Saturday 26 December 2015

Direct Evidence of San Bernardino cover up?

San Bernardino victim's daughter exposes the false flag by mistake!

Islamic State Sanctioned Organ Harvesting from Captives in Document Taken in US Raid

VICE NEWS
War & Conflict

The Islamic State authorized the harvesting of human organs in a previously undisclosed ruling by the group's Islamic scholars, raising concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts.
The ruling, contained in a January 31, 2015 document reviewed by Reuters, says taking organs from a living captive to save a Muslim's life, even if it is fatal for the captive, is permissible. It justifies the practice in part by drawing an analogy to cannibalism in extreme circumstances, a practice it says earlier Islamic scholars had allowed.
"Saving a Muslim from death or deterioration is an Islamic legal duty that should be performed with every legitimate way or financial means," says the document, which is in the form of a fatwa, or religious ruling, from the Islamic State's Research and Fatwa Committee. "The jurists of the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools and others permitted, when necessary, the killing of the infidel combatant or the apostate should one need to consume their flesh for the purpose of saving his own life."
For a US government translation of the document, "Fatwa Number 68," click here.
"The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may be taken with impunity," the translation continues. "Organs that end the captive's life if removed: The removal of that type is also not prohibited."
Reuters couldn't independently confirm the authenticity of the document. US officials say it was among a trove of data and other information obtained by US Special Forces in a raid in eastern Syria in May.
The document does not offer any proof that Islamic State actually engages in organ harvesting or organ trafficking. But it does provide religious sanction for doing so under the group's harsh interpretation of Islam — which is rejected by most Muslims. Previously, Iraq has accused Islamic State of harvesting human organs and trafficking them for profit.
The document does not define "apostate," though the Islamic State has killed or imprisoned Shia Muslims, non-Muslims, such as Christians, as well as Sunni Muslims who don't follow its extremist views.
Documents shared with allies
US officials say the records that were seized have given the US government a deep look into how Islamic State organizes, raises funds and codifies laws for its followers.
Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, told Reuters the documents should be examined by the UN Security Council as evidence that Islamic State could be trafficking in organs to raise cash.
in February, Alhakim invited international observers to investigate corpses discarded by Islamic State militants, whom he accused of harvesting organs from captives. He claimed that militants had killed a dozen doctors in the captive Iraqi city of Mosul for refusing to harvest organs, and called on the Security Council to look at bodies recovered from mass shallow graves that had been found with deep surgical cuts and missing organs.
"We have bodies. Come and examine them," he said at the time. "It is clear they are missing certain parts."
The UN special envoy for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said at the time that he could not confirm the claim, but promised it would be investigated. The UN has not provided an update on that investigation, which Alhakim said he would ask the Security Council to revisit.
The May raid in Syria, which resulted in the death of Islamic State top financial official Abu Sayyaf and the capture of his wife, netted seven terabytes of data in the form of computer hard drives, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs and papers, said Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama's Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL — a reference to an alternative name for the terror group, which is also known as ISIS and Daesh. Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian militant whose real name was Fathi ben Awn ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi.
US officials have previously described the Abu Sayyaf raid and some of the documentation seized. But until now, none of the actual documents have been released — aside from materials illustrating Islamic State's trafficking in antiquities, made public at an event at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in September.
The US government has shared some of the documents from the Abu Sayyaf raid with allied governments in an effort to increase their understanding of Islamic State in recent weeks as Washington works to shore up support for countering the group.
The group of documents reviewed by Reuters — entitled "Lessons Learned From the Abu Sayyaf Raid" — show how the Islamic State has provided a legal justification to its followers for a range of practices.
For instance, "Fatwa Number 64" dated January 29, 2015, provides detailed rules for rape, prescribing when Islamic State men can and cannot have sexual intercourse with female slaves.
McGurk said Islamic State's Research and Fatwa Committee reports directly to the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Organs of 'infidels'
The ruling on organ harvesting cites Islamic texts, principles and laws that it says support what it calls "the notion that transplanting healthy organs into a Muslim person's body in order to save the latter's life or replace a damaged organ with it is permissible."
Senior US officials, including McGurk, said they have not been able to ascertain whether the Islamic State had followed through on the fatwa on organ harvesting.
The document provides "a religious justification for harnessing the organs of what they call infidels," he said.
William McCants, a Brookings Institution scholar who is author of the book The ISIS Apocalypse, said the group's ruling on slavery and human organs don't represent modern Islamic interpretations.
Last December, the news site Al-Monitor reported that organ harvesting appears to be yet another way for the Islamic State to diversify the portfolio that fund its activities.
Iraqi otolaryngologist Siruwan al-Mosuli informed Al-Monitor that he had noticed "unusual activity" around medical facilities in Mosul where foreign surgeons were employed but banned from interacting with local doctors. He claimed that injured or fallen fighters and hostages were among those used to harvest organs, which are then sold and trafficked through networks to medical institutions abroad.
In early 2014, reports surfaced of organ harvesting taking place in areas of Syria controlled by Islamic militants. Hossain Noufel, the head of the forensic pathology department of the Damascus University, told Syrian newspaper Al Watan that there had been more than 18,000 cases of organ trafficking in the country's north
https://news.vice.com/article/islamic-state-sanctioned-organ-harvesting-from-captives-in-document-taken-in-us-raid

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Thursday 17 December 2015

Dont Be Sad - Powerful Reminder

Any targets threatening Russian forces in Syria must be immediately destroyed – Putin




Jihadists in Syria pose a direct threat to Russia, Putin has told a defense meeting in Moscow, adding that any targets threatening the country’s military there should be destroyed. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Islamic State’s influence in Syria continues to expand.
An S-400 air defence missile system is deployed for a combat duty at the Hmeymim airbase to provide security of the Russian air group's flights in Syria. © Dmitriy Vinogradov
An S-400 air defence missile system is deployed for a combat duty at the Hmeymim airbase to provide security of the Russian air group’s flights in Syria. © Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik
The Russian military’s actions in Syria are being coordinated with Russian special services such as the FSB, who are disclosing terrorist cells, including Islamic State, Putin said.
All forces threatening Russian servicemen in Syria should be destroyed, according to the Russian president.
Any targets threatening our [military] group or land infrastructure must be immediately destroyed,” Putin said, speaking at a Defense Ministry event.
Putin said more 5,000 members of the Free Syrian Army are operating on the terrorists’ side.
In general, the actions of the Russian groups deserve high praise. This is a result of work by the Ministry of Defense, General Staff officers, Russian Air Force pilots and the Russian Navy,” he added.
December 11, 2015. President Vladimir Putin speaks at the expanded meeting of Defense Ministry Board at the National Defense Management Center in Moscow. © Grigoriy Sisoev
December 11, 2015. President Vladimir Putin speaks at the expanded meeting of Defense
Ministry Board at the National Defense Management Center in Moscow.
 © Grigoriy Sisoev / Sputnik

