Bartholomew's Notes

As has been widely reported, the BBC’s Panorama ran a report on Monday by John Ware, entitled “British Schools, Islamic Rules”, about how certain schools may be promoting a segregationist mindset; although Ware made no reference to it, the programme came in the wake of a Telegraph report alleging that some Muslim schools in London received good reports from OFSTED due to the religious bias of particular inspectors.

The programme highlighted several case-studies, starting with the Jame’ah Uloomul Qur’an (var. Jamiah Uloom al-Qur’an) girls’ school in Leicester, where the niqab is part of the uniform. The school is associated with the Jame’ah Mosque, and with the Darul Iftaa Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence. Ware highlighted some particularly grim pronouncements from the Darul Iftaa website, such as that women should not leave the home “without need and necessity” and that music is a “direct ploy of the non-Muslims”. Although Ware did not give much background, these are the views of Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari, who directs the Institute and who is also a teacher at the school. However, the school told Ware that the Darul Iftaa has no bearing on its “principles and ethos”.

Ware also noted links to between certain schools and controversial individuals: the Al-Risaala Balham Preparatory School, based in the Tooting Islamic Centre, described in a newsletter how Riyadh ul Haq had been an “inspiring speaker”; this was a year after his extremist views had been discussed by Andrew Norfolk in the Times. The school told Ware that ul Haq had not spoken at the school itself, but only in the Islamic Centre, which is in the same building. Meanwhile, APEX Primary in Ilford had a fundraising event involving Haitham al-Haddad, shown in a clip explaining how there was an “ongoing conflict” with the “enemies of Islam”, and that “we should pay the price of this victory from our blood”. APEX explained that this was not how it teaches “citizenship values”. I found this section to be less than satisfactory; a one-off link to an outside speaker with some objectionable views expressed elsewhere may be troubling, but in itself is insufficient to show that a school is hotbed of Islamist indoctrination. Rather than pursue the matter systematically or in any depth, Ware – whose research here appeared to consist of various bits and pieces culled from the internet followed up with requests for statements – quickly moved on to another subject, that of Saudi-influenced weekend schools (see below).

Ware also drew attention to the Bridge Schools Inspectorate (BSI), which inspects 70 schools connected with the Association of Muslim Schools UK and an organisation (not named by Ware) called the Christian Schools’ Trust.  Barry Sheerman MP complained that this “sub-system” had “slipped through the system before anyone noticed what had happened”. Ware noted that OFSTED has concerns that inspection organisations covering fewer than 350 schools and 5 faiths “might lack rigour and objectivity”; however, he only mentions in passing (and as something BSI has told him rather than as something which can be confirmed) that OFSTED has in fact rated the BSI as “good”. His sole – and somewhat thin – evidence against it is that it gave APEX a good rating despite al-Haddad having spoken at a fundraiser.

The last part of the programme dealt with the separate issue of a network of private weekend schools for young Muslims. Ware explained that there are 40 schools, teaching 5,000 children, and that they sometimes hire out school buildings for their activities. The schools use textbooks imported from Saudi Arabia, and Ware tracked down their distribution to a building associated with the London Saudi School in Ealing. The textbooks are inflammatory, explaining how Jews look like “apes and pigs” and how Zionists plan Jewish domination of the world. For 15-year-olds, there are illustrations to show where a thief’s hand and foot should be amputated, and discussion about the manner by which gay people ought to be executed. Ware notes that former Ambassador Prince Turki al-Faisal had promised an end to such “intolerance” and “an internal revision and modernization plan”, following the exposure of the same material at the King Fahad Academy (also in Ealing) in 2007. Risibly, the Saudi embassy pretended to have nothing to do with the weekend schools, although Ware had letters showing this to be untrue.

Of course, Ware made some effort not make clear that he was not targeting all Muslims: he began by showcasing Al-Furqan school in Birmingham, which stresses the importance of integration, and later in the programme the Stanley Road Primary School in Oldham, which has an increasing number of white pupils. He also briefly looked over some school websites linked to other religions; in particular, he noted that some ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools appear “locked into their own world”, and he found an Evangelical school website carrying an attack Islam; although he didn’t give the name, this is the Bethany School in Sheffield, which carries a 1992 article from Prophecy Today explaining that

Islam and Hinduism are both deceptions, but very different from one another. The followers of Allah make no secret that they are waging a holy war against infidels on behalf of Allah at both national and international levels, and their militancy is plain to see.

