Day: September 23, 2009

Fatwa: Iraqis must not become U.S. citizens

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The invaluable MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, which translates things in the Arabic-language media that we need to know, reports:

Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), recently issued a fatwa stating that an Iraqi exile may not become a U.S. citizen; the fatwa came in response to a question from a viewer during his Ramadan television special. Al-Qaradhawi explained that a Muslim must not become a citizen of a country that is occupying his homeland – and that the ruling was inspired by similar rulings issued by Muslim clerics during France’s occupation of Tunisia.

Al-Qaradhawi qualified his pronouncement by saying that it did not apply to Iraqis who had fled Iraq at the beginning of the occupation and had already taken foreign citizenship in the U.S. or Europe, but only from this day forward.  It also applied to Afghan exiles, he said.

Others  disagreed.

Al-Arabiya TV director ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed wrote an op-ed in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat criticizing Al-Qaradhawi’s ruling. The following are excerpts from the English version of his article, as it appeared in the English edition of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:

“However, this fatwa has nothing to do with the reality on the ground, and contains more political absurdity then it does religious guidance. Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi himself is an Egyptian who has Qatari citizenship – given to him after he opposed the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. However, when an Israeli office was opened in Doha, Al-Qaradhawi did not renounce his Qatari nationality. This is a personal issue that does not concern us as much as we are concerned with the usage of religion, especially the weapon of the fatwa, in highly politicized cases.”

….

“The truth is that the fear is from the opposite side. In the U.S. there is a strong lobby opposed to the naturalization of Muslims and Arabs, for racist and political reasons. Immigration to the U.S. eventually results in citizenship, and the granting of full citizens’ rights – something not granted to Arab refugees in any Arab country, regardless of the humanitarian situation.

“Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi should ask about the Palestinian refugees who live a tough life and are treated like animals in many Arab countries. They are forbidden from working and earning a livelihood – and some are even forbidden from traveling and visiting their families.

“In the future, before speaking, Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi should ask any Arab immigrant who has been lucky enough to gain citizenship in the [country of the] infidel, in order to find out the difference between myth and reality.”

So it is unclear what effect the fatwa will have, if any. Probably those Iraqis who are having a hard time in the U.S. will end up going back, as we’ve seen they are doing, and those who stay will want citizenship. I don’t get the impression that most Iraqi immigrants are ruled by faraway Imams.

Debbie Schlussel: Immigration down generally, but Muslim immigration is up

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a post yesterday from Debbie Schlussel sent to us by Janet, that directs readers to the latest Census numbers for immigrants in America.  You probably heard the news bullet yesterday that immigration numbers are generally down mostly due to the lack of jobs in the US.  Debbie says, not so for immigration from Muslim countries.

But that’s hardly the real picture. In fact, while immigration is down from places like Mexico and Peru, immigration is up from Middle Eastern Muslim nations like terrorist-host states Syria and Iran. I did my own investigation into the census numbers and uncovered the important story here that no-one else is telling you. The countries that hate us the most are still exporting their haters to our shores. Those numbers are up, not down.

See her entire post with links to the report.

Of course, the concern is that immigrants from Muslim countries could hate America and wish to do us harm as was apparently the case with the Afghani immigrants at the center of the latest terror investigation.  From AP:

DENVER (AP) – An airport shuttle driver under arrest in Colorado may have been planning with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York City trains in a terrorism plot similar to past attacks on London’s and Madrid’s mass-transit systems, officials said.

The investigation into the possible terror plot has prompted counterterrorism officials to warn mass-transit systems around the nation to step up patrols.

Two law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation told The Associated Press late Monday that more than a half-dozen individuals were being scrutinized in the alleged plot.

In a statement, the FBI says that “several individuals in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere” are being investigated.

Investigators say Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old* Afghanistan-born immigrant who is a shuttle van driver at the Denver airport, played a direct role in the terror plot that unraveled after an overnight 1,600-mile trip from Denver to New York City around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. He made his first court appearance Monday and remained behind bars.

Everytime there is mention of a Muslim immigrant involved in some criminal or terrorist activity, I wonder how the immigrant got here in the first place.  Was he a refugee? An asylee? On a student visa and never left? A work visa of some sort?   Why do most reporters not tell us that information?  Are they too lazy,  would the information challenge their worldview, or is it too difficult to find out because the federal government keeps that secret?

* An afterthought:  According to this AP story, Zazi came to the US ten years ago making him 14 years old at the time.  I guess ten years in America didn’t help him assimilate any.

Jeffrey Goldberg takes on myths about Gaza “refugees”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In The Lucrative Business of Israel-Bashing in the current Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg quotes an Israel-bashing statement from a current MacArthur grant recipient, James Longley, and corrects every single sentence in it. Great job. Read it if you want the Gaza “refugee” situation in a nutshell.  The reason for the title of his piece is that MacArthur “geniuses” receive $100,000 a year for five years, no strings attached.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops tied to ACORN and Obama

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We first told you about this connection last November when the USCCB cut off its ties to ACORN likely fearing they would be dragged into the growing scandal.  See that earlier post here.

Our interest in the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is that it is one of the largest (if not the largest) federal refugee resettlement contractor (see the ten federal contractors here) with the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Now comes more information about how the USCCB is tied to ACORN, other leftwing community organizing groups, Obama and to the teaching of Saul Alinsky.  From Accuracy in Media yesterday (hat tip:  Janet):

While Obama has strong ties to ACORN, they were originally established through the U.S. Catholic Church, which has also funded ACORN and similar organizations to the tune of millions of dollars. This is another taboo topic for most of the media. Even conservative news organizations are afraid of raising the issue, apparently fearing being tagged with the “anti-Catholic” label.

[…..]

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough was quoted as saying that Obama’s work as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago “was funded partly” by the “Catholic Church campaign for human development…” He was referring to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an annual collection authorized by the U.S. Catholic Bishops which is advertised as a charity to “break the vicious cycle of poverty” but in reality has funded left-wing political organizations such as ACORN to the tune of millions of dollars.

Reforms needed!

I think someone needs to do an audit of the USCCB—a financial audit not just a program audit to make sure that all the money they get from the taxpayers actually goes to the refugees and not to Leftwing political activities.  Did you know that the US State Department only does program audits?

Be sure to visit this report from the Capital Research Center, “Leftwing Radicalism in the Church.”

This post is filed in our “community destabilization” category where you can find many more posts about Saul Alinsky, the Radical Left and how they are working to “change” our communities and ultimately our form of government.