‘ISIS influence expanding in Syria’ – Russian Def Min

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu added that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) controls about 70 percent of Syria’s territory, adding that in Syria and Iraq there are about 60,000 militants.
The Islamic State area of influence is expanding,” he said, “There is a threat that their actions will be transferred to Central Asia and the Caucasus.
To date the Russian military has carried out about 4,000 sorties, striking around 8,000 terrorist facilities in Syria, he added.
How Russia is smashing the Turkish game in Syria (Op-Edge by Pepe Escobar)
Embedded image permalink

Drones have proved a necessary part of the military operation against the terrorists, according to Shoigu. He said that Moscow has an about 1,720 drones at its disposal.
Both Putin and Shoigu took part in the Defense Ministry board meeting, which apart from the Syrian operation touched upon such issues as nuclear strategy, NATO expansion and Arctic military bases.
“Special attention should be paid to strengthening the combat potential of the strategic nuclear forces and implementing defense space programs,” Putin said during the meeting.
Embedded image permalink
RT @RT_com
BREAKING: Russian Kilo-class sub with cruise missiles in Mediterranean off Syria - reports http://on.rt.com/6ytg 

Russia needs to “arm all the components of the nuclear triad with new armaments, raise the efficiency of the missile attack warning and aerospace defense systems,” the Russian president said.
Shoigu added NATO has significantly expanded in Europe.
The US has sited at least 200 bombs in the Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Germany, according to the defense minister.
Source

Russia Warns Friday The 13th Paris Massacre Is Masonic Power Play For World War III

ITCW


jesuit masonic

WATCH VIDEO https://youtu.be/CKq3sz4yMuU
A stunning new report issued today by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to the policy makers of the Security Council (SC) states that yesterdays attacks in Paris can be likened to a “ritual massacre” and was “orchestrated/directed” by a secretive “element/cabal” of Freemasons (Masonic/Masons) holding high positions of power within the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6), Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the Vatican.[Note: words/phrases appearing in quotes “” in this report are English approximations for Russian words having no exact language counterpart]
According to this report, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) first alerted the MoD to the potential of this “Friday the 13th” plot a fortnight ago (27 October) after a highly secretive meeting was held in Washington D.C. attended by the Director of the CIA, John Brennan, DGSE Director Bernard Bajolet, former MI6 Chief John Sawers and former DMI Chief, and current Israeli National Security Advisor, Yaacov Amidror.
The overt purpose for this extraordinary meeting of the West’s top intelligence masterminds, this report continues, was their public discussion at an event called the CIA-GW Intelligence Conference: Panel on The Shared 21st Century International Mission where the future of the Middle East (at least from the Western perspective) was being determined.
The covert reason, however, for this meeting, this report says, was “revealed/discovered” by the GRU when these spy masterminds met in secret after their conference at the home of US Vice President Joseph Biden, who is the top Roman Catholic Jesuit (Society of Jesus) holding power in America today, and presided over by CIA Director John Brennan who, like Vice President Biden, is a Jesuit-trained intelligence analyst with an interest in Just War theory.
Immediately after this 27 October meeting of these Western spy chiefs with Vice President Biden, this report states, the initial GRU report filed with the MoD about it “warned/strongly suggested” that the Jesuit-Masonic makeup of these “cabal/plotters” could not rule out a retaliatory strike against the Federation organized by this group on 13 November as these secretive organizations frequently, if not always, “schedule/plan” their false-flag massacres to coincide with “important/mystical” dates important to them.
Important to note is that unlike many of its other national counterparts, the Federation devotes an enormous amount of monetary and intellectual resources to what is called “esoteric/satanic/religious” intelligence due to their experiences in the Great Patriotic War (World War II) against the German Nazi Empire—a war fought not only against armies, but against the “unknown/unseen” forces behind that monstrous regime.
Especially alarming about the 27 October meeting of these spy chiefs in Washington D.C., this report continues, was DGSE Director Bernard Bajolet stating afterwards that the Federation protected nation of Syria “will be different from what had been established after World War II”—which in turn led the GRU to warn the MoD that the Freemasons “Master Magic numbers of 11 and 13” were now in play.
And exactly as the GRU had warned, yesterday, 13 November, the latest of the West’s “ritual massacres” intended to remake the entire world into their image occurred in Paris when Western-backed Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists led a coordinated attack against 6 defenseless targets killing at least 128 and wounding 180 more with 99 of the survivors being reported in critical condition.


The significance of these Freemason-Jesuit plotters exacting yesterday’s Friday the 13th massacre on Paris, this report explains, is due to their secretive organizations banishment, arresting and outlawing of all of their members on Friday the 13 October 1307 against their declaration of innocence, and the subsequent burning at the stake of their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral seven years later on Friday 13 March 1314.

Critical to note too, this report says, are that previous GRU warnings had been issued in 2013 that the Freemason-Jesuits would take revenge for the killing of their Grand Master after the election to the Roman Catholic Papacy of Pope Francis (the first Jesuit to be installed as Pope in the Church’s entire history) on 13 March of that year—699 years to the date after the fiery execution of Jacques de Molay in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, and in spite of the fact that Jesuits arebound by oath not to seek higher office in the Roman Catholic Churchdue to their past association with the Freemasons.
To the “identical/connection” between the Jesuits and Freemasons, this report further explains, was first documented by the United States Congress in 1913 [Congressional Record, House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, February 15, 1913, pages 3215-3216] when the oaths taken by each of these secretive organizations were discovered to be nearly exactly the same in their members pledging their allegiance to their cause against any and all governments or nations:
Pledge of the Jesuits
I, ……….., now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ’s Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed.
Pledge of the Freemasons (associated Freemason organizations and Rhode Scholars take this pledge too)
I, …………, now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus rounded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the III and continued to the present, do by the womb at the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness the Pope, is Christ’s vice regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given His Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments and they may be safely destroyed. Therefore to the utmost of ray power I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’s right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and the now pretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere, and all adherents in regard that they may be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome.

