Radicalism and the Rehabilitation experiment

Treat the cause, not the symptoms

This is one of the most powerful experiments that the media has failed to highlight; we have worked this successfully when Pastor Roberts called Quraan an evil book written by a false prophet. We held the Quraan conference run by ten non-Muslim clergy to go through the verses claimed to be evil resulting in surprises. Details are at www.QuraanConference.com

Mike Ghouse

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/02/worlddispatch.yemen

A Yemeni judge is pioneering a religious re-education programme for Islamic militant prisoners and claims a 90% success rate, writes Brian Whitaker

• Brian Whitaker
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 March 2004 10.43 GMT
• Article history

An icy wind was blowing in the streets of Westminster and there were flakes of snow in the air, but the hotel was warm inside. With its wood panelling and comfy armchairs, the lobby resembled something between a gentleman's club and a country mansion: the essence of Englishness.

Enter the incongruous figure of Judge Hamoud Abdulhamid al-Hitar, dressed in a long black robe, a ceremonial dagger at his waist and a copy of the Guardian under his arm.
A judge in the high court of Yemen, he had been invited to London by the British government because the Foreign Office, the attorney general and the Metropolitan police, not to mention several Muslim organisations, all wanted to know about his unusual method of fighting terrorism - by theological dialogue.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Yemeni authorities, under considerable pressure from the United States, rounded up several hundred suspected troublemakers and kept them in jail without trial. Many, the authorities readily admit, had not committed any crime but were known as sympathisers - if not active supporters - of Osama bin Laden.
The approach pioneered by Judge Hitar, who is also chairman of the Yemeni Human Rights Organisation, is to "re-educate" and release them, subject to guarantees of good behaviour. The success rate in re-education is about 90%, according to Judge Hitar, and more than 100 have been freed so far.
The basic idea is very simple: that Islamic militants are not fundamentally bad people but have mistaken views of Islam that can be corrected through religious argument based on the Koran and the teachings of the prophet (the Sunna). If they can be genuinely convinced of their error, they will not commit criminal acts and - perhaps more importantly - will not encourage others to do so either.
"It's similar to the work of a doctor," Judge Hitar said. "We diagnose and we treat it."
The theological dialogue committee, which Judge Hitar chairs, was set up in September 2002 to hold discussions with returnees from Afghanistan and "youths holding extreme theological ideologies contradictory to the unanimity of Islamic scholars". (Since the Yemeni justice system is based on Islamic law, judges are well qualified to deal with the religious issues.)
"We chose a group of these young people, and picked the most extreme and the best educated," Judge Hitar said. "They asked why we had come. We said it was to carry out a dialogue and our number one point of reference would be the Koran and the Sunna. "We told them: 'If YOU are right we will follow you, but if WE are right you should follow us'.
"We set out an agenda by finding out what problems they suffered from and what [religious] authorities they depended on." Two particular attitudes among the militants soon came to the fore: a belief that they could kill non-Muslims in the name of jihad, and a belief that Yemen's political system was contrary to Islam.
"They considered Yemen as a non-Islamic state," he said. "They said the government is not governing according to God's book and is pro-western. Some of them were not aware of the treaties and agreements between Yemen and other countries. Some thought it was acceptable to shed the blood of non-Muslims anywhere on earth."
The secret of the dialogue's apparent success is that it confronts such views in Islamic terms, citing the Koran and other authorities that the militants respect. It makes use, for example of the constitution of Madina, established in the prophet's time, which protected the rights of Jews and other non-Muslims.
Yemen's international relations, Judge Hitar explained, are based on agreements and governed by the United Nations - arrangements which are fully compatible with the Koran and the Sunna.
"UN signatories are in a state of peace with one another, and it is not permissible to attack citizens from other UN members. [Non-Muslim] people visiting Yemen have a visa, so it is not permissible to attack them or force them to convert to Islam."
Those who accept the re-education are asked to sign a statement condemning violence, committing themselves to obey the law and dissociating themselves from al-Qaida or any armed group. They must also agree to respect the rights of non-Muslims and promise not to attack the interests of friendly states.
But are these changes of heart genuine, or are the militants simply grabbing a "get-out-of-jail-free" card? That is a question Judge Hitar is often asked.
"These young people are not going to be convinced easily," he answered. "They don't agree just to get out of jail. One of them said 'I am prepared to stay for 20 years in jail to prove that I have changed.'"
Those released are kept under surveillance, and Judge Hitar emphasises that suspects who have been charged with actual crimes have to be brought before the courts.
"Dialogue is for everyone but release is for the innocent," he said. The principle of dialogue, he believes, is one that can be used to deal with Islamic militancy far beyond Yemen, even in Britain which he describes as "the capital of religious tolerance".
"With total confidence I think this method can be applied in the UK," he said. "There are British Muslims who have the ability [to conduct dialogues] and we are prepared to train them further. We are ready to co-operate with them and train them in Yemen or in Britain."
It was time for Judge Hitar to leave. The BBC's Arabic Service were eager to interview him, and later he would be meeting Muslims in Birmingham. Preparing to step out, once again, into the British winter, he held up a ballpoint pen and waved goodbye with it.
"The pen is stronger than the stick," he said.

