Qana victims remembered in Dearborn, Bitar family still seeking justice for two sons killed in attacks

By Nick Meyer
Saturday, 04.23.2011, 03:05pm

DEARBORN – Many are familiar with the old saying,  "Time heals all wounds." But for Haidar Bitar of Dearborn, dealing with the deaths of his two sons Hadi and Abdulmohsen, who died in 1996 when Israeli forces shelled a clearly-marked UN compound in southern Lebanon, gets harder with each passing year.

"The more the time passes the more difficult it gets," he said. "Today, they would be 24, 25 years old, they left this life for nothing, no reason.

"If they were here today they could be something in society and do something to help their community, do something good; as time passes by it hurts more and more."

Bitar was among the speakers on Sunday, April 17 at the Islamic Center of America's 5th and 15th annual commemorations of the tragedies in Dearborn's sister city in Lebanon, Qana, which occurred in 1996 and 2006.

Both of the Bitar children were Dearborn citizens at the time visiting their grandmother. The last time Haidar spoke to his sons, they told him they had to flee with their grandmother from her home because the Israeli army announced they were going to bomb the area. She was old and did not drive so the closest place to seek safety was the UN compound.

Read more: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=4153

Spencer: Koran-Burning Pastor Jailed for Thoughtcrime

 

In Human Events this morning I discuss the free speech showdown in Michigan:

On Good Friday in Dearborn, Mich., the notorious Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones was jailed and fined for the crime of refusing to pay a so-called “peace bond” to cover the costs of extra police protection for Jones’ planned demonstration outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Judge Mark Somers also ordered Jones to stay away from the massive Dearborn mosque for three years.

This is a restriction on the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression that Islamic supremacists are certainly going to try to use in the future to press for even more.

Jones was only in jail briefly, and the fine was a symbolic one dollar, but clearly Dearborn authorities see him as a threat to public order. Why? Was Jones threatening to burn down the mosque, using copies of the Koran as kindling? Did he threaten the Dearborn Muslims—or Muslims anywhere else? Did he strap a suicide vest to himself and detonate it in a crowd of infidels? Did he plant explosives in his underwear and try to blow up an airliner in mid-flight? Did he load a car with explosives and try to explode it on a crowded night in Times Square? Did he murder 13 Americans while shooting “Allahu Akbar” at Fort Hood? Did he murder an American serviceman outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock for Allah and Islam?

Read more: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/04/spencer-koran-burning-pastor-jailed-for-thoughtcrime.html

Dearborn imam’s Islamophobia and the “Religion of Breaching the Peace”

Posted on April 25, 2011 by creeping

 

Dearborn Imam Hassan Qazwini is an Islamophobe. via Dearborn mosque imam says Quran burning comments misunderstood | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

During the trial of Pastor Terry Jones, Dearborn’s Police Chief testified in court that the head of the Islamic Center of America told him that for some Muslims burning the Quran was worse than 1,000 deaths. Wayne County prosecutors used that testimony as part of the reason why Jones should not be allowed to protest in front of the Islamic Center because they said it could lead to a breach of the peace.

But the head of that mosque, Imam Hassan Qazwini, said Saturday that his comments were about Muslims living abroad, not in metro Detroit or from his mosque.

“I was not talking about my congregation,” Qazwini said. “I know my congregation. They will not do anything.”

Of course not, so why all the fuss then? Looks like Qazwini, Haddad,  CAIR and others have perfected the good Muslim, bad Muslim routine.

Instead, Qazwini said he was talking about Muslims living in foreign countries who might commit acts of violence that could endanger U.S. troops.

In his testimony, Dearborn Police Chief Haddad said:

“Imam Qazwini … expressed to me concern with the 19- to 30-year-old people. He indicated to me that the burning of the Quran for some Muslims, it’s worse than a thousand deaths. He feared that other people may use this … to exploit their harsh feelings.”

Read more: http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/dearborn-imams-islamophobia-and-the-religion-of-breaching-the-peace/

Dearborn's mayor sends a letter to a controversial pastor coming to his town

By Steve Carmody

 

Dearborn mayor John O'Reilly (courtesy City of Dearborn)

 

Dr. Terry Jones has gained noteriety in recent years for his attacks on Islam.   His burning of a Qur'an in his Florida church last fall led to deadly riots in Afghanistan.   Now, he's coming to Dearborn.  Jones plans to hold a rally in front of the Islamic Center of America.  