Aside from the revenge factor being at play in yesterday’s Friday the 13th Paris massacre, this report continues, is it also being able to serve as the springboard for the Jesuit-Freemason’s ultimate goal of causing World War III.
To how this will be accomplished, this report says, and at least as these plotters hope it will, will be for France to declare yesterday’s Friday the 13th massacre as an act of war—which upon their doing so will bring into immediate force Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty the French nation rejoined in 2009 after a 43 year absence.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty, this report explains, says that the response to an attack on any member may include armed force, but it does not mandate it. All that NATO actually promises is to take “such action as it deems necessary” to restore and maintain security. That could be anything from nuclear war to a stiff diplomatic protest.
The only time Article 5 of the NATO treaty has ever been invoked in its entire history, this report further states, was on 12 September 2001 after the attacks on the United States—which remains in effect to today, but with France at the time not being member would necessitate histories second invocation of it so that France can legally (at least in the eyes of the West) engage in total global war with its allies.

With French President Francois Hollande declaring today that this Friday the 13th massacre is, indeed, an “act of war” perpetrated by the Islamic State, MoD expert analysts in this report say, and with ISIS, likewise, claiming responsibility, the French have now vowed a “merciless responsesetting the stage for a direct military confrontation with the Federation.
And even though the Foreign Ministry has warned against early conclusions regarding reasons and objectives the terrorists had in Paris; as all information should come from investigators, this report notes, the Western propaganda press has now gone into “high gear” pushing their citizens toward war.
As the Federation, since 30 September, has been bombing the Islamic State and its terrorist allies into oblivion, the greatest fear of these Jesuit-Freemason plotters, this report warns, is that their not so secret support of these barbarians with weapons and resources will become more apparent to the world unmasking these monsters and revealing who they really are—and with that what their global agenda is too.
But with doing as the Foreign Ministry says they should do, this report concludes, the true motives of this Friday the 13th massacre will, likewise, be revealed for what it truly is—and which President Obama himself agrees with as just the day prior to this attack, 12 October, he rightfully noted that the Islamic State was not getting stronger and has now been contained.
To the final outcome of this great tragedy this report doesn’t speculate upon—but one can hope that the real truth of this massacre becomes more widely known before, and as always, these warmongers plunge our world into total war.

November 14, 2015 © EU and US all rights reserved.  Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.

Read more: http://www.inspiretochangeworld.com/2015/11/russia-warns-friday-the-13th-paris-massacre-is-masonic-power-play-for-world-war-iii/

A History of Wahhabism and the Hijacking of the Muslim faith


ITCW

Image source: vimeo.com 
Image source: vimeo.com
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – George Orwell

