No Mention of USA Islamist Killing Army Recruiter

[Teddy Bear]

If you googled the story below about a Muslim who felt justified in murdering an army recruiter in Little Rock Arkansas, you would find it covered extensively by the American press. Some of the American press felt the London tube strike was worthy of mention in covering their world news. So why does the BBC America section think the story about this cold blooded murder not worthy of mention?

They seem to have no problem reporting about an old white supremacist shooting a guard at the holocaust museum in Washington, even though this did not result in a fatality.

Only one conclusion is possible, the scurrilous BBC do not want to focus on the Islamist mentality and the danger it poses to our society. Could it be some high-ups in the BBC are getting paid lots of money to suppress what the militant Islamic agenda are really doing around the world, or is it just plain appeasement to an evil force?

Suspect tells AP he's unaware of new attacks

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Muslim convert accused of killing a soldier outside an Army recruiting center said Wednesday he is not aware of any similar attacks planned against the military on American soil.

Abdulhakim Muhammad of Little Rock told The Associated Press that FBI agents visited him in the Pulaski County Jail and asked if other attacks were planned. Muhammad said he told the agents that he wasn't aware of any specific plans.

However, he warned of danger ahead.

"I don't know anything that's in the works," Muhammad said in a collect telephone call from the jail. "We're not going to turn the other cheek. It's definitely not the end of it."

Muhammad called the AP to follow up on a Tuesday phone call that ended when a guard said it was time to return to his cell. Wednesday's call also ended abruptly.

In a Tuesday interview with the AP, Muhammad, 23, said he didn't consider the June 1 killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified.

"I do feel I'm not guilty," he said in another collect call. "I don't think it was murder, because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason."

Pvt. William Andrew Long, 23, of Conway, had just completed basic training and was volunteering at the west Little Rock recruiting office before starting an assignment in South Korea. He was shot dead while smoking a cigarette outside the building, and a fellow soldier, Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville was wounded.

Muhammad was arrested on a state capital murder charge and could face the death penalty. FBI spokesman Steve Frazier said Tuesday a federal investigation continues and any information that's gathered is being shared with local law enforcement. He declined to comment further.

An FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment document obtained by The Associated Press last week suggested the gunman may have considered targeting other locations, including Jewish and Christian sites in several eastern U.S. cities.

[steevo]

Actually the brave guard was killed.

It is a blatant example of their double standard. And the white supremest had just as much in common with hard leftists: hatred for big corporations, Christianity, both Bush Presidents, "neo-cons"...

The Muslim killer wanted to murder as many as possible. He was an avowed convert and as you stated, felt completely justified.

[Teddy Bear]

Yes I know the guard subsequently died. Yesterday, the BBC finally got round to mention this story but only as part of another one, and it's buried well inside it. When you see the headlines of the main story you can see how the BBC is minimising the real impact of this event, and who they expect to be reading it.

Right-wing backlash against Obama?
Following the fatal shooting of a guard at the Holocaust Museum in the US capital, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington asks whether Barack Obama's election as president is provoking right-wing fringe groups to commit violent acts.

A week earlier, thousands of miles away in Wichita, Kansas, another lone gunman enters a crowded church and shoots dead Dr George Tiller, who ran a busy abortion clinic.

Within hours of the latest attack, blogs and social networking sites are buzzing with talk that the two incidents taken together confirm the rise of right-wing extremism in America.

On the left there is a strong belief that the attacks confirm a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the year which warned that the current political and economic circumstances in the US were creating a hothouse atmosphere within which right-wing extremism would flourish.

Those political circumstances, of course, include the election of America's first black President, Barack Obama - an event greeted with rage and horror on the extreme right.

'Rising tide'

When it was published, the Homeland Security report attracted scathing criticism from conservative politicians.

The Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, found herself on the defensive over an assertion in the report that returning military veterans were particularly attractive to far-right groups because of their experience with explosives and firearms.

So does that report look remarkably prescient in the light of the events of the last few weeks?

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil-rights organisation in Montgomery, Alabama which tracks what it regards as far-right groups, is in no doubt.

A spokesman told the BBC: "There is a rising tide of right-wing domestic terrorism motivated by extreme anti-government sentiments. Although there's not a link they share a hatred of the US government and its policies."

But there is always a great danger in taking the facts - or the apparent facts - in a handful of cases and trying to weave them into a narrative about life in this vast, complex and diverse country.

It is true of course that the targets for the shooters in the two cases - the Holocaust Museum and a doctor who carried out abortions - were traditional targets of hatred for different elements of the extreme right.

Act of revenge

But let us not forget that the victims of violence here in the last two weeks also include a young soldier called Andy Long, who was shot dead outside an army recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The alleged shooter in that case is a young man called Abdulhakim Muhammad, an American convert to Islam who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tennessee.

His apparent motive was a belief in jihadist violence against America as an act of revenge for what he saw as suffering inflicted on Muslims by the US.