Two of those interviewed for the programme – John Bald, formerly of OFSTED, and Neal Robinson, an academic expert on Islam, contributed a Policy Exchange report entitled Faith Schools We Can Believe In: Ensuring that Tolerant and Democratic Values are Upheld in Every Part of Britain’s Education System, which can be seen here.

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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:

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From the NY Times:

A disbarred lawyer convicted of impersonating a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and four other academics online in a campaign to discredit their work is going up the river.

A judge Thursday sentenced Raphael Golb to six months behind bars – for his stealing his victims’ e-mail identities and trashing them.

The background to this story has been widely reported; I noted the conviction here. Golb had conducted a long-term campaign of identity theft and harassment in order to defend the academic theories of his father Norman Golb, using a plethora of fake identities; one of his victims, Robert Cargill, pieced together much of the evidence. Robert has issued a statement on his blog:

I am satisfied with the verdict and the sentence in the case of the People of New York vs. Raphael Golb. The sentence fits the crime. During the trial, Dr. Golb showed no remorse, never apologized for his actions, believed what he did wasn’t wrong, and stated flatly that he’d do it again.

…Scholars must be willing to stand behind any statements they make in their own name or else not make them at all. While anonymity has been used in the past to make unpopular and dissenting speech, and while this right of free speech should be protected under the law, what Dr. Golb did – using anonymity as a weapon to attack good scholars via criminal impersonation, forgery, identity theft, and for aggravated harassment against others – is shameful. It is a violation of the law and dishonors the memories of those who have fought and died for the freedom we call “free speech.”

…He has ultimately tarnished his father’s legacy perhaps beyond repair. And, because evidence from the trial proceedings demonstrated that Dr. Norman Golb not only knew about, but appears to have participated in some of his son’s scorched earth campaign of defamation against other scholars, perhaps this disgraced legacy is not wholly unwarranted.

…However, because Dr. Golb has vowed to appeal, and thereby prolong this case, I unfortunately believe this is not the end, but rather only the latest, never-ending chapter in the continued legacy of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The push for an appeal appears to be coming from Golb’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, who claims that Golb merely engaged in “first degree blogging”, and that the judgement serves only to protect “elite scholars”. Golb himself has offered a grudging, partial, and passive-aggressive apology:

 “Before this case, I did not know that satirical hoaxes of the sort were treated as crimes in the United States of America, but as this court said, ignorance of the law is not an excuse,” and, “I can only say that if I have indeed violated the law, I am terribly sorry and have no choice but to accept whatever the consequences are for me.”

As someone who has seen cyber-bullying and harassment in action, I know that it is a particulary vile activity that needs to be stamped down on – and it’s remarkable how many adults who should be old enough to know better are willing to debase themselves by indulging in it. For cowards and inadequates, the ability to cause trouble on-line while hiding behind a keyboard doubtless gives a sense of empowerment which is just too tempting to pass over.

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A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Forsaken, a charity offering abortion counselling in Taunton; the charity has published a book, also called Forsaken, which was referenced by Nadine Dorries in a recent Parliamentary debate:

…I shall finish by mentioning a book which is to be launched this month. It is published by the charity Forsaken, which is neither pro-life nor pro-choice: it is pro-women. For two years, the charity has put together the stories of women suffering from post-abortion syndrome. Reading the book is so heart-wrenching that we just want to reach out and take their pain away, but we cannot. There is no going back. We cannot make it better; abortion is a procedure to end life-it is final.

Having seen the book, there is no way that it can be described as “neither pro-life nor pro-choice” – it is blatantly anti-abortion, with two very obvious aims: (a) to make women contemplating abortion feel that they shouldn’t do it; and (b) to persuade women who have had abortions to convert to Christianity. The stories abound with sentences such as “As I prayed, I felt a weight lifted from me”… “I had a new calling in my life – God”… “My son is in the arms of God”… “God has forgiven me, that’s his promise to us all”… “Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks as I realised that they forgave me and so did Jesus”. Interspersed are poems, including one in which a fetus remarks on how the womb is “so wonderfully designed by my Creator”. There’s also a lengthy New Testament quote, from 1 Timothy 1:12-17:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent (wo) man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The book ends with some short Appendices, outlining “Post Abortion Syndrome” and supposed risks to physical health, and giving the contact details for Alternatives, a counselling service linked to the same church as Forsaken (the Living Light Christian Church, a local moderate Charismatic church).