Our century so far has been overshadowed by a plague which roots, western powers have proclaimed, can be found in Islam and its practice. And though politicians have been careful not to publicly brand all Muslims terrorists, the narrative has nevertheless been one of suspicion and assumption. The words terror and Islam have been juxtaposed too many times in the media for anyone to believe that it was not by “design.”  There has been a war of words against both Islam and Muslims. Its aim is rather simple and only too predictable since it falls within an equation of greed and cynicism.
By ridiculing Islam and dehumanizing its followers, western powers have essentially laid the ground for intervention – positioning their armies within a narrative of moral salvation and liberation when their aims are everything but.
Iraq serves a perfect example. Even though US soldiers committed heinous crimes against Iraqis, despite the rapes, the raids and the mass massacres; in the face of systematic tortures and aggravated human rights violations, Washington still claimed moral high ground, arguing the greater good required decisive actions.
Truth is, from the moment the towers of the Trade Center tumbled down to the ground in great swirls of smoke and ashes, the MENA and with it all Muslims within it, have been lined up as sacrificial lambs to the altar of imperialism.
If anyone and anything has benefited from this grand war on terror, it is surely weapons dealers and all those behind who feeds corporate America its fill of blood. The signs are everywhere for those who care to see!
And if speaking the truth is conspiratorial theorism then so be it!
Terror was engineered and unleashed as a weapon of mass destruction and a political trojan horse. What better way to control the narrative and outcome of wars but by creating the very crisis, one intends to find solutions to, while keeping a hand in both pots?
If not for 9/11 Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq would not have been invaded. Arguably, without the war on terror Americans would still enjoy some of their civil liberties, and terminologies such as rendition and institutionalized torture might not have become generic terms. But then again corporations would not have seen their bottom lines explode under the influx of billions of dollars in weapon sales, security deals, and oil concessions the way it did.
The terms “follow the money” takes on a completely different meaning when correlated to terror.
But if corporate America has indeed played the terror card to forward its own very selfish and radical form of capitalism, it did not invent the ideology of terror per se – it only rebranded and repackaged it to fit its purpose.
It is again in history we must look to understand how this evil – Wahhabism, came to be in the first place; and under whose influence it first sparked into life. There too, the shadow of imperialism lurks …
It is crucial to understand though that ISIS, terror’s modern manifestation and expression, carries no tie with Islam. NONE!
Actually both Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali warned us against this black plague.
In Kitab Al Fitan – a compilation of hadiths (Islamic tradition) relating to the end of times put together by prominent scholar Nuyam bin Hammad in 229 AH – Imam Ali recalled the Prophet saying,
“If you see the black flags, then hold your ground and do not move your hands or your feet. A people will come forth who are weak and have no capability, their hearts are like blocks of iron. They are the people of the State (literally the people of Al Dawla), they do not keep a promise or a treaty. They call to the truth but they are not its people. Their names are (nicknames like Abu Mohammed) and their last names (are the names of town and cities, like Al Halabi) and their hair is loose like women’s hair. (Leave them) until they fight among themselves, then Allah will bring the truth from whoever He wills.”
In another reference to a period of intense religious, political and social confusion Imam Ali  warned,
“If you are against a group of ‪Muslims and the kuffar (unbelievers) are against them too, then know that you have aligned yourself with the kuffar against your own brothers. And know that if that is the case, then there is definitely something wrong with your view. If you want to know where the most righteous of Muslims are then look to where the arrows of the kuffar are pointing.”
In this extract, Imam Ali clearly refers to a time when Muslims will cross swords with other Muslims while in alliance with non-Muslims. And because western powers are undeniably colluding with those radicals they claim to want to destroy – training them and funding them in plain view, one can legitimately ponder.
Looking at events currently unfolding in the Middle East such warnings have found a deep echo within the Muslim community and religious leaders, among whom most prominently Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Both have mapped their decisions within such religious parameters. And whether one agrees with those men or not is not the point – understanding where they are coming from and where they stand however, is.
And if we can agree that not all is as it seems, then could it not be that those enemies we have imagined are indeed – not?
If ISIS has certainly been sold as an Islamic movement, everything it professes and teaches stands against Islam and its teachings. This divide actually goes beyond Islam’s great schism – which schism it needs to be noted remains part of this myth Saudi Arabia has been so eager on selling the world.
If indeed religious disagreements have occurred over the centuries and if Muslims have in truth fought and argue over the legitimacy, legality and religious superiority of their schools of thoughts and judicial principles, scholars did so in the knowledge and express belief that while men are flawed, Islam is perfect.
Islam’s disagreements came about out from a desire to walk better on God’s path, not to obliterate people with an implacable and merciless truth.
Looking back at the long line of prophets, from Adam to Noah, Ibrahim, Jesus, Yehia and Muhammad, all shared in the Oneness which is God’s ultimate command, God’s boundless mercy onto His creation and His injunction of peace. And if those holy messengers came at different times and places in our history, the essence of their message has been as permanent and immovable as God’s will. From Adam’s first cries of remorse and calls for forgiveness, to Prophet Muhammad’s last breath, God’s message onto us has always been Islam – as Islam means submission. In truth, the only real freedom which was ever given to us is that to submit, body and soul to The Creator of All things.
Islam did not start at Prophet Muhammad, rather it was reborn with him and through him; a last call before the sunset, a last mercy and guidance for us to follow – or not – a last ray of hope before evil can get its fill and the last chapter of our fate written down.
Islam was on the first day as it will be on the last day – it is us which have called it many things in our need to possess and label the divine. It is us again which have strayed and plotted, coveted and perverted to serve very earthly ambitions.
Wahhabism is no more than an engineered perversion, a division, an abomination which has but spread like a cancer onto the Islamic world and now threatens to destroy all religions.
Wahhabism and its legions: Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, are but the manifestations of a reactionary atheist movement which seeks the death of all faiths.
Wahhabism is not of Islam and Islam will never be of Wahhabism – it is a folly to conceive that Islam would ever sanction murder, looting and atrocious barbarism. Islam opposes despotism, injustice, infamy , deceits, greed, extremism, asceticism – everything which is not balanced and good, fair and merciful, kind and compassionate.
If anything, Wahhabism is the very negation of Islam. As many have called it before – Islam is not Wahhabism. Wahhabism is merely the misguided expression of one man’s political ambition – Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, a man who was recruited by Empire Britain to erode at the fabric of Islam and crack the unity of its ummah (community).
As Wahhabism began its land and mind grab in Hijaz – now known as Saudi Arabia – one family, Al Saud saw in this violent and reactionary school of thought a grand opportunity to claim and retain power. This unholy alliance has blotted the skies of Arabia for centuries, darkening the horizon with its miasms.
Wahhabism has now given birth to a monstrous abomination – extreme radicalism; a beast which has sprung and fed from Salafis and Wahhabis poison, fueled by the billions of Al Saud’s petrodollars; a weapon exploited by neo-imperialists to justify military interventions in those wealthiest corners of the world.
But though those powers which thought themselves cunning by weaving a network of fear around the world to better assert and enslave are losing control over their brain-child, ISIS and its sisters in hate and fury, as they all have gone nuclear, no longer bound by the chains their fathers shackled them with.
ISIS’s obscene savagery epitomises the violence which is inherent and central to Wahhabism and Salafism – its other deviance. And though the world knows now the source of all terror, no power has yet dared speak against it, instead the world has chosen to hate its designated victim – Islam.
In July 2013, the European Parliament identified Wahhabism as the main source of global terrorism, and yet the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, condemning ISIS in the strongest terms, has insisted that “the ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism do not belong to Islam in any way”. But then again the Grand Mufti might remain oblivious to the history of Wahhabism or what Wahhabism actually professes.
Wahhabism 101
During the 18th century, revivalist movements sprang up in many parts of the Islamic world as the Muslim imperial powers began to lose control of peripheral territories. In the west at this time, governments were beginning to separate church from state, but this secular ideal was a radical innovation: as revolutionary as the commercial economy that Europe was concurrently devising. No other culture regarded religion as a purely private activity, separate from such worldly pursuits as politics, so for Muslims the political fragmentation of society was also a religious problem. Because the Quran had given Muslims a sacred mission – to build a just economy in which everybody is treated with equity and respect – the political well-being of the ummah was always a matter of sacred import. If the poor were oppressed, the vulnerable exploited or state institutions corrupt, Muslims were obliged to make every effort to put society back on track.
