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March 25, 2009
Islamberg ~ Muslim-Only Town in N.Y. Has Terrorist Ties
Quiet Muslim-Only Town in N.Y. Founded by Alleged Terrorist
HANCOCK, N.Y.
If you didn't know where to look, you'd probably never find Islamberg, a private Muslim community in the woods of the western Catskills, 150 miles northwest of New York City.
The town, sitting on a quiet dirt road past a gate marked with No Trespassing signs, is home to an estimated 100 residents. There are small houses and other buildings visible from the outside, but it is what can't be seen from beyond the gate that has some watchers worried.
Islamberg was founded in 1980 by Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who purchased a 70-acre plot and invited followers, mostly Muslim converts living in New York City, to settle there.
The town has its own mosque, grocery store and schoolhouse. It also reportedly has a firing range where residents take regular target practice. Gilani established similar rural enclaves across the country — at least six, including the Red House community in southern Virginia — though some believe there are dozens of them, all operating under the umbrella of the "Muslims of the Americas" group founded by Gilani.
Federal authorities say Gilani was also one of the founders of Jamaat al-Fuqra, a terrorist organization believed responsible for dozens of bombings and murders across the U.S. and abroad. The group was linked to the planning of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and 10 years earlier a member was arrested and later convicted for bombing a hotel in Portland, Ore.
Shoe bomber Richard Reid has been linked to the group, along with convicted D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad. But it is Sheikh Gilani who creates the most controversy and concern.
Gilani has told his followers that "Zionist plotters" plan to rule the world, and he encourates them to leave America's cities and avoid the "decadence of a godless society." Gilani is the man American reporter Daniel Pearl was trying to interview in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and beheaded. The Sheikh was taken into custody and later released by Pakistani authorities; he denies any involvement in Pearl's murder.
snipet
FOX News attempted to visit Islamberg after earlier efforts to set up on-camera interviews were rebuffed. A spokesman said by phone that residents typically shy away from interviews since they worry their words will be manipulated and turned against them. He accused FOX News of misrepresenting the group and suggested covering an Islamic festival in Binghamton later in the month to celebrate the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. Then he hung up.
Local police told FOX News there has been plenty of rumor and innuendo over the years but very little trouble. The FBI's Albany Division said the agency has an open discourse with the residents of Islamberg. They've visited the compound but won't discuss whether there are any ongoing investigations.
snipet
That has not dispelled the worries of some watchdogs. Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, says the group is making a concerted public relations effort to present a benign face and hide its violent past.
"I think we need to be very much on guard about every member of these compounds," he said. Though Spencer admits there is nothing inherently wrong with living in isolation, he stressed that "they're not at all open to visitors, they're not at all open to scrutiny and there's an abundance of evidence of sinister goings-on."
Critics, lacking an eye into the cloistered community, still wonder whether it's something more.
Wild Thing's comment.......
FOX news is being way too PC in this article, they the actual title of their article saying "Alleged Terrorist" when this Islamberg does have ties to terrorists. I wish all the media would just give us the facts head on we can handle it and we have a righit to know what the truth is. This article is good but it dances around the truth a little bit when it doesn't have to.
But one big thing I am glad about and that is at least they are talking about it. Especially with Hussein in the Oval Office.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at March 25, 2009 05:42 AM
Comments
I sure hope the FBI is watching these camps. To me muslim converts means ex convicts. Any ex-con in one of these camps is violating parole or probation if he is around other ex-cons or guns. Seems like a few raids would net a lot of parole violators and maybe some illegal guns.
I would also like to know where the funding for these camps comes from. Our "friend" Saudi Arabia?
Posted by: TomR at March 25, 2009 01:14 PM
Yeah, and how many more are going to spring up around the country. This is dangerous.
Posted by: Mark at March 25, 2009 07:47 PM
Tom, I agree and on several TV shows where they have discussed converts to things like Islam they have said many times they are worse, more devoted then those that were brought up into it.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 26, 2009 12:32 AM
Mark, see you have a good point, If this one is allowed we have to figure that more will be set up too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 26, 2009 12:34 AM