Dearborn mayor John O'Reilly wants Jones to reconsider.  The mayor sent an open letter to Jones today, outlining why he's wrong about Dearborn and Islam.  Here's the letter:
Dear Pastor Jones:

            I watched you on television speaking about the Constitution and Dearborn, and it appears you need more information about both before you come to our city.  I can provide insight on the Constitution, and expertise on Dearborn.

            First of all, Dearborn supports the Constitution as well as any city in America. Our commitment to the Constitution is unwavering, not merely convenient, which makes your hyperbole about Sharia Law being practiced in the courts or civil law of Dearborn nonsensical. So, you are coming to protest against an imaginary threat that doesn’t exist in our community. Not in our courts, not at our City Hall, not on our streets and not in any of our places of worship.

            Still, because we do understand the Constitution here, we are not preventing you from expressing your free speech.  In fact, in Dearborn, we’ve even gone one step farther than most communities in support of free speech. We established, by ordinance, “Permit Free Zones” intended for demonstrations and free speech.  

            One of those zones is at City Hall, where from my office I have heard manyrallies being conducted in response to international, national or regional issues. This is a high visibility spot, seen by thousands of motorists but safe from traffic, with plenty of public space for protestors, supporters and the media. It is where we are asking you to conduct your demonstration. The steps of City Hall even make an impressive platform for speeches.

            And, if you are unhappy with what you think is going on in Dearborn, than what better place to protest than with City Hall as the back drop?

            Instead you insist on protesting in an area that has no public property to accommodate crowds, spectators, parking or the media. There is just a small public road with limited access which can’t be blocked and an adjacent grassy area for drainage. It is parallel to a major state road, but the small shoulder can accommodate people only when they have auto emergencies.

            And, this property you are focusing on, in front of the Islamic Center of America, is also adjacent to four Christian churches, all of which will be hosting Good Friday services, adding to the traffic flow and congestion. It is ironic that the road that you want to protest near is called Altar Road, so named because it was first constructed to provide access to a row of churches constructed in the 1950s reflecting Dearborn’s diverse faith communities. 

            But I can understand if you don’t know the details of the site, or the particulars about Dearborn. But you should know about the Constitution that you claim to be defending.

            The Constitution says that your rights must be balanced with the rights of others under the same document. Your free speech rights do not allow you to trespass on the private property of others or prevent them from the Constitutional right to freely practice their religion. I am not just talking about Muslims but members of all faiths.

            The members of the Christian churches on Altar Road asked me last week if they should cancel their Good Friday services because of your planned visit. I assured them that they should not because the Constitution does not allow you to violate their rights. I don’t know why you selected Good Friday but it wasn’t very considerate of the significant Christian services being held at that time. I assure you that you will not make them forfeit their services.

            You claim that you are coming to protest the radicalism of Islam. Like all of America, we are concerned about the radicalization of any religion that would rationalize extreme actions. However we have not let this concern turn into a twisted paranoia that promotes fear-mongering and misleading generalizations.  You state that you are coming to the Islamic Center of America because it is the largest mosque in America. What does that have to do with the radicalism of Islam? While size may matter to you, we prefer to focus on actual behavior. And according to our Police Department and the anti-terrorism agencies they work with, there has never been evidence of any wrongdoing in any of Dearborn’s mosques. 

            It appears your choice of the Islamic Center of America is not because it has any relationship to the stated object of your free speech but because it symbolizes the Islamic faith in general. If so, that is not truly in line with the Constitution you say you are defending.

            There is no Sharia Law in Dearborn, only Constitutional Law. Sharia Law is church- or faith-based law that is applicable only to the followers of that faith. For me it is Cannon Law of Catholicism, in Judaism it is Torah Law, and for Muslims it is Sharia Law. The actual originator of the event you plan to hold in Dearborn, Frank Fiorello of the Fraternal Order of the Dragon, accepted my invitation to learn more about Dearborn, and after seeing the truth, he canceled his protest.

            But, if you don’t believe that Dearborn follows the Constitution, here are some realistic facts for you. Businesses in Dearborn lawfully meet the diverse needs of our Greater Detroit area, but if Dearborn practiced Sharia Law, would we have three adult entertainment bars and more alcohol licensed bars and restaurants per capita than most other cities? None of that should be allowed under Sharia Law.

