Saturday, September 27, 2014

We Face a Monstrous Evil: Terrorism in Oklahoma

Before anyone calls me a hate-mongering Islamaphobic because of the title of this post, let me remind everyone that I have many Muslim friends. I have spoken on several occasions to Muslim gatherings, and I believe all Muslims in America should enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and every other liberty that Americans cherish. Now with that those obligatory caveats out of the way, let me get to the point.

Alton Nolen, the man who beheaded 54-year-old grandmother Colleen Huford and was in the process of beheading other women in his former workplace in Moore, Oklahoma before he was shot by an off-duty reserve deputy, is a radical Muslim terrorist. He is shown in the picture above standing in front of the  Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City building in northwest Oklahoma City three weeks before he beheaded Mrs. Hufford. Nolen's Facebook page was updated with a photo of a beheading around the same time period.

According to this report, Nolen attended the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City three weeks before the beheading and posted on his Facebook, "At The Masjid (Mosque)Today For Jumar 9/5/2014 & Peforming Wudu!!!” Wudu is a water ritual in preparation for formal prayers. Suhaib Webb, an Imam with ties to former Al Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki, served as the leader of the Islamic Society in OKC in years past. Suhaib Webb now serves as Imam of the sister organization of the mosque attended by Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Let that sink in for a moment before I show you where the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City is located.



The large intersection in the map above is that of Interstate 44 (east/west) and what we in Oklahoma City call Hefner Parkway (north/south). The circle to the left of the map is the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. Anybody know what the circle to the right is? It is the state headquarters for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

In the state that had not one county with a majority vote for Barak Obama in the last election, in the state known for its large population of evangelicals, in the state that promotes the values of individual liberty and kindness to one's fellow man, in the state in which I was born and have lived all my adult life, we have a mosque with ties to radical Islamic terrorism just a couple of miles away from the state headquarters of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

Read carefully for yourself the ties to the Muslim Brotherhood within Oklahoma City. After reading, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

(1). Who was the bomber who accidentally detonated the bomb he was carrying and killed himself in 2005 while waiting to enter Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium during an Oklahoma football game, and what were his ties to radical Islam?
(2). Why are so few people taking seriously Timothy McVeigh's ties to radical Islam in the months prior to bombing of the Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City in 1995? For more information about McVeigh's radical Muslim ties, read Stephen Jones' Others Unknown. Mr. Jones was McVeigh's attorney, but was fired because McVeigh 'wanted sole credit for the bombing' and didn't like the work his attorney was doing in uncovering the Muslim radicals who assisted  McVeigh. The OKC bombing had extreme parallels to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
(3). Have you ever been told the number of Oklahoma detainees held by the Justice Department after the World Trade Center bombing in 2001?  According to my friends in law enforcement, there were several Islamic radicals in the Oklahoma City area who had ties to the World Trade Center hijackers, many of whom were held in jail and interrogated for months.

Winston Churchill had a difficult time convincing the world that Nazism was a 'monstrous evil' in 1940. We are living in a day when too many in leadership are having trouble getting their heads around the 'monstrous evil' in our midst. The fight against radical Islam is no longer something overseas. The evil is amongst us. With that in mind, Oklahomans ought to consider the following:

(1). Don't begrudge the increased security and very thorough checks of purses, bags, and other items when you enter Thunder games, or Oklahoma football games, or other public events. There's a reason for all this, and I'm not sure Joe Public understands the serious nature of what is happening.
(2). Maybe an apology ought to be issued from those who castigated our state congressmen for passing a law that forbids Sharia Law from ever taking effect in the state of Oklahoma, a law reversed by the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. Maybe we ought to elect more politicians who are not afraid to call it like it is and consider removing judges who seek to legislate from the bench.
(3). Women in our state should become informed activists when it comes to opposing radical Islam, and you should do it now. Run for city council. Run for the local school board. Campaign hard for people who represent your values, particularly those who understand that women have a role to play in leadership within our society.

According to co-workers at Vaughn Foods where Colleen Huford lost her head this week, Alton Nolen was arguing in the previous days about the legitimacy of stoning women for offenses against Allah and the Koran.

We face a monstrous evil. It is the radical, fundamental Islamists who demand subservience to Islam, a world caliphate, and death to those who oppose them. I know from experience that not all Muslims teach this or believe this, but until we wake up to the evil in our midst, we will find ourselves with more shed blood in the grocery aisles of our communities.

The above photo is not the result of work place violence. It is the result of Islamic radicals terrorizing our great state. Until the government owns the problem, we will find ourselves in ever increasing levels of terrorism within our borders.

37 comments:

Aussie John said...

Wade,

"Maybe we ought to elect more politicians who are not afraid to call it like it is and consider removing judges who seek to legislate from the bench."

Same here!This happened in Sydney.

"Australian police shot dead a young man after he stabbed two counter-terrorism officers. He had an IS flag on him and another large knife, which police believe was to be used to behead someone."

Wade Burleson said...

Ugh.

Unknown said...

Thank you for calling this to our attention.

Anonymous said...

We face a monstrous evil: Terrorism in the United States.

And by another name it is called Islam or Muslim. Doesn't matter how you slice it, its still the same and its time for us to wake up.

Wade Burleson said...

I have Muslim friends who condemn terrorism - and they mean it.

It is radical, Sharia-enforcing, person beheading, Islam that we oppose. :)

Victorious said...