If 18th-century reformers were convinced that should Muslims ever regain lost power and prestige, they would have to return to the fundamentals of their faith, ensuring that God – rather than materialism or worldly ambition – dominated the political order, Wahhabism would come to pervert such desires.
There was nothing militant about this “fundamentalism”; not yet, rather, it was a grassroots attempt to reorient society and did not involve jihad.
Only, if the idea of going back to the root of Islam at a time when society had strayed from the path was indeed laudable, Wahhabism would work to betray such ideal by twisting on its head Islam’s most sacred pillars, perverting Islamic law and the interpretation of its Scriptures to serve the mighty and enslave the weak.
Under Wahhabism’s interpretation of Islam, women reverted to being objectified. Those many great women Islam saw rise under the strict protection of the Quran, those models Muslim women came to look up to and aspire to become – Maryam, Khadijah, Fatimah, Zaynab; Muhammad ibn Abdel Wahhab would have had locked up in chains in their home.
When Islam gave women their rightful place within society, Wahhabism denied them everything.
And for those of you who continue to live under the premise that Islam is profoundly unfair against women, do remember it is not Islam but rather men’s interpretations of it which is the source of your ire.
Islam secured women’ status according to God’s will. Islam poses both men and women on equal footing in terms of their faith – it is only in their duties and responsibilities which they differ, not worthiness. Islam calls on men to provide for women and offer them security, both financial and physical. Under Islam women are free to marry, divorce and work. Under Islam women cannot be bought, bartered or oppressed. Under Islam women enjoy more freedom than most western women have been given. It is society and cultural deviations which have denied them those rights, not Islam.
Women rights are forever imprinted in the Quran – this reality will never change, no matter how men chose to interpret it and falsify it.
Like Martin Luther, ibn Wahhab claimed he wanted to return to the earliest teachings of Islam and eject all later medieval accretions. To achieve such ambitions he opposed Sufism and Shia Islam, labelling them as heretical innovations (bidah) as both opposed tyranny in faith. He went on to urge all Muslims to reject the learned exegesis developed over the centuries by the ulema (scholars) and interpret the texts for themselves, or rather under his guidance.
This naturally incensed the clergy and threatened local rulers, who believed that interfering with these popular devotions would cause social unrest. Eventually, however, ibn Wahhab found a patron in Mohammed Ibn Saud, a chieftain of Najd who adopted his ideas. Ibn Saud quickly used Wahhabism to support his military campaigns for plunder and territory, insisting such violence was all in the name of the greater good.
To this day Al Saud’s house is following in such bloody footsteps.
Although the scriptures were so central to ibn Wahhab’s ideology, by insisting that his version of Islam alone had validity, he distorted the Quranic message in the most violent way. The Quran firmly states that “There must be no coercion in matters of faith” – Quran 2:256.
It rules that Muslims must believe in the revelations of all the great prophets (3:84) and that religious pluralism was God’s will (5:48). Until Wahhabism came knocking, Muslims remained traditionally wary of takfir, the practice of declaring a fellow Muslim to be an unbeliever (kafir). Hitherto Sufism, which had developed an outstanding appreciation of other faith traditions, had been the most popular form of Islam and had played an important role in both social and religious life. “Do not praise your own faith so exclusively that you disbelieve all the rest,” urged the great mystic Ibn al-Arabi (d.1240). “God the omniscient and omnipresent cannot be confined to any one creed.” It was common for a Sufi to claim that he was a neither a Jew nor a Christian, nor even a Muslim, because once you glimpsed the divine, you left these man-made distinctions behind.
After ibn Wahhab’s death, Wahhabism became more violent, an instrument of state terror. As Al Saud sought to establish an independent kingdom, Abd al-Aziz Ibn Muhammad, Ibn Saud’s son and successor, used takfir to justify the wholesale slaughter of resistant populations. In 1801, his army sacked the holy Shia city of Karbala in what is now Iraq, plundered the tomb of Imam Hussain, and slaughtered thousands of Shias, including women and children. A few years later,  in 1803, in fear and panic, the holy city of Mecca surrendered to the Saudi leader, wary of that his army would do to the population.
Little do we remember the sacking of the holy city of Medina, when Al Saud’s legions ransacked mosques, schools and homes. Al Saud’s army murdered hundreds of men, women and children, deaf to their screams. As imams pleaded for the most sacred relics of Islam to be protected, Al Saud’s men pillaged and looted, setting fire to Medina’s library. Al Saud made an example out of Medina, the very city which proved so welcoming to Islam. On the ground which saw rise the first mosque of Islam, Al Saud soaked the earth red with blood.
Where the footsteps of the last Prophet of God still echo, Al Saud filled the air with ghastly cries of horrors.
But such terror has been erased from history books. Such tales of blood and savage betrayals have been swallowed whole by Al Saud as this house attempted to re-write history and claim lineage to the house of the prophet.
Eventually, in 1815, the Ottomans despatched Muhammad Ali Pasha, governor of Egypt, to crush the Wahhabi forces and destroy their capital. But Wahhabism became a political force once again during the First World War when the Saudi chieftain – another Abd al-Aziz – made a new push for statehood and began to carve out a large kingdom for himself in the Middle East with his devout Bedouin army, known as the Ikhwan, the “Brotherhood”.
In the Ikhwan we see the roots of ISIS. To break up the tribes and wean them from the nomadic life which was deemed incompatible with Islam, the Wahhabi clergy had settled the Bedouin in oases, where they learned farming and the crafts of sedentary life and were indoctrinated in Wahhabi Islam. Once they exchanged the time-honoured ghazu raid, which typically resulted in the plunder of livestock, for the Wahhabi-style jihad, these Bedouin fighters became more violent and extreme, covering their faces when they encountered Europeans and non-Saudi Arabs and fighting with lances and swords because they disdained weaponry not used by the Prophet. In the old ghazu raids, the Bedouin had always kept casualties to a minimum and did not attack non-combatants. Now the Ikhwan routinely massacred “apostate” unarmed villagers in their thousands, thought nothing of slaughtering women and children, and routinely slit the throats of all male captives.
In 1915, Abd Al-Aziz planned to conquer Hijaz (an area in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia that includes the cities of Mecca and Medina), the Persian Gulf to the east of Najd, and the land that is now Syria and Jordan in the north, but during the 1920s he tempered his ambitions in order to acquire diplomatic standing as a nation state with Britain and the United States. The Ikhwan, however, continued to raid the British protectorates of Iraq, Transjordan and Kuwait, insisting that no limits could be placed on jihad. Regarding all modernisation as bidah, the Ikhwan also attacked Abd al-Aziz for permitting telephones, cars, the telegraph, music and smoking – indeed, anything unknown in Muhammad’s time – until finally Abd Al-Aziz quashed their rebellion in 1930.
After the defeat of the Ikhwan, the official Wahhabism of the Saudi kingdom abandoned militant jihad and became a religiously conservative movement.
But the Ikhwan spirit and its dream of territorial expansion did not die, instead it gained new ground in the 1970s, when the Kingdom became central to western foreign policy in the region. Washington welcomed the Saudis’ opposition to Nasserism (the pan-Arab socialist ideology of Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser) and to Soviet influence. After the Iranian Revolution, in 1979 it gave tacit support to the Saudis’ project of countering Shia Islam by Wahhabizing the entire Muslim world.
Just as Nasserism posed a threat to both the Saudis and the US in that it entailed independence and a supranational sense of belonging and solidarity, in opposition to colonialism and feudalism, Iran Shia democratic movement presented too much of a pull for countries in the region to follow to be allowed to shine forth.
And so the wheels of propaganda were set in motion and Iran became western powers and its allies’ designated enemy. Right alongside Soviet Russia, Iran became the source of all evil, while all the while Saudi Arabia was left to industrialize radicalism on a mass scale.
The soaring oil price created by the 1973 embargo – when Arab petroleum producers cut off supplies to the U.S. to protest against the Americans’ military support for Israel – gave the Kingdom all the petrodollars it needed to export its idiosyncratic form of Islam.
The old military jihad to spread the faith was now replaced by a cultural offensive. The Saudi-based Muslim World League opened offices in every region inhabited by Muslims, and the Saudi ministry of religion printed and distributed Wahhabi translations of the Quran, Wahhabi doctrinal texts and the writings of modern thinkers whom the Saudis found congenial, such as Sayyids Abul-A’la Maududi and Qutb, to Muslim communities throughout the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, the United States and Europe. In all these places, they funded the building of Saudi-style mosques with Wahhabi preachers and established madrasas that provided free education for the poor, with, of course, a Wahhabi curriculum.
Slowly Muslims’ understanding of Islam became polluted by Wahhabism and Sunni Muslims began to think and breath Wahhabism, no longer in tune with its own religious tradition, cut off from free-thinking Islam, moderate Islam, compassionate Islam and non-violent Islam.
At the same time, young men from the poorer Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Pakistan, who had felt compelled to find work in the Gulf to support their families, associated their relative affluence with Wahhabism and brought this faith back home with them, living in new neighbourhoods with Saudi mosques and shopping malls that segregated the sexes. The Saudis demanded religious conformity in return for their munificence, so Wahhabi rejection of all other forms of Islam as well as other faiths would reach as deeply into Bradford, England, and Buffalo, New York, as into Pakistan, Jordan or Syria: everywhere gravely undermining Islam’s traditional pluralism.
WRITER

