreciate how the people of this country have accepted us with open arms. "Islam teaches us to appreciate kindness, and we wouldn't do anything to betray this gesture." However, during the Ramadan prayer meeting last month, he ridiculed the US's botched handling of the hurricane and floods that destroyed New Orleans: "If they couldn't stop a tiny wave, then they cannot stop us uniting. If you don't unite, your faces will be smeared in dirt." Sheik Omran's message, delivered just days after suicide bombers launched the second major attack on tourists in Bali, was received enthusiastically by the group of 150 men, predominantly in their early 20s and 30s, during a Friday sermon at Brunswick's Michael Street prayer centre in Melbourne's inner north. Sheik Omran gloated over the fears held by Westerners towards the festival of Ramadan, saying history had shown an increase of militant insurgencies and attacks around the world at that time of the year. "The West knows the meaning of Ramadan more than we do, it seems," said the Sheik, who was previously accused by the Spanish authorities of having links to an al-Qa'ida suspect in Europe. "They fear the worst - unity. So what are we doing to unite and defeat evil?" The following week, the sermon was given by Abu Talha, who joked: "We cannot say too much about the mujaheddin in this country."

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Down Under

Sheikh Omran sez 9/11 was a conspiracy

2005-09-09

AUSTRALIA'S most radical Islamic group has defied John Howard by launching a provocative public campaign to persuade Muslims the 9/11 terror attacks were a massive US-inspired conspiracy. Even though Binny's long since taken credit for them... The contentious move by the group, led by fundamentalist Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran, comes despite the Prime Minister calling for the nation's Islamic leaders to avoid making inflammatory comments about terrorism. Or maybe because of it... Sheik Omran was last month snubbed by Mr Howard, who did not invite him to the summit with Muslim leaders in Canberra. So his tender little Islamic feelings are hurt and he needs Dire Revenge™ to retrieve his Dignity and Honor™... The unprecedented public campaign by Sheik Omran's group comes on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, which killed almost 3000 people. What better time to either deny that it happened at all or to claim that they all deserved it?... The latest edition of a new Islamic newspaper launched by Sheik Omran's Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association argues that a plane did not crash into the Pentagon in Washington in the September 11 attacks and that the story was instead a major hoax. The newspaper, called Mecca News, then promises that "in future editions we will uncover the rest of the questions which surround 9/11". Using pictures to support its arguments, which include claims that there were no remains of a plane found inside the Pentagon, the paper accuses Australia of only now "catching up with the debate" about what really happened on September 11, 2001. You see, we actually bombed the Pentagon ourselves, as part of a fiendishly clever plan to... ummm... do something. "It is not seen as 'patriotic' to challenge the widely accepted theory, however things are changing," the newspaper states. Not as quickly as Sheikhy seems to think... The newspaper credits its editor-in-chief and founder, Sheik Omran, with "breaking the ice" by raising questions in Australia about who was responsible for 9/11. Sheik Omran recently angered the Government and moderate Muslims by effectively proclaiming that Osama bin Laden was a good man and by questioning whether the London bombings in July were carried out by Muslims. I guess it depends on your definition of "good." And your definition of "Muslims," since one of the boomers appeared on tape with Ayman. But it probably depends on your defintion of "Ayman," as well... Sheik Omran has also angered moderate Muslim leaders by saying he believed the US, rather than bin Laden, were behind the 9/11 attacks. This opinion - shared by many radical Muslims - comes despite bin Laden himself admitting involvement in 9/11 attacks in a video broadcast late in 2001, during which the al-Qaeda leader expressed delight that the death toll had far exceeded his own expectations. "We calculated in advance the number of casualties," bin Laden said in the video. Sheik Omran, who yesterday said he was not aware of bin Laden's comments, told The Australian he wanted to spark "healthy debate" with the newspaper. "If all society agrees on something, that is very unhealthy," he said. That's a patently stoopid statement. There are lots of things all of society can agree on, to include the teeny-tiny, infinitesimal size of Sheikh Omran's soul... Sheik Omran launched his monthly newspaper last month, saying it would be "educational" and "a breath of fresh air in the field of media and journalism for Muslims in Australia". Accusing the media of being anti-Muslim, Sheik Omran wrote: "Some issues, if left in the hands of a misinformed journalist, may lead to the spread of disease in our society, causing fear, Islamaphobia, suspicion and hatred amongst the Australian society as a whole." "So don't show it to no infidels, okay?" The newspaper claims a circulation of 10,000. But Sheik Omran's decision to use the paper's September edition to convince Australian Muslims that 9/11 was a US-inspired conspiracy is likely to further anger moderate Muslims, who last month urged the cleric to tone down his rhetoric. I haven't seen the tar and feathers come out yet... The newspaper devotes a feature to supporting claims made by a US author, David Ray Griffin, that a plane never crashed into the Pentagon and that the story was an elaborate US Government hoax. The feature asks: "The hole created in the (Pentagon) facade was not big enough to fit the nose of a plane let alone an entire (Boeing) 757 - the question is how could such a big airplane have created such a small hole?" In accompanying commentary, the paper said Australian Muslims sceptical of the official version of 9/11 are subjected to "ideological attacks".

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