Fort Dix jihadist: "They are the ones, we are going to put bullets in their heads, Allah willing."

Five Muslim men amassed an arsenal of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades for an al-Qaeda-inspired attack on a US army base, a court heard yesterday.
The suspects may have trained by playing paintball but the alleged plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey has been presented by the US government as one of the most serious examples of home-grown terrorism since the September 11 attacks.
The five men, all born outside the US but resident in the country, were charged in May 2007 with planning but not executing the attack on the base, which trains troops for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At the start of their trial yesterday, prosecutors said the defendants were inspired by "jihad".
"Their motive was to defend Islam. Their inspiration was al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Their intent was to kill members of the United States armed services," said William Fitzpatrick, prosecuting.
The government alleges that in 2006 and 2007 the men turned paintball games into terrorist training sessions and met at places like Dunkin' Donuts to discuss killing soldiers on the army installation in New Jersey.
The jury was told it would see jihadist videos that the defendants watched and would learn many details of the alleged plot, including claims that one of the men went on reconnaissance missions at Fort Dix and other military installations.
The men, all aged in their 20s, have denied terrorism charges. They include three Albanian-born brothers, illegal immigrants who ran a roofing business in New Jersey.
The others are a Jordanian-born taxi driver and a Turkish-born convenience store assistant.
Their lawyers are expected to question the role of two paid government informants who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings in the case.
Addressing such potential claims, Mr Fitzpatrick said the FBI had to find people who would have credibility with aspiring terrorists.
One of the informants was interested in citizenship and the other was interested in money, he said.
The court heard that conversations recorded by the FBI included one in which Mohamad Shnewer, the Jordanian-born defendant, referred to being tailed by a car.
Quoting Shnewer in the recording, Mr Fitzpatrick said: "They are the ones, we are going to put bullets in their heads, God willing."
A sixth man who admitted supplying firearms to the group was jailed for 20 months in March.

China's Islamic Crackdown has Begun

HEY WESTERN WORLD, TAKE NOTICE. THIS IS HOW YOU CONTROL ISLAM.

With prayers banned in public areas, private hajj trips not allowed, teaching of the Noble Qur'an not allowed in private and students and government officials forced to eat during Ramadan, China in enforcing laws and regulations restricting the practice of Islam.
In Khotan, signs posted in front of the grand mosque say the weekly Friday prayer sermon must not extend beyond than a half-hour.Prayers in public areas outside the mosque is forbidden and residents are banned from worshipping at mosques outside their town.Under the rules, imams are banned from teaching the Qur'an in private and only official versions of the Qur'an are allowed.Studying Arabic is only allowed at special government schools.Government workers are banned from showing the slightest sign of religious devotion.For example, a Muslim civil servant could be sacked for donning hijab.Many of the rules have been on the books for years, but local authorities have publicly highlighted them in recent weeks with banners hanged in towns.They began posting regulations mandating women not to wear hijab and men to shave their beards.
Students and government workers are compelled to eat during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Signs painted on mud-brick walls in the winding alleyways of old Kashgar warn against making "illegal" hajj."Implement the policy of organized and planned pilgrimage; individual pilgrimage is forbidden," reads a red banner hanging on a large mosque in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang.

U.S. military: Terms like "jihad" and "Islamist" needed

A U.S. military "Red Team" charged with challenging conventional thinking says that words like "jihad" and "Islamist" are needed in discussing 21st-century terrorism and that federal agencies that avoid the words soft-pedaled the link between religious extremism and violent acts.
"We must reject the notion that Islam and Arabic stand apart as bodies of knowledge that cannot be critiqued or discussed as elements of understanding our enemies in this conflict," said the internal report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.
The report, "Freedom of Speech in Jihad Analysis: Debunking the Myth of Offensive Words," was written by unnamed civilian analysts and contractors for the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East and South Asia. It is thought to be the first official document to challenge those in the government who seek to downplay the role of Islam in inspiring some terrorist violence.
"The fact is our enemies cite the source of Islam as the foundation for their global jihad," the report said. "We are left with the responsibility of portraying our enemies in an honest and accurate fashion."
The report contributes to an ongoing debate within the U.S. government and military over the roots of terrorism, its relationship to Islam and how best to counter extremist ideology.
It cites two Bush administration documents that appear to minimize any link between radical Islam and terrorism.
A January 2008 memorandum from the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties stated that unidentified American Muslims recommended that the U.S. government avoid using the terms "jihadist," "Islamic terrorist," "Islamist" or "holy warrior," asserting that would create a "negative climate" and spawn acts of harassment and discrimination.
Dan Sutherland, Homeland Security officer for civil rights and civil liberties, said the document is not department policy.
"This was a compilation of recommendations and thoughts provided to us by some prominent American Muslim thinkers and never was intended to be Department of Homeland Security policy," he said in an interview.
"If a paper from another part of government says this doesn't make sense, that's a valid point. This memo is a thought piece meant to stir discussion."...