Saudi Arabia Can’t Just Declare War on the Terror They Themselves Created

ITCW

Image source: middleeastmonitor.com 
Image source: middleeastmonitor.com
Commenting on Saudi Arabia’s announcement that they would be forming a 34-nation ‘Islamic anti-terrorism coalition’, prominent Pakistani columnist and political analyst Wajahat Masood warned that Riyadh might have a hard time fighting against a phenomenon which they themselves have done so much to support over the past thirty years.
© AP Photo/ Hani Mohammed
© AP Photo/ Hani Mohammed
On Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency announced the creation of a 34-member ‘Islamic coalition against terrorism’, featuring members from across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, complete with a Riyadh-based operations command center aimed at coordinating and supporting joint military operations. The coalition’s aims, according to Saudi state media, will be “to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations,” on “the basis of the right of peoples to self-defense.”
Pakistan, according to Saudi media, is one of the countries which will be participating in the coalition. Asked for comment, Wajahat Masood, a well-known columnist, political analyst, and human rights activist, broke the issue down for Sputnik.
“First of all,” Masood explained, “it is necessary to clearly define the concept of terrorism – of who the terrorists are in our understanding (the people of the world, including Pakistanis), and that of the leadership of Saudi Arabia.”
“In our understanding,” the journalist noted, “a terrorist is a person who, raising his weapon in order to force others to submit to his will – political or religious. He is one who kills for this purpose, who is ready to commit any crime. This is our definition.”
“But Saudi authorities,” according to Masood, “think of the concept of terrorism differently. To them, a terrorist is anyone who presents or may present a threat to the order which exists in that state. No other understanding exists.”
“For this reason,” the journalist says, “it is necessary to first determine for ourselves who is a terrorist and, accordingly, which groups may be considered terrorists.”
Ultimately, Masood says that he doesn’t “believe that Saudi Arabia will fight against terrorism in our understanding of the word. Moreover, it shouldn’t be forgotten that this is a government which has done a great deal to support the wave of terror which has swept the world over the past thirty years.”
Asked if he was surprised to find that his country’s participation in the coalition, the journalist said that “on the one hand, this news was surprising; but on the other, what is there that’s shocking about it? We shouldn’t forget Riyadh’s persistent attempts to drag Pakistan into their coalition in the fight against the Houthis [in Yemen]. It was only thanks to public opinion, and the decision of our parliament, that my country resisted. After all, it’s worth remembering that our government is heavily dependent on foreign aid, much of it from the Saudis, in the interests of solving it’s internal problems, including budgetary and other issues.”
Suggesting that the formation of the coalition may in fact be a sign of Riyadh’s desperation, the journalist noted that “however they may try to convince us – the whole world, of the strength and fortitude of the Saudi regime, allow me to express my doubts as to its stability and strength. Things change…and perhaps the decision on the coalition is but an attempt to prevent such change.”
Source

http://www.inspiretochangeworld.com/2015/12/saudi-arabia-cant-just-declare-war-on-the-terror-they-themselves-created/

Obama “Surrender” To Putin Throws US Media Into “Complete Meltdown”

ITCW

INSPIRE TO CHANGE WORLD



osp1
A new report prepared by the Office of the President (OP) circulating in the Kremlin today states that the historic events of the past 72-hours occurring between the Federation and the United States can be correctly characterized as a “complete surrender” by President Barack Obama to President Putin that has led to a “strategic withdrawal for reassessment” of American forces operating against Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) terrorists in the Levant War Zone—which, in turn, has led to the “complete meltdown” of the US media establishment, most particularly their “Axis of Propaganda” outlets The New York Times and the Washington Post, whose lies about this conflict have now been exposed for the entire world to see.
According to this report, in a series of meetings held in Moscow with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Secretary Lavrov, and President Putin himself, the Obama regime was put on “immediate notice” by the Federation that the United States “kiddy game” in Syria and Iraq was over and that the threat of nuclear warfare between America and Russia was “now on the table”.
After presenting to Secretary Kerry the Federations entire portfolio of evidence regarding which nations, and intelligence services, were supporting the Islamic State, this report continues, and turning over to the Americans the secret emails of both former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and present US Defense Secretary Ash Carter obtained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) from these two US officials private unsecured emails, the Obama regime immediately “surrendered” and announced the following historic moves towards what may be peace in this region:
US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the Obama regime would no longer be seeking regime change in Syria—which just 4 weeks ago President Obama vowed he would never allow happen.
US Vice President Joseph Biden ordered Turkey to immediately remove its invading troops from Iraq—which just 6 days ago the US State Department refused to even acknowledge happened.
The Pentagon ordered the immediate removal from Turkey of the F-15 fighter jets the US had just stationed there and which posed a threat to Federation Aerospace Forces.
The Obama regime agreed to join Russia in offering a UN Resolution seeking to cut off Islamic State funding—an action that will occur at a rare UN Security Council meeting to be chaired by the US later today.
Foreign Minister Lavrov (left), US Secretary of State John Kerry (center) and President Putin (right) during final Moscow meeting 16 December 2015
Helping to change the Obama regimes “direction/directing” of this war against the Islamic State, this report says, was a critical document within the portfolio detailing last weeks massive global attack by the Islamic State that nearly brought down the world’s 13 internet root name servers—which, should it have been successful, would have plunged the United States into total and complete chaos so severe that noted cyber security expert John McAfee warned it would be “more devastating than any nuclear war”.
The portfolio on last weeks attempt by the Islamic State to destroy the global Internet presented by President Putin to Secretary Kerry, this report continues, further confirms news reports that this attack was launched from servers and IP addresses owned by the British government—but which they say they sold to Saudi Arabia.
In knowing that the Obama regime was surrendering to President Putin, this report further notes, Saudi Arabia then announced it was forming its own coalition of 34 mainly Muslim nations to fight the Islamic State without US support—but which Indonesia said it did not know it was going to be a military alliance and doesn’t want to join and a senior Pakistani lawmaker only learned about from a Reuters reporter, and that Turkey described as an ideological association rather than a military alliance.
Proving this assessment of the Saudis “coalition” against the Islamic State true, this report says, was that its first “attack” was launched against the American Presidential candidate Donald Trump and not any terrorists—and whom President Putin praised and stated about Donald Trump “He is a bright and talented person without any doubt. He is the absolute leader of the presidential race”.


