The New York Times is immensely frightened by President Trump’s appointments of Mike Pompeo as secretary of State and John Bolton as national security advisor, and that’s a very good sign. But the paper has definitely put its smear machine into high gear.
In a risible article entitled “Pompeo and Bolton Appointments Raise Alarm Over Ties to Anti-Islam Groups,” the Times’ Laurie Goodstein excoriates Pompeo for denouncing Muslim leaders in the U.S. for their silence after the Boston Marathon jihad bombing. “In fact,” writes Goodstein, “more than half a dozen American Muslim organizations had issued statements condemning the bombing within hours of the attack.”
But as always, condemnations are easy, action is hard. What are Muslim organizations in the U.S. doing to prevent the next jihad massacre? Where are the programs teaching young Muslims to reject the al-Qaeda/ISIS understanding of Islam, and indeed, to reject jihad terror altogether, as well as the aspects of Sharia that contradict American law?
Nowhere.
The article goes on to engage in the familiar Leftist media tactic of presenting statements that are demonstrably true without refutation, as if they were self-evidently false:
Mr. Pompeo as a congressman arranged a briefing for one such group called Act for America, or ACT, on Capitol Hill and accepted the group’s National Security Eagle Award in 2016, according to the group’s website. … The founder of ACT, Brigitte Gabriel, has written that “the purest form of Islam” is behind the terrorist attacks: “It’s not radical Islam. It’s what Islam is at its core.”
Horrifying! But can Laurie Goodstein present any evidence for her evident assumption that terrorist attacks do not represent “what Islam is at its core”? Of course, she cannot. Goodstein simply relies on the likely ignorance of her audience, as it is doubtful that more than a handful of Times readers are familiar with the following quotes:
“We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve … ” (Qur’an 3:151)
“When your Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so confirm the believers. I shall cast terror into the unbelievers’ hearts; so strike above the necks, and strike every finger of them!” (Qur’an 8:12)
“Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to strike terror thereby into the enemy of Allah and your enemy … ” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Then, when the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; Allah is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” (Qur’an 9:5)
“Fight those who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not practice the religion of truth, even if they are of the People of the Book — until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” (Qur’an 9:29)
“Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of Allah; they kill, and are killed … ” (Qur’an 9:111)
Or these statements, attributed to Muhammad:
“I have been made victorious through terror.” (Bukhari 4:52.220)
“Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war … When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. … If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Muslim 4294)
“I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah.” (Muslim 30)
Laurie Goodstein’s smears continue:
Mr. Bolton is chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a think tank that regularly features articles on its website promoting the notion that pliant European countries, especially Britain, are submitting to “Islamization” by hostile Muslim migrants …
Anyone who has given even passing attention to what is occurring in Britain and Europe knows there is ample reason for concern about this.
More from Goodstein:
[B]oth Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Bolton have appeared frequently on the radio show of Frank Gaffney Jr., the president and founder of the Center for Security Policy … Mr. Bolton has occasionally nodded along to some of Mr. Gaffney’s falsehoods. When Huma Abedin, an American Muslim who was a close aide to Hillary Clinton, was wrongly accused of being a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Bolton told Mr. Gaffney’s radio show that he did not see any problem with raising the question, even though a host of senators had denounced it.
In reality, a host of senators denouncing something does not constitute proof, or even evidence; a host of senators once denounced the abolition of slavery. The confirmed truth is that Huma Abedin does have extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. It is suspicious indeed when the ties of Hillary Clinton’s closest aide are considered beyond the pale and unworthy of investigation.
Goodstein notes that Pompeo agreed with Gaffney’s statement that Barack Obama displayed “kind of an affinity for, if not the violent beheading and crucifixions and slaying of Christians and all that, but at least for the cause for which these guys are engaged in such activities.”
Indeed. Obama frequently praised Islam, but never had a positive word for Christianity. He let in thousands of Muslim migrants, but kept out Christian refugees. I suppose it’s “Islamophobic” to point out Obama’s statements and actions.
Even worse, Goodstein claims the accusations that Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are “unfounded.”
Really? Here is a 20-page dossier fully documenting Carson’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Carson worked extensively with Muslim Brotherhood groups — including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) — even after being warned about them. It is the height of irresponsibility, as well as dishonesty, for Goodstein to toss off this accusation as “unfounded” while ignoring all contrary evidence. She does not even bother to inform her readers that such evidence exists.
Goodstein writes:
[T]he idea that American Muslims are a subversive fifth column is rejected by mainstream experts (Who?). Muslims make up less than 1 percent of the American population and many of those who are immigrants came to the United States to escape authoritarian Muslim countries; imposing Shariah law is not on their agenda.
Of course, a captured internal Muslim Brotherhood document states this:
[Supporters] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions (From “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America,” by Mohamed Akram, May 19, 1991.)
And all the major Muslim organizations in the U.S. — CAIR, ISNA, MAS, MSA, IIIT, and more — were listed in this document as partner organizations in this effort.
Goodstein quotes Wa’el N. Alzayat, whom she describes as “a Middle East expert at the State Department,” as saying:
Imagine if this stuff had been said about Jews, or African-Americans or Chinese-Americans. And yet, we’re living with an administration that is actually rewarding people with racist views or racist associations with some of the highest positions in our government.
The truth is that there are no Jewish, African-American (with the arguable exception of Black Lives Matter) and Chinese-American groups carrying out terror attacks. Or boasting that they will soon bring down the U.S. government and install one to their liking.
Finally, Goodstein writes that it’s my fault:
Mr. Bolton, a fierce critic of Mr. Obama, wrote the foreword to a 2013 book by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, “The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America.” Ms. Geller has said that the only moderate Muslims are secular Muslims, and that allowing Muslims to pray in public schools or workplaces would lead to the “mosque-ing” of America. She led the fight against a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center.
Yes. So? A full 70% of Americans opposed the Ground Zero Mosque.
And what, precisely, in Pamela Geller’s statements, or in our book, is false? The Times doesn’t bother to say.
Laurie Goodstein knows that the easy marks and Leftist ideologues that make up the majority of the Times’ readership will swallow what she says uncritically.
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