That shooting too is about hatred in its own way but it does not sit comfortably as part of a trend about the rise of the right.

And there are other factors to consider too - not least the fact that 30,000 people a year die of gunshot wounds here in all sorts of circumstances.

James von Brunn, the man alleged to have murdered the guard at the Holocaust Museum, is a veteran of anti-Semitic and white supremacist causes.

He may, bizarrely, turn out to be more obsessed with Anne Frank than Barack Obama.

Like many Holocaust deniers, Mr von Brunn apparently disputed the truth of the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who remained in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland and who died in a concentration camp shortly after they were captured by the Germans.

The Holocaust Museum was about to stage a play in which Anne appears as a character. Might that have been the catalyst for this attack?

Mr von Brunn also carried a bizarre attack in the early 1980s when he tried to kidnap members of America's central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, in a protest at high interest rates.

When he was jailed, he blamed the "black/Jewish jury and the Jew judge". His hateful obsessions in other words flourished long before the world had heard of Barack Obama.

Potent cocktail

The election of the new president does not really work as an explanation in the Tiller case either.

The doctor could easily have died in 1993 - 15 years before Mr Obama came to power - when he was shot and seriously injured by an anti-abortion campaigner.

Scott Roeder, the man alleged to have murdered Dr Tiller, did apparently share many views of the far-right fringe of American society.

But in a custody battle he was also described as a diagnosed schizophrenic who refused to take medicine to control the condition. Mental health issues often play a role here too.

The point of all this? Well, these murders did take place in Barack Obama's America where there does exist a right-wing fringe which is incensed at the idea that the US has chosen a black president.

But that does not explain the murder of Pte Andrew Long.

If there is a real unifying theme in all these sad deaths it is perhaps that this is a country where the existence of extreme ideas on the fringes of mainstream life and the wide availability of firearms create a potent cocktail.

In those circumstances there will always be dangerous individuals, sometimes deluded, sometimes fanatical, sometimes calculatingly cold-blooded, who will be ready to kill.

The election of Barack Obama may have intensified those circumstances, but it did not create them.

[Teddy Bear]

Just to show how utterly and unashamedly biased this report is, just I'll interpose the opening lines of the above story, and ask yourself if you could imagine the present BBC EVER running such a story

Terrorism empowered by Obama?
Following the fatal shooting of a guard at the Holocaust Museum Army Recruiting Center in the US capital Little Rock, Arkansas, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington asks whether Barack Obama's election as president is provoking right-wing fringe groups to commit violent acts.

Can you imagine it?

[steevo]

There's a lot that can be said. I'll just point out some obvious contradiction to any justification of their angled 'suspicions'. Brunn was apparently as much a hater of Christianity as Jews. Barak Obama has given reason to doubt he's favorably disposed to Jews, not only in policy but over 20 years of life with his good friend and reverend Jeremiah Wright. And by far most conservative Christian and non-Christian citizens here have values directly opposite Obama as well as these 3 sickos.

Here's a good snapshot of some of Brunn's twisted vile:

www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2009/06/antichristian_white_supremacis.html

I think you've illustrated a more extraordinary comparison with this thread. The BBC are dangerous propagandists very desirous toward tragedy they can manipulate into their prejudices, ultimate world view and agenda. Their words of what-if wondering and sadness are bunk cover.

Your example interposing the opening lines says... everything!

[Teddy Bear]

Regarding Obama, a courageous Muslim woman, Wafa Sultan, who told off the Muslims for their anti-Semtism, their backwardness, and for treating women like animals -- all in Arabic, live on Al Jazeera, felt betrayed by him. Here's what she wrote regarding his recent Cairo speech.

Who Should We Believe?
June 12, 2009 6:30 AM
by Wafa Sultan

After President Obama’s Cairo speech, many of my Middle Eastern Arab readers reacted with bewilderment. As one of them expressed; “Who should we believe, Obama or you?” ‑ in particular his statement that “America and Islam overlap and share common principles, the principles of justice, tolerance and dignity for human beings”.
True, reading the Arab press’s reaction to his speech it is clear that many Muslims now love Obama. After all, he introduced to them a narrative that affirms their conspiracy theories and their identity as victims of the West. Hence, the Arab media expressed their confidence that the speech will provide a “new stance towards Islam and the Muslims, after centuries of aggression and hostility.” (Al Ahram - Egypt- MEMRI)

More than anything, I am reminded of a story by Nizar Qubbani, the famous Syrian poet. His young son was a physician and suffered from an acute heart problem. When Nizar asked his son about his heart condition, the son drew a red heart. Being a poet, the father interpreted the drawing as a sign of a vibrant and healthy heart and took great comfort in believing this to be a sign of recovery. After his son’s passing, Nizar wrote a poem describing his feelings as a heartbroken father. He felt unbearably saddened as he realized he had misinterpreted the drawing. Obviously, the son’s sketch of a red heart was meant to convey no hope for his profusely bleeding heart, while the father’s understanding of the symbol as a hopeful one was wrong.