Fortunately for the Obama regime who, obviously, wants no part in World War III, this report concludes, Aerospace Forces will now be able to focus entirely on the “backstabbing” Turkish government who downed a defenseless Aerospace Forces bomber over Syria instead of worrying about American planes too—and which President Putin bluntly warned these supporters of the Islamic State:

Source
http://www.inspiretochangeworld.com/

Tuesday 8 December 2015

UPDATE: Fire at Grand Forks Somali restaurant intentional, marshals say


Though investigators have “no idea” what motivated the deliberate torching of a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, community members believe the fire was a hate crime, with the fire ignited days after a Nazi-like symbol was spray-painted on the restaurant.
Forks, featuring Blind Joe

The Grand Forks Fire Department was called to Juba Coffee House, 2017 S. Washington St., at about 2 a.m. Tuesday for a report of a fire, which left the building badly damaged.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control within 20 minutes, but not before it caused an estimated $90,000 worth of damages, Battalion Chief Rob Corbett said.
No one was injured in the fire.
Fire marshals determined the fire was ignited intentionally, and with that, the Grand Forks Police Department has taken the lead in investigating the fire, according to a news release.
The fire was the second incident reported at the business in the past several days.
The Grand Forks Police Department also is investigating apparent vandalism that occurred overnight Thursday when someone painted graffiti on the exterior wall of the building. The graffiti included what appears to be an “SS” in the style of a symbol from Nazi Germany above the painted words “go home.”
Authorities have not determined whether the incidents are related.
“We have no idea (what motivated Tuesday’s fire) and we won’t know until the investigation is concluded,” Grand Forks Police spokesman Lt. Derik Zimmel said. “We’re certainly not going to put blinders on our investigation, and I would encourage the public to do the same.”
While he expressed his sympathies to those affected by the fire in a statement Tuesday, Mayor Mike Brown also cautioned against speculating about what happened.
But community leaders were quick to respond to beliefs that the fire was racially or religiously motivated and reassured Muslims, immigrants and others they are welcome here.
“This is your home,” said Robin David, president of the board of Global Friends Coalition, at a candlelight vigil held Tuesday evening outside Juba.
There is little question for some that the fire was racially or religiously motivated.
“It was vandalized last week,” said Said Mohamed, who was at the vigil. “It’s not coincidence.”
At the least, out of the fire surfaced fears.
“As a Muslim and an African-American, this is the first time I feel scared,” said Zakariye Ahmed, a UND student also at the vigil.
Fellow student Fuad Mohamoud echoed Ahmed, saying he worried about what may happen next.
“It could be the mosque,” he said.
The restaurant was a meeting place for Somali youth. Mohamoud said it was tradition for him and his friends to eat a meal there on Fridays after prayer. Goat meat was a popular menu item, he said.
“There’d be three or four of us going at it,” he said.
Now they’ll have to learn how to cook for themselves, he joked, saying Juba was the only Somali restaurant in town.
Local support
The blaze occurred against the backdrop of Republican presidential candidate and frontrunner Donald Trump proposing to bar Muslims from entering the country, which political commentators say echoes of 1930s Nazi Germany and is contrary to American values and the constitutional right to religious freedom.
It was anti-Muslim comments by Trump and others that motivated former UND professor Colleen Berry, who now lives in Colorado, to set up a GoFundMe page in support of the business.
The fund was set up within hours of the fire being reported and surpassed its goal of $8,000 by 5 p.m. Tuesday. It had raised more than $9,000 by 8 p.m.
“I’m overwhelmed,” she said. “It really makes me happy so many people we’re willing to step up for this.”
Berry said she would work with the Global Friends Coalition to get the money to the business owners.
Local reaction also was swift.
Several organizations and individuals immediately offered assistance once they heard about the fire, including Hope Church and North Dakotans for Diversity and Compassion.
Local artist Kathryn Fink organized a fundraising event featuring local art and music, which will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday 311 DeMers Ave., Grand Forks. Fink and local artist Adam Kemp, who immigrated to North Dakota from England, will sell their art, with all donations going toward Juba Coffee House or Global Friends Coalition.
Global Friends Coalition, which supports refugee integration, also plans to hold a fundraising event, Executive Director Cynthia Shabb said.
“It just breaks my heart,” she said.
Shabb said she spoke with the restaurant owner’s wife, who she said seemed “shocked” by the destruction to their business.
The owners of the restaurant told the Herald early Tuesday they did not want to comment on the fire until they knew what happened.
While fire marshals and police detectives picked through debris and took photos of the scene Tuesday, residents and customers milled about behind the yellow tape cordoning off the building.
Among them was Wayne Torrey, who lives at the nearby Ambassador Motel and said he was incredulous of the destruction.
Torrey said he regularly walked past the restaurant on his way to the bus stop and would greet patrons and workers there.
One day, he was having a rough day when restaurant employees offered him a free meal, he said.
“If they’ve got that much heart, I don’t even know why someone would do this” he said.
Herald Content Editor Christopher Bjorke and reporters Kevin Bonham and Jennifer Johnson contributed to this story.
UPDATED AT 4:27 P.M.
Investigators have found that an early morning fire that badly damaged a Somali restaurant was ignited purposefully.
The Grand Forks Fire Department has turned over the investigation of the fire at Juba Coffee House, a Somali restaurant on South Washington Street in Grand Forks, to the Grand Forks Police Department. Fire marshals and the department said in an afternoon news release the fire was “incendiary and suspicious in nature.”
The Fire Department responded to a report of a fire shortly after 2 a.m. at 2017 S. Washington St.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control within 20 minutes, Battalion Chief Rob Corbett said. No one was injured at the scene.
The estimated damage to the building and its contents is about $90,000, he said.
About 17 firefighters were on the scene. Fire marshals and Grand Forks police detectives remained at the site of the restaurant into the afternoon. The investigation into the fire is ongoing.
The fire was the second incident at the business in the past few days.
The Grand Forks Police Department also is investigating apparent vandalism that occurred overnight Thursday, when someone painted graffiti on the exterior wall of the building. The graffiti included what appears to be an SS in the style of a symbol for Nazi Germany’s Gestapo above the painted words “go home.”
Authorities have not determined whether the incidents are related.
Yellow police tape surrounded the building today, and police cars blocked the frontage road on the east side of South Washington Street between Campbell and Park drives.
Fire marshals could be seen picking through the debris and taking photographs of the scene. Two of the front windows were broken and glass littered the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.
Nearby residents and customers of Juba, known for its cuisine of sambusas and goat meat, milled about in front of the restaurant Tuesday.
The city of Grand Forks released a statement this afternoon on behalf of Mayor Mike Brown, who said the city’s thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the cafe fire.
“As a community, we come to the aid of our friends and neighbors who are hurting, and we rally around them,” he said. “It is part of who we are and we will do it again.”
The mayor’s office has reached out to the cafe owners and local organizations, which offered a network of support. But as the investigation is ongoing, he said it was “premature to speculate” on what happened.
“I have full confidence in our local and assisting agencies to get to the facts and when they do, we will determine the appropriate actions,” he said.
Several organizations immediately offered assistance once they heard about the fire, including Hope Church and North Dakotans for Diversity and Compassion (NDDC). A GoFundMe page also has been established in support of the business. More than $6,000 had been donated by 2:30 p.m..
Some donors left messages of support for Juba and for immigrants on the GoFundMe page.
Global Friends Coalition, which supports refugee integration, is taking the lead on a soon-to-be planned fundraising event, Executive Director Cynthia Shabb said.
“It just breaks my heart,” she said.
NDDC is waiting to hear what the needs of the Somali community are first, chairwoman Natasha Thomas said.
“Our role is to listen and to support,” she said. “We’re all sort of spinning with this right now.”
Residents will gather outside of Juba at 5:30 p.m. today in a “show of support,” said Robin David, president of the board of Global Friends Coalition.
Wayne Torrey, who lives at the Ambassador Motel next door to Juba Coffee House, said he was incredulous of the destruction.
Torrey said he regularly walked past the restaurant on his way to the bus stop and would greet the patrons and workers there.
One day when “nothing was going right,” the restaurant employees offered him a free meal, he said.
“They’ve got that much heart,” he said.
 