There are also a few names: the back cover has an old quote from Dr Alfred Bongiovanni (misspelt as “Alfred Bongionni”) on how human life begins at conception, sourced to a book by Randy Alcorn entitled Why Pro-Life?, which might have given Dorries a bit of a clue. Alcorn runs Eternal Perspective Ministries; he has been involved with protests at abortion clinics and is associated with Operation Rescue. There is also a preface by Margaret Cuthill of the Abortion Recovery and Care Helpline; this was formerly British Victims of Abortion, and it was inspired by the National Right to Life Committee’s American Victims of Abortion following visits to the UK’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) by the AVA’s Olivia Gans. According to an article by Ellie Lee, this was the conduit by which the idea of “Post Abortion Syndrome” came to the UK (1).

Tim Ireland has noted that the book was printed with the notice that Forsaken is a registered charity, but that the word “registered” has been Tippexed out. Dorries – who uses accusations of “harassment” to deflect any scrutiny – predictably threatened Tim with the police for “abusive behaviour ” after he contacted the organisation to enquire about its charitable status.

(1) See Ellie Lee (2001) “Reinventing Abortion as a Social Problem: ‘Postabortion Syndrome in the United States and Britain”, in Joel Best (ed.) How Claims Spread: Cross-National Diffusion of Social Problems (Walter De Gruyter: New York) pp. 39-67. On Google Books here.

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News from Wolverhampton:

A man has been charged with soliciting murder in relation to a blog listing MPs it claimed voted for the Iraq war.

Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 23, of Dunstall, Wolverhampton, was also charged with other offences under the Terrorism Act, West Midlands Police said…

Ahmad is alleged to have made the posting to the notorious and distasteful RevolutionMuslim website, which was in the news in April for carrying a threat against the creators of South Park; although his name has only just been made public by the police, a posting to the blog of Yousef al-Khattab (who founded the site but who is no longer associated with it) on 11 November mentioned “the arrest of brother Bilal in the UK” and criticised his actions.

Last year, RevolutionMuslim carried a death threat against Paul Ray, the self-described “spiritual leader” of the English Defence League (although currently estranged from the organisation); the author of the threat signed himself as “Bilal”. Interestingly, the attack on Ray had been provoked by a posting made to the site by somebody impersonating him; I received a fake message from a bogus Ray around the same time, sent in the hope that I would publish inaccurate information.

Presumably, whoever posted to RevolutionMuslim in Ray’s name was playing some sort of game, trying to manipulate extremists such as “Bilal” for his or her own ends.  This is a practice I’ve written about a couple of times previously (here and here); of course, it in no way mitigates or excuses the behaviour of the extremists (and there’s no reason to suppose it played a part in the matter over which Bilal Ahmad has been arrested), but meddling in this way is ill-considered and misleading at best, and vicious at worst.

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The Telegraph reports on a conference of Catholic exorcists in Poland:

The national congress comes as part of a policy by Poland’s Catholic Church to lift the veil on what was once a secretive practice. Frustrated by the Hollywood image of cross-wielding exorcists engaged in dramatic conflicts with demons the Church intends to show the complicated and often more mundane world of exorcism.

The article quotes Father Andrzej Grefkowicz, who explains that one sign of possession is the inability to enter a church. According to the New York Times, American bishops have just held a conference on the same theme in Baltimore, organised by  Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois.

Details of the event in Poland are scarce, although there was an “Exorcists’ Congress” in Niepokalanow, near Warsaw, back in February. A report derived from Gazeta Wyborcza explained:

“Our role is mainly to say prayers and psalms,” Father Andrzej Grefkowicz told the press conference. Another priest, Aleksander Posacki, said that too many myths surround exorcisms, which in fact are based on fundamental church rules.

Congress participants argued that demonology lessons should be treated more seriously in seminaries and that ordinary people, too, would benefit from knowing more about exorcisms. During the congress, the priests discussed the main causes of possession by demons such as occult, esoteric beliefs like magic, eastern meditation and homeopathy.