            How about this? A business we boast about, the nationally known Dearborn Sausage, opened more than 60 years ago across the street from the first mosque in Dearborn and is famous for its sausages and spiral sliced hams. It is one of many meat packing operations in our City and no one has ever objected. 

            Dearborn is also famous for The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, where more than 1.5 million visitors come each year from across the country and the world to learn about the foundations of our American way of life.

            Dearborn is a diverse, safe and unified City that is addressing its future in a proactive manner. We cherish the American Dream that brought so many people here during the last century to earn a decent wage and enjoy a high quality of life thanks to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. And for Dearborn, our success and our identity is tied to welcoming people of all backgrounds who have chosen to make America, and our community, their home.  We are proud to have welcomed them.

            As we work hard to balance your rights with the rights of others in Dearborn, you will be extended every courtesy during your visit – as long as you follow the law based on the Constitution’s protection of everyone’s rights. That should be a familiar statement to you.

            You have said over and over that “Muslims are welcome as long as they follow the Constitution.” Surely, then, you wouldn’t ask less of yourself

Alhamdillullah [Praise allah]: Hezbollah Leader Fadlallah Dies on Independence Day; “Moderates” Praise Dead Terrorist Chief

July 4, 2010, - 2:55 pm

By Debbie Schlussel

Na, na, na, na;  Na, na, na, na;  Hey, hey .  .  . Good-bye! It’s a 4th of July bonus.

Great news as America celebrates its birthday and independence from England:  Hezbollah spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah is DEAD at age 74 or 75 (depending on the news source).  Buh-bye.  On the State Department terrorist list, Fadlallah was one of the top terrorists in the world, behind the murders of hundreds of Americans, Jews, and Israelis, in cooperation with his benefactors in Iran, Syria, and his native South Lebanon.  Now, he’s off to 72-dark-eyed-revirginized jehenim [hell]. But what’s significant is that he wasn’t just the leader of a major Islamic terrorist group, but also THE leader of Shi’ite Muslims worldwide, almost all of whom worshipped him and his terrorist activities.

Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi (right) w/Hezbollah Spiritual Leader Sheikh Fadlallah

Qazwini w/Hezbollah Spiritual Leader Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

GOP Michigan Gov. Candidate Mike Bouchard w/Extremist pro-Hezbollah/HAMAS Imam Hassan Qazwini

Fadlallah is the man who issued the fatwas okaying the 1983 bombing mass murder of the U.S. Marine barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing more than 300 U.S. Marines and officials.  He permitted the torture murders of Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem, Col. Rich Higgins, and CIA attache William Buckley.  Fadlallah’s the one who gave the “go” for the bombing of the Jewish Community Center and Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 1990s.  And he’s behind a number of murderous, anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic actions taken by Hezbollah, including the group’s participation in several Al-Qaeda bombings and terrorist attacks against Americans.
Good riddance.  Sadly, he’ll soon be replaced.  The Iranians have a list of candidates ready to be enacted.  I believe that Fadlallah’s sons, Sayyed Ali and Jaafar, are among the top choices.  It will be interesting to see which world leaders and other figures attend Fadlallah’s funeral, set for Tuesday.  Will Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri attend?  Or will they send condolences, which is just as bad.  The so-called “moderate” Hariri has already praised this mass murderer as a “voice of moderation”:

Saad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, mourned the loss of “a voice of moderation and an advocate of unity among the Lebanese and Muslims in general”.

Disgusting.  Also, it will be interesting to see if three of Fadlallah’s best American friends–Arab American News publisher and Hezbollah agent Osama Siblani, Imam Hassan Qazwini, and Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi (the latter two head the two largest mosques in North America)–will attend.  All three have hung out with the man and were huge supporters of his.  And all three were constantly feted by Bush and Obama administration officials.
It’s no shocker that among the mourners are members of the Berro family:

“He was like a second father to me,” said Abed Berro, a 28-year-old bank worker, sitting with hundreds of other male mourners inside the mosque that Fadlallah, 74, had built in the mainly Shia southern suburbs of Beirut.

In fact, the Berro family, a prominent Hezbollah Shi’ite terrorist family, has members in Detroit, whose DNA was tested to prove that their cousin, Ibrahim Hussein Berro, was the homicide bomber who blew up the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which–as I noted above–was one of the many deadly operations Fadlallah sanctioned and approved. As I reported, the same Detroit Berro family was involved in a Bridge Card/Food Stamp fraud ring tied to Hezbollah.
Alhamdillullah [thank, allah].  Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Rot In Hell.