# # #

Separating Jihadists fact and fiction

Glenn Carle dares to write, “Separating Jihadists fact and fiction”

Throughout the history of mankind, insecure men have found their false security in rattling up others, they have been wrong and will continue to err. You cannot have security when others around you are not; neither can you have peace when others can’t.

The Neocons believe in keeping the Americans frightened, and when we are vulnerable, they get away doing things that are not in the interest of our nation. Their polices have done nothing but destruction around the World and they have figured out the formula very well; to rule, you have to keep the public scared all the times and it is okay to manufacture the facts and tread on immorality.

It is like the 6 o’clock news, for 20 minutes all you see is murder, robbery, arson and other evils of the society, it is indeed a minute tiny speck of the truth but not the whole truth. Because you, your family members and your friends have made back home safely. Terrorism is there, but much of it is cooked up by the Neocons and their bonded media men. It is time to dare the scare.

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com

Glenn Carle: Separating Jihadists fact and fiction
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-carle_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.4d54fa7.html

Glenn L. Carle, a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service for 23 years, retired in March 2007 as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats.

Sen. John McCain has repeatedly characterized the threat of "radical Islamic extremism" as "the absolute gravest threat ... that we're in against." Before we simply accept this, we need to examine the nature of the terrorist threat facing our country. If we do so, we will see how we have allowed the specter of that threat to distort our lives and take our treasure.

The "Global War on Terror" has conjured the image of terrorists behind every bush, the bushes themselves burning and an angry god inciting its faithful to religious war. The inclination to trust our leaders when they warn of danger is compelling, particularly when the specters of mushroom clouds and jihadists haunt every debate.

In my 23 years in the CIA, I drafted or was involved in many of the government's most senior assessments of the threats facing our country. I have devoted years to understanding and combating the jihadist threat.

From that experience base, I suggest that the next commander in chief base his counterterrorism policies on the following realities:

• We do not face a global jihadist "movement," but a series of disparate ethnic and religious conflicts involving Muslim populations, each of which remains fundamentally regional in nature and almost all of which long predate the existence of al-Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden and his disciples are small men and secondary threats whose shadows are made large by our fears. Al-Qaeda is the only global jihadist organization and is the only Islamic terrorist organization that targets the U.S. homeland.

Al-Qaeda remains capable of striking here and is plotting from its redoubt in Waziristan, Pakistan. The organization, however, has only a handful of individuals capable of planning, organizing and leading a terrorist operation. Al-Qaeda threatens to use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, but its capabilities are far inferior to its desires.

Even the "loose nuke" threat, whose consequences would be horrific, has a very low probability. For the medium term, any attack is overwhelmingly likely to consist of creative uses of conventional explosives.

• No other Islamic-based terrorist organization targets the U.S. homeland, is part of a "global jihadist movement," or has more than passing contact with al-Qaeda. These groups do and will, however, identify themselves with global jihadist rhetoric and may bandy the bogey-phrase of "al-Qaeda." They are motivated by hostility toward the West and fear of the irresistible changes that education, trade and economic and social development are causing in their cultures.
These regional terrorist organizations may target U.S. interests or persons in the groups' historic areas of interest and operations. None of these groups is likely to succeed in seizing power or in destabilizing the societies they attack, though they may succeed in killing numerous people through sporadic attacks such as the Madrid train bombings.

• There are and will continue to be small numbers of Muslims in certain Western countries – in the dozens, perhaps – who seek to commit terrorist acts, along the lines of the British citizens behind the 2005 London subway and bus bombings. Some may have irregular contact with al-Qaeda central in Waziristan; more will act as free agents for their imagined cause. We need to catch and neutralize these people. But they do not represent a global movement or a global threat.

The threat from Islamic terrorism is no larger now than it was before Sept. 11, 2001. Islamic societies the world over are in turmoil and will continue for years to produce small numbers of dedicated killers, whom we must stop. U.S. and allied intelligence do a good job at that; these efforts, however, will never succeed in neutralizing every terrorist everywhere.

We must not delude ourselves about the nature of the terrorist threat to our country. We must not take fright at the specter our leaders have exaggerated. In fact, we must see jihadists for the small, lethal, disjointed and miserable opponents that they are.

Glenn L. Carle, a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service for 23 years, retired in March 2007 as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats.

Wilders, Fitna and Quraan

By Mike Ghouse & Imam Zia-ul-Haq Shaikh
It is a Muslim response to Geert Wilders documentary called "Fitna".

There are 14 mis-translated verses of Qur'aan in the movie that are listed along with the correct translation.

“Geert Wilders, Dutch conservative lawmaker, has made a sixteen minute film called "Fitna" (trouble) exposing the horrific passages of the Koran. Wilders refers to theses selected verses as “fascist.’” http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/29496.html

First of all, as a Muslim, I want to thank Geert Wilders for making this documentary, the verses, as he has quoted certainly sound fascist.

Continued at: http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/03/wilders-fitna-and-muslims_30.html