…The congresses are held twice a year.

In 2009, Grefkowicz participated in a conference on “Occultism, Magic, Spiritism: Road to Torment and Enslavement”, held at Cardinal Stefan Wyszy?ski University and organised by the pastoral ministry there (known as “Kaganek”); other speakers were Fr. Aleksander Posacki SJ, Leszek Dokowicz, Robert Tekieli, and Fr. Dominik Chmielewski. According to a blurb accessed by Google translate, Posacki warned against the dangers of “intellectual arrogance”, defined as reasoning in opposition to church teaching; Tekieli attacked New Age ideas (according to this article, Tekieli believes that Harry Potter promotes Tai Chi “Mind Control”); Dokowicz denounced the “Satanic symbolism” of techno music; and Chmielewski warned of the occult aspect to martial arts, based on his own experience as a martial arts instructor (more on that here).

Grefkowicz is also listed as a member of a group called Krajowego Zespo?u Koordynatorów (KZK, the “National Team Coordinators”), headed by Bishop Bronislaw Dembowski. This is a Catholic Charismatic Renewal group, and as such influenced by trends in neo-Pentecostalism.

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Yet another annoucement from Pamela Geller:

Our groups American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI)^TM, Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI)^TM, European Freedom Defense Initiative, European Freedom Initiative, Israel Freedom Initiative, SIOE, SIOA, SIAD,  SIO Poland, SIO Romania, SIO Bulgaria, SIO France, SIO Sweden, SIO Norway et al, are organized and led by Anders Gravers in Europe and Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, James Lafferty, Pamela Hall, and Rich Davis in the States. We are creating “a coalition of the free” to defend “the coalition of the willing,” as the war in the information battle space moves into its next phase.The Global Freedom Initiative.^TM

Information about who is behind these various groups is sparse (Stephen Gash “retired” from SOIE in September), although Norway’s group is run by a journalist named Arne Tumyr. Geller took control of SIOA earlier this year, as I noted here.

So, what will the “next phase” have to offer?

We will be holding a huge conference in DC early next year, and will follow up with our teams in Europe, Asia, Latin America, China, and the Middle East in the Spring. Please contact me if you  wish to represent your country in our coaltion.

So, the same old pundit circuit. An organisation called the “Global Freedom Initiative” was created by the Cato Institute in 2007; perhaps they can live with another group using the same name, although the addition of “TM” must surely be annoying.

It’s a busy week for Spencer and Geller: today they are both in Fort Worth, Texas, for a meeting billed as “Sara and Dorrie Present Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer”; “Sara” is Sara Legvold, an activist in the Texas GOP (quote: “I want to deport everybody who is illegal — children, dogs, pets, birds.”), while “Dorrie” is Dorrie O’Brien, who is with Brigitte Gabriel‘s ACT! for America and who has trouble with holding meetings in libraries. Next weekend, Geller and Spencer will be at David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend” in Florida alongside the likes of Newt Gingrich, and then it’s back to Texas for Spencer, who will join Walid Shoebat at a Fort Hood “commemoration” focusing on the evils of how “liberalism” and “diversity” caused last year’s massacre.

UPDATE: Geller has announced two new associates:

We are proud to announce that Amil Imani will be heading up the Iranian Freedom Initiative. Amil will join forces with us to fight Islamic supremacism in the West and the global jihad, and we will join Amil in his battle for regime change in Iran… D’vorah Joy Hoffmann… is heading up the Israeli division of our global counter jihad movement, the Israel Freedom Initiative.

Hoffman is a pet-care specialist; Imani is the part of the usual pundit circuit and the author of a self-published novel called Obama Meets Ahmadinejad. According to an endorsement from Ali Sina on Imani’s site:

In this parody, Amil Imani ridicules two dangerous zanies of our time, who also must be laughed at, who both, have deceitfully usurped their presidency, and together are bringing the world to the brink of Armageddon.

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From Talking Points:

The lawsuit to stop the construction of a mosque in middle Tennessee is getting expensive.

…Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a Christian Zionist group, hired and is paying the fees for one of the two lawyers on the case.

The lawsuit alleges that officials in Rutherford County violated its open meeting laws when approving an expansion of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. The plaintiffs, however, have spent much of their time in court arguing that Islam is not a religion.

