I can. And I suspect many Mariettans can too about the eagerness of Islamic officials to suggest that the blaze that gutted a mosque on Powder Springs Road this week was a “hate crime.” And about how city officials appeared ready to either buy into that argument, or at a minimum, let themselves be suckered into being used as stage props by those making that argument.
The fire broke out near midnight Monday, mere minutes after the conclusion of a service there.
Yet by Wednesday mosque officials had already called a press conference, at which they were joined by Islamic leaders from near saying the culprit was “Islamophobia” and hinting at a “hate crime” connection.
"The Islamic Circle of North America feels very strongly that these incidents of Islamophobia are on the rise in our country," declared Naeem Baig, vice president of the Islamic Council of North America. "It is very sad to see that just a day after we celebrated Independence Day on the Fourth of July, the very next day, on the fifth of July, somebody came and decided to destroy this property, a house of worship. This is not what America is."
Marietta Fire officials, meanwhile, were scrupulously avoiding the use of the word “hate crime” as the cause of the fire.
Also at the press conference were Mayor Steve Tumlin and Ward 2 Councilman Grif Chalfant, in whose district the mosque stands, who expressed their dismay at the fire. But I suspect that they quickly began to see the conference as a case of the “tail wagging the dog.”
They, or somebody at City Hall, should have taken a moment to find out who they would be sharing the stage with at their press conference. For it turns out they let themselves – and our city — be used as a whipping boy by one Siraj Wahhaj. All it takes is two minutes on Google to learn that Wahhaj is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a man who wants to see Muslims take control of the U.S. and replace the Constitution with an Islamic caliphate. A man who testified in 1999 as a character witness for convicted terror mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman.
Why would the more “legitimate” Islamic leaders at the conference, and the mosque imam Hafiz Inayatullah, invite such a thug to be part of the press conference? Why would they give him a platform to spout his brand of hatred? He has left them — and the mayor, and our city — looking like stooges. And he has left the local mosque and its attendees looking like they sympathize with his foul agenda, which I suspect many of them do not.
Oh, and by the way: Marietta police have now arrested and charged one Tamsir Lucien Mendy for the arson. Mendy — wouldn’t you just know it? — is a member of the mosque.
Marietta officials should have seen this one coming and steered clear of the press conference.
I suggest the next time you hear Islamic officials complain about alleged “hate crimes,” you take it with a big grain of salt.
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Many Americans are too busy to research the real teachings of the radical Islamists, and it's up to a few to get the word out. America and Cobb County is comprised of fair-minded, freedom loving people, which is why so called "conservative" Islam is not compatible with our way of life and certainly should not be allowed to infiltrate our government and other cultural powerhouses. The young man who burned his mosque appears first to have been here illegally. He'd probably vote Democrat. Second, he apparently didn't feel this mosque was "conservative" enough for him. Put him in the category who wants to impose his Shari'a law on all. Meanwhile, it would behoove mosque leaders to reassure the community that they did not invite the rabble rouser imam to Marietta, nor will their mosque be rebuilt using money from the Saudis or other non-American, questionable interests. I'll be the first to say, "Let's hold a fund raiser for our neighbors' church." But first they must disavow the radical element of their religion and pledge to continue to try and assimilate themselves nto the community, without harboring illegal aliens and with the assurance that they are loyal Americans, worthy of their freedom of religion. Anything less is unacceptable.
American infidels in our mist. Lat time I took a history class it was treason to advocate the overthrow of the government, yet that's what Muslims teach and the PC crowd paves their way suing our laws against us - and I am a liberal, but not an idiot.