The poet and the physician perceived reality in totally different ways; similar to the dichotomy between President Obama’s view of the Islamic world and mine.

The truth is, however, that only one reality exists.

Mr. Obama is a politician, and a very astute one. However, his speech revealed that his view is unduly influenced by naïve desire. His perception of Islam and the reality of Islam need to be synchronized. I am a physician and a realist who has lived and experienced the effect of my Arab culture and Islamic religion since childhood.

The president pandered to Muslims: praised their accomplishments, commiserated with their grievances, and apologized for injustices done to them by centuries of colonialism -- without once mentioning the history of rampant and violent Arab colonialism. He avoided any mention of Jihadi tenets, or of the Islamic political ideology of supremacy over non Muslims -- principles embedded in Sharia law. These are taught and sanctioned openly by Al-Azhar, the university that hosted him, the foremost center of Sharia studies. Obama underscored the supposed American mistreatment of terrorists and apologized for torture in Guantanamo, forgetting that Islamic regimes are brutal to their own people. The president also repudiated significant U.S. contributions in both the lives of its soldiers and humanitarian aid to Muslims across the globe made throughout history -- despite Muslim attacks against America and Americans. In short, parts of his speech sounded like a new Pan-Arab messiah come to usher the Arab world back into its rightful world dominion.

Most disturbing was the president’s call to defend Muslims against negative stereotypes. A dangerous precedent is set when freedom of speech is silenced and ideological criticism forbidden. This, again, is the stuff of nightmarish totalitarian regimes. The beauty of the US Constitution is its balance, and the wisdom it embraces by distinguishing between that which should be protected and defended and that which should be prosecuted and decried. Encouraging laws to make criticism of Islam an offense punishable by law is troubling.

Since arriving in the US, I have enjoyed the freedom to educate my Arab brothers and sisters in the Middle East, who yearn for real freedom - and I have seen successes. Mr. Obama calls these very successes into question rather than championing freedom.

As the president embarks on his new task to defend Muslims “against negative stereotypes,” does this mean he will somehow interfere and undermine that message? Or, perhaps it means he may join with the Organization of Islamic Conference, the 57 Muslim countries that work relentlessly to promote a United Nations resolution to suppress voices of dissent against Islam? I am confident we would all come to regret this.

Obama sidesteps the acute state of affairs in the Islamic world with flattery, failing to encourage accountability for rhetoric, practices and the behavior that feed stereotypes. I did not hear an exhortation to the Islamic world to open itself to diversity, to accept women as equal citizens with the same rights and protection under law as men. I did not hear a challenge to the Muslim world to accept other religions and their ability to practice openly within the Islamic world -- where the practice of Christianity, Judaism and other religions could cost an individual his or her life. I did not hear a call to erase for all time, Dhimmi racism -- the Sharia law-based dictate that Christians and Jews are inferior and should be suppressed. Are these “…the principles of justice, tolerance and dignity for human beings”?

In contrast, I see my people’s heart bleeding and know the pressing need for self-correction and honest examination for the sake of urgent repair. Obama dangles the carrot but shies away from the imperative issues boiling beneath the surface.

Obama’s reality makes my work and that of others who speak up against intolerant Islamic doctrines more challenging. He undermines this mission by placating abusive, xenophobic policies and enabling those within the Islamic world to subjugate others, to coerce others to its beliefs, and to continue these pursuits with his blessing.

The president failed to join freedom-loving individuals, liberated Arabs like myself. He failed to lead the Muslim world into modernization and vital reform.

Rather than calling out, “The house is on fire.” Obama smiles and tells us how beautiful the house is as it burns out of control and threatens to destroy us.

To the question I received on my e-mail; “Who should we believe, Obama or you?” I elaborated to my Moroccan reader that Obama is a politician who wishes to use sweet talk and to whitewash reality to make amends with Muslims.

I, on the other hand am a pragmatic Arab woman who escaped the prison of Islam to the free world and now devotes her life to expressing views freely and pressing for a genuine difference in Islam. We cannot have it both ways. Intolerance never tolerates freedom.

[steevo]

Well Obama reflects many in my country who voted for him: image and positive feelings in relation to victimhood. He gets the thread of populist sentiment. Our only hope is enough folks sooner or later come to understand that the surface is thin-skinned and underneath void of substance. We have a self-centered ideologue with no real foundation for us, to build upon. Its about him, his party, the power of statism and world prestige.


Wafa Sultan is quite a woman. Thank you for posting Teddy.

[Teddy Bear]

As you put it so well void of substance. He satisfies what the largely vacuous left liberal media wants to hear, (regardless of what is really going on - and what really needs to be done to address it) and all those who accept media thinking as their own. It's the 'celebrity' culture, regardless of whether these 'celebrities' have any real talent or anything to offer society other than an external facade.

The worst is, even as civilisation must inevitably crumble worse than it has already with these dynamics in operation, but these 'ostriches' will never concede that they are in any way to blame.