…The group, which is based in Tennessee, is run by Laurie Cardoza-Moore. Cardoza-Moore believes, among other things, that nearly all Muslims — including those in middle Tennessee — follow a strict interpretation of the Koran: beating their wives, marrying children and killing dishonorable family members.

…If Cardoza-Moore seems familiar, that might be because she appeared in a “Daily Show” segment about the proposed mosque in August. She was also in the news earlier this year after Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke at a PJTN event, and Cardoza-Moore — in violation of IRS regulations about nonprofits — encouraged members to donate money to the congresswoman’s campaign.

Cardoza-Moore also gave a speech at the anti-mosque rally in New York on 22 August (the one that took place the week before Pamela Geller’s effort, and which Geller initially condemned as “half-assed”): she denounced Muslims as “slave traders” who were America’s “first enemy”, claimed that Park51 would contain a portrait of Osama bin Laden overlooking the site of Ground Zero (although she acknowledged the existence of “many peaceful” Muslims in the USA), and called for Nancy Pelosi to be investigated. She believes tha the planned mosque expansion in Murfreesboro is a plot to destroy the Bible belt; as she told CBN’s “Terrorism Analyst” Erick Stakelbeck in August:

“You have Bible book publishers, you have Christian book publishers, you have Christian music headquartered here,” she said. “So this is where the Gospel message goes out. And the radical Islamic extremists have stated that they’re still fighting the Crusaders–and they see this as the capital of the Crusaders.”

According to a bio:

Laurie Cardoza-Moore is president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, Inc. Laurie is an accomplished lobbyist who actively supports Israel and lobbied to pass HJR 960 Resolution to support The State of Israel in the Tennessee General Assembly in 2002.  She has been responsible for bringing numerous Israeli Dignitaries to Nashville and in educating communities at many churches, synagogues, and universities in dozens of  communities. The Center For Jewish Awareness in Nashville, Tennessee, awarded Laurie the Friend of Israel Award in May of 2004, for her steadfast support of the state of Israel and the Jewish community in Nashville. Laurie works actively with the Israeli Consul General to the Southeast, to strengthen relationships between the church communities and The State of Israel.  Former Consul General Shmuel ben Shmuel awarded Laurie with The Goodwill Ambassador to Israel Award in October 2005. As a veteran co-producer and on-screen talent, she has added her talents to over 500 film and video productions.

Her view of Christianity includes not just support for Israel, but an emphasis on “Hebrew Roots”, which means that Christian expression ought to adopt Jewish cultural forms and idioms (I blogged on this trend here). In 2007, it seems that she had some association with Yair Davidy of “Brit-Am“.

In 2008, Cardoza-Moore’s filmmaker husband, Stan Moore (he runs MP Films), directed a documentary called The Forgotten People: Christianity and the Holocaust, co-produced with a Messianic Jewish believer named Yochanan Ben Yehuda (of Heart for Israel Ministries and Galilee of the Nations); according to a 2009 report from Bob Smietana and Kate Howard in the Tennessean:

Much of the film focuses on radical Islam — interposing pictures of Holocaust victims and Nazis with images of marching, shouting, angry Muslims.

Scenes from the movie are being aired weekly on WHTN, a local Christian television station, and the entire film will be shown to the National Religious Broadcasters Association in Nashville in February. Cardoza-Moore hopes to take it on a 13-city nationwide tour.

…Doris Kosmin, the wife of Rabbi Kliel Rose of West End Synagogue, heard about the film when it was advertised in local Jewish circles. After seeing it, she was stunned.

“I thought it was an abuse of the memory of the Holocaust, and a manipulation of Holocaust survivors,” she said. “I don’t think that survivors should be used that way.”

Kosmin worries about Islamic extremism but said the film demonized all Muslims. “I don’t think there was any distinction between Islamicists and moderate Muslims,” she said.

The Rev. Maury Davis of Cornerstone Church in Madison hosted a viewing of the movie at his church, and warned his Assembly of God congregation about radical Muslims in a recent sermon called “Islam: the Evil Religion.”

