The Killeen Daily Herald has an account of Sunday’s self-described “competing” Fort Hood memorial event, making up for what they regard as the media’s failure to emphasise Malik Hasan’s religion:
…Distinguishing moderate Muslims from would-be terrorists, [Retired Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin said that] Americans must realize they are at war “with a group of radical people who are following the exact dictates of the Koran,” he said.
Attorney and Army Reserve Maj. Stephen Coughlin moved from analogies to what he called doctrinal template analysis of the enemy.
“Those radicals cherry-pick the Koran,'” he said, imitating “apologist” views. “How many times have you heard that?”
Abrogation, which alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan is reported to have briefed fellow officers on prior to being transferred to Fort Hood, prevents the Koran from being cherry-picked, he said.
Author Robert Spencer, the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s Jihad Watch director, gave a brief history of Islam and called exceptions to rules found in the Koran flawed.
So, there are moderate Muslims, but Muslims who repudiate extremists by complaining that that they “cherry-pick the Koran” are in fact “apologists”. Not sure I quite follow. Further:
After a dinner break, Muslim-born Kamal Saleem and Walid Shoebat addressed the crowd, sharing their personal radical pasts and eventual rejections of jihad.
Shoebat’s story has come under some critical scrutiny, as I have blogged here, and even if it is true it concerns involvement in the PLO in the 1970s rather than anything involving Islamic fundamentalism; Shoebat tends to pad his material out with general details about supposedly growing up Islamist and Jew-hating environment (he also has a line in explaining how the Bible predicts the coming of a Muslim anti-Christ).
Spencer, curiously, has kept his participation low-key; he advertised the event on his Jihad Watch website back on 2 November, but he hasn’t mentioned it since.
Boykin and Saleem came to Killeen the day after attending a similar event at nearby Kerrville:
“The Islamization of America” will be discussed Saturday at a grassroots gathering in Kerrville, where the featured speakers will be retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin and a self-professed former terrorist recruiter, Kamal Saleem.Billed as the “Shoring Up America’s Foundations Summit,” the event, sponsored by the Hill Country Oak Coalition, is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m…
This is actually the Hill Country Oak Initiative, a local branch of the the Oak Initiative; this is a Charismatic Christian organisation which has Rick Joyner as its president and a certain Marc Nuttle as chair; Boykin is a member of the board, alongside the likes of Cindy Jacobs, Janet Porter, and none other than Bob Weiner of Maranatha Churches and Campus Ministries (I previously blogged on this controversial organisation here, here, here, and here). Nuttle has apparently been an advisor to Jim Inhofe, and, among other roles, “a senior advisor to George Bush’s presidential campaigns in 1988 and 1992”.
Right Wing Watch has a couple of posts on the Oak Initiative (here and here); one of its purposes is apparently “the formation of a Christian Intelligence Service”, and it promotes a version of the “Seven Mountains” idea; this perspective identifies seven domains in modern society (“government, business, education, arts and entertainment, family services, media, and the church”) of which Christians should seek to take control.
Filed under: Uncategorized
[…] on the ICTOA last month; the organisation co-sponsored an unofficial “memorial” event near Fort Hood organised by self-proclaimed “ex-terrorist” Walid Shoebat and featuring, among others, […]
[…] took part in an event organised by Shoebat and his handlers just a few weeks ago (a “competing” […]
[…] – Rory and Wendy Alec – enjoy support that ranges from Benny Hinn, Rick Joyner (blogged here), and Cindy Jacobs (blogged here) in the USA through to RT Kendall, Colin Dye (blogged here), and […]
[…] Stemberger from these quarters: Boykin recently spoke alongside her close associate Robert Spencer at an event organised by Walid Shoebat’s handlers, and she and Spencer recently joined Gingrich at a […]
[…] Ashabi; and five “CI Centre Faculty”, Walid Phares, Clare M. Lopez, Tawfik Hamid, Stephen Coughlin, and Nonie […]
[…] called Islam vs the United States. A branch of the Oak Initiative held an anti-Islam event in Texas in November, with Boykin and Kamal […]
[…] Sheets and Rick Joyner – Porter is herself a member of Joyner’s Oak Initiative, which I have discussed in a number of blog […]
[…] from visiting churches and conservative groups with lurid tales of their Muslim pasts – last November, Saleem and his associate Walid Shoebat joined Robert Spencer and Gen “Jerry” Boykin at […]