UPDATED AT 3 P.M.
An early morning fire heavily damaged Juba Coffee House, a popular Somali restaurant on South Washington Street in Grand Forks.
The Grand Forks Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at about 2:06 a.m. at 2017 S. Washington St.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control within 20 minutes, Battalion Chief Rob Corbett said. No one was injured at the scene.
The estimated damage to the building and its contents is about $90,000, he said.
About 17 firefighters were on the scene. Fire marshals and Grand Forks police detectives remained at the site of the restaurant into the afternoon. The investigation into the fire is ongoing.
The fire was the second incident at the business in the past few days.
The Grand Forks Police Department is investigating apparent vandalism that occurred overnight Thursday, when someone painted graffiti on the exterior wall of the building. The graffiti included what appears to be an SS in the style of a symbol for Nazi Germany’s Gestapo above the painted words “go home.”
Authorities have not determined whether the incidents are related. Fire marshals have not released the cause of the fire.
Yellow police tape surrounded the building today, and police cars blocked the frontage road on the east side of South Washington Street between Campbell and Park drives.
Fire marshals could be seen picking through the debris and taking photographs of the scene. Two of the front windows were broken and glass littered the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.
Nearby residents and customers of Juba, known for its cuisine of sambusas and goat meat, milled about in front of the restaurant Tuesday.
The city of Grand Forks released a statement this afternoon on behalf of Mayor Mike Brown, who said the city’s thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the cafe fire.
“As a community, we come to the aid of our friends and neighbors who are hurting, and we rally around them,” he said. “It is part of who we are and we will do it again.”
The mayor’s office has reached out to the cafe owners and local organizations, which offered a network of support. But as the investigation is ongoing, he said it was “premature to speculate” on what happened.
“I have full confidence in our local and assisting agencies to get to the facts and when they do, we will determine the appropriate actions,” he said.
Several organizations immediately offered assistance once they heard about the fire, including Hope Church and North Dakotans for Diversity and Compassion (NDDC). A GoFundMe page also has been established in support of the business. More than $6,000 had been donated by 2:30 p.m..
Some donors left messages of support for Juba and for immigrants on the GoFundMe page.
Global Friends Coalition, which supports refugee integration, is taking the lead on a soon-to-be planned fundraising event, Executive Director Cynthia Shabb said.
“It just breaks my heart,” she said.
NDDC is waiting to hear what the needs of the Somali community are first, chairwoman Natasha Thomas said.
“Our role is to listen and to support,” she said. “We’re all sort of spinning with this right now.”
Residents will gather outside of Juba at 5:30 p.m. today in a “show of support,” said Robin David, president of the board of Global Friends Coalition.
Wayne Torrey, who lives at the Ambassador Motel next door to Juba Coffee House, said he was incredulous of the destruction.
Torrey said he regularly walked past the restaurant on his way to the bus stop and would greet the patrons and workers there.
One day when “nothing was going right,” the restaurant employees offered him a free meal, he said.
“They’ve got that much heart,” he said.