On an old version of the her site on Wayback, she suggested that such documentaries were needed to counter films being funded by George Soros. The same version also shows that in 2006 PJTN brought Walid Shoebat (blogged by me a number of times) and Brigitte Gabriel (who was repudiated by the United Jewish Communities in 2008) to Nashville, “to speak to our community about why these terrorist organizations exist and their ultimate goal.”

However, PJTN is not just a one-woman band; the “Program and Development Director” is Rev Sam Clarke, a local Episcopalian priest who also serves as the Director of the Christian Friends of Yad Vashem; he and his wife have a website here. According to his profile Clarke was inspired by the books of Corrie ten Boom:

Sam came to faith in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Corrie ten Boom… In 2007  he received a call to establish and become the first director of a Christian office at Yad Vashem (the Jewish Holocaust Center in Jerusalem). The establishment of this office represents a breakthrough in Jewish – Christian relations. It  was a joint project between Yad Vashem and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. Sam spent 14 months with Yad Vashem before returning to the U.S. to begin Gateway to Israel Ministries with his wife, Marianne.

In May of 2010, Sam became the Program and Development Director for Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN.org).

(H/T: Harry’s Place)

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News from the David Horowitz Freedom Center:

The David Horowitz Freedom Center will be holding its Restoration Weekend November 18 – 21, 2010 at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. Prominent authorities and political figures will enlighten audiences at this important annual event.

Among those “enlightening” the audience will be Pastor John Hagee, who is known for teaching about how the “part-Jewish” anti-Christ will use Islam to form the Illuminati’s One World Government in accordance with his understanding of the Book of Revelation. But perhaps it’s unfair to single him out; he’ll be a in diverse company of pundits and politicians. Some names below are more famous than others:

Newt Gingrich, David Horowitz, Liz Cheney, Ann Coulter, Andrew Klavan, Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney, Monica Crowley, John Yoo, Marc Thiessen, Michael Barone, Ralph Peters, Caroline Glick, Pastor John Hagee, Rob Pollock, Fred Barnes, Senator Jeff Sessions, Congressmen Ed Royce and Steven King, Emmett Tyrrell, Bill Gertz, Doug Schoen, Ron Radosh, Steven Moore, Arizona State Senators Russell Pearce and Thayer Verschoor, Mark Krikorian, S.E. Cupp, Lee Smith, General Paul Vallely, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Fred Barnes and Pat Caddell.

Not sure why Fred Barnes is listed twice. It’ll be a busy weekend for Spencer, who’ll also be heading off to Fort Hood in Texas on 21 November to a memorial event with Walid Shoebat and Michael Riker.

Apparently, the highlight of the weekend will be… an award ceremony for Pamela Geller, supposedly for “courage”. Geller tells us that former recipients have included

Oriana Fallaci… legend Rush Limbaugh, author Ann Coulter, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, civil rights leader Ward Connerly, human rights activist Armando Vallederes, Georgia Democrat Senator Zell Miller, film director Cyrus Nowrasteh, Swift Boat veteran John O’Neill, Iranian dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar, activist Phyllis Schlafly, et al….

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Yesterday I wrote a blog entry which discussed the  International Counter-Terrorism Officers Association, which is sponsoring a self-described “competing” Fort Hood memorial event, on 21 November. The event is being organised by Walid Shoebat – who goes around churches preaching that the Bible predicts a “Muslim anti-Christ” and that Obama is a Muslim – and speakers include the anti-Islam activist Robert Spencer and Gen William Boykin, who teaches that the USA is in religious war against Islam. The ICTOA’s sponsorship was noted just recently by WorldNetDaily, and the ICTOA’s director Michael Riker is apparently “conducting interviews on this topic” alongside Shoebat’s handler Keith Davies. [UPDATE: A new press release adds:

“This unofficial Ft Hood Memorial Event will deal with issues of terror that have been swept under the carpet. In the last several years political correctness is destroying law enforcement’s ability to defend the citizens of America as evidenced by the tragedy of the Ft Hood massacre. You will also hear experts outline how law enforcement is hampered in their ability to do their jobs properly, to protect the public and our military.” says Mike Riker…]

So, as I do, I decided to look into who exactly Riker is and what exactly the ICTOA do. I previously noted that in October it had held an anti-terror conference involving the likes of Ilana Freedman, Steve Emerson, Shoebat, Aaron Richman, and Ben Venzke; in 2009, speakers had included Jarret Brachman.

Riker is a retired police officer, and he apparently works closely with a organisation calling itself “Griffith Colson Intelligence Service”; he has contributed to its websites and reportedly has had long discussions over the phone on security matters with W. Edward Griffith, who until recently was in charge of GCIS. However, there was something weird about the GCIS: there is strange a web of self-referencing on-line newspapers and magazines, until recently published by Griffith but since sold off, containing very little original (if any) material besides information about GCIS and its associates.

The only “outsider” to have taken an interest was a certain “Shabbir Azim”, about whom there is very little on-line. However, according to one a report supposedly from “IslamicWorldJournal” (but now deleted):

A private spy chief is out of a job following revelations that he once worked as a transvestite prostitute and particpated in countless gay sex parties during his term as head of his agency.

…Griffith, who is a known transvestite, was the subject of a major media assault when Islamic activist Shabbir Azim launched a campaign to out Griffith sexcapades and history of prostitution.

By coincidence, IslamicWorldJournal was published on tumblr – as were some sites controlled by Griffith. Sites controlled by Griffith are also the only other source for details about the sex scandal (which he has admitted occured before he came “to know God”).

Further mention of Azim comes from Griffith’s Bramford Times:

The conflict started Sunday morning, after Griffith had delivered a radio broadcast the night before in remembrance of 911… His speech was aggressive, clearly defining Islamic extremism as “the most violent enemy in our nation’s history”. Sunday morning Azim said he would launch a Facebook and twitter protest against Griffith’s radio address and likened the 43-year old GCIS chief to Hitler and Hussein. Describing himself as an “activist”, Azim went a step further and had posted a comment on Facebook that vowed to attack the online network of GCIS.

…Monday morning began with a compiled report on Azim’s posts and a summary was sent to Facebook corporate headquarters. A request to have Azim’s profile removed went unacknowledged. As they waited, Cohen and her team, under orders from the Director, began launching what was billed as a series of “cyber security exercises”… At 3:45 Wednesday morning  Director W. Edward Griffith gave the order and Cohen’s team brought Azim’s Facebook profile down.

Around the same time, Azim also posted a one-off message to a conspiracy theory forum:

Questions surround a new security start-up that is building on plans to create a massive private intelligence network to aid government intelligence agencies, says a source who believes the project is more than meets the eye.

Securitas Global Group (SGG) is a super secret international corporate octopus, founded in 2010 by entrepreneurs and assembled from a variety of different businesses. Some have even gone as far as to say the firm is really a ‘Shadow Government’ and is at the beckon call of intelligence agencies. The goal of SGG is to create the largest private intelligence outfit in the world (and some say beyond, with plans to take intelligence communications to space). “The posts held by SGG officers are cryptic. they are part of a complex international intelligence and communications web (an interconnected control system) which links Tri-lateralist plans, the Council on Foreign relations, the Illuminati and other interlocking groups”, says once source who wishes to remain anonymous.

Financed by private money from Max Baumann, SGG is a privately held company with an undergound corporate headquarters located somewhere in Virginia. The mandate if SGG, says our source, is the disruption of Islam and the growth of Islam in the United States. They are crusaders for the war on terror and are strong supporters of Bush/Cheney. The center of SGG operations, says the source, is unknown. Some believe the company operates from Israel, while other believe Washington D.C. or London is the central headquarters.

GCIS describes itself as a “division” of SGG.

Yesterday, I received two interesting comments to my blog. At 8.36pm one came from Azim, whose fluency in English has strangely deteroriated:

I pleased for you that you stand with the Ummah. They close my website these people

Ten minutes later, a certain “Jason Kline” commented:

Your sympathies for Muslims and left-wingers says all that needs to be said. It is clear you report from the surface and don’t care about the work being done. It is a shame when you can’t be fair because of your lack of a lass. Your little bio says volumes about what motivates you. I thought I would enjoy your take on the events of the day. You clearly lack balance in your blogging.

Perhaps readers will not overly be surprised to learn that “Kline”‘s email address in fact resolves on Facebook to Max Baumann. And perhaps readers will not be stunned and amazed by the remarkable coincidence that Kline and Azim have exactly the same IP address: 173.72.229.37.

I sense a recurring theme here somewhere…

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