402Wade, how do your Muslim friends treat women? I ask because of your suggestion that women in Oklahoma become more active in leadership positions. Just wondering how moderate Muslims would view that.

Wade Burleson said...

Victorious,

Great question. In all the meetings I've been in with my Muslim friends, it's been males who have been in the lead. They've spoken lovingly of their wives, but their wives have never spoken publicly.

Anonymous said...

I find this article deeply concerning. It is one thing to speak out about extremist in any religion, it is a completely different thing to promote highly unreliable evidence of conspiracies and then post for our community to see as you promote hate for a religion. If I did my research, I could find plenty of Baptists sitting in our prisons right now that have been convicted of heinous acts in our community or even heinous acts in the name of their religion (bombing of abortion clinics)....and even so, I would never relate the actions by those religious people to the Baptist General Convention.

This author loosely veils his religious intolerance by stating he is only speaking of extremists and has Muslim friends who would never follow in the path...but then he posts where the Islamic society is located in OKC as if it doesn't belong…as if he is all knowing in understanding that a terrorist group now exists there within those walls. How absolutely disturbing this article is for promoting more hate and intolerance in our community.

The lightly veiled intolerance that is dispersed here is what is causing this mess on all sides to begin with…extremists are making decisions based on the intolerance they have for other religions and are using their religions as validation for their decisions. I would ask you to please take a moment and consider if what you are doing is any different. I would argue it is not any different albeit it is being done in a much different way by using a pen instead of knife (although, you never know how your pen will impact someone else’s interpretation of the Christian values and what you are insinuating here). Mostly, what I am trying to say is you can make the point you are trying to make here without calling into question a whole religion. Some of your points are good (don’t begrudge increased security and more woman in our state should run for city council). However, your circular logic and unreliable sources makes this a blog post about nothing more than another religious person making egregious assumptions of a different religious group in our community.

If you truly believe and live by your Christian values that you overtly state you have in your blog, go back to the Bible and find the many passages of love and then promote that love. Promote prayers for the families impacted. Promote prayers for the Muslims in our community that will now be bullied by intolerant people who cannot differentiate between an extremist and a devout Muslim. Promote ideas of ways that we can stop violence in all forms from gangs to extremist religions factions. Promote a call to action (as you tried to do here) but do so out of love by bringing in all the community no matter the religion (including Muslims) to fight extremists in any faction…and stop promoting hate and intolerance.

Christiane said...

I would further question all sources to pin down where the information has come from concerning Timothy McVeigh's connections to Islamic terrorists.

From what I can see, some of the reports come from those who also are birther conspiracy theorists, which in the eyes of many Americans, reduces credibility on any NEW revelations coming out of the birther people.

I am an advocate for the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and there they work to help prevent the labeling and slandering of minority groups. What they have to share is credible because they speak out of the pain caused intentionally by those who sought to target, label, and ultimately exterminate and who began with 'mis-information' presented as 'news' and 'truth'.

My advice is to always be cautious and err on the side of protecting the innocent from those who pursue any agenda that might bring harm to them.

In today's atmosphere, it is wise to carefully look at sources that offer reasons to 'be afraid, be very, very afraid'. Our strength as a country does come from fear.

some thoughts

Anonymous said...

I have no doubt that the Islamic terrorists we are daily seeing around the world are "devout" Muslims. Just go through the list of known terrorists and the one common threat is Islam so there is a valid source of concern for even "sensitive and concerned" people around the world. Being "devout" doesn't mean much of anything to anyone anymore.

Jeri said...

Can't keep the offerings coming in without a little bit of exploitative blogging, can you, Wade?

ERP said...

Making sharia automatically invalid in Oklahoma does leave some problematic situations. What happens if an immigrant couple was married in their original country under sharia (or what is claimed to be sharia since there are several versions)? Is the marriage valid in Oklahoma? Could the man abandon his wife and remarry without getting a divorce?

Could a disgruntled heir successfully challenge a will under the grounds that it was made following sharia while a similar will with the same outcome but made by a non-Muslim would be perfectly legal?

As it stands a person or a group in the US can follow sharia in the US as long as whatever they do does not violate US law and as long as participation is voluntary.

Wade Burleson said...

Christiane,

Stephen Jones is a friend of mine. He lives in Enid and is a former aide to Richard Nixon. He is quite articulate, a moderate Republican (old school) and not a conspiracy theorists at all. He is the one with the source materials, and one visit with him will dislodge any doubt of McVey's connections to radical Islam - in terms of 'how' to make the bomb, and 'where' to place the bomb, and the means for escape.

Wade Burleson said...

ERP,

You make some good points. I have no problem with Muslims observing Sharia; my problem is with a Caliphate that demands submission to Sharia or death.

Wade Burleson said...

Jeri,

I can assure you we don't need any more money, and even give you more assurance that my blog has nothing to do with whether or not any money is given.

:)

John said...

As I have read the comments here, I am reminded of the movie (A Few Good Men?) with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise where Nicholson tells Cruise while on the stand: "You can't handle the truth!" If voices are not heard like yours, we will be swallowed up in Islamic extremist brutality.

The Islamic societies are bases for the radical extremists to affiliate. It is time to be intolerant as one would be of a poisonous snake. After all, there is a serpent behind this radical Islamic agenda and at the core, it hates all things Christ. Love and tolerance is great until a radical comes swinging a sword at you.

Anonymous said...

I cannot see how one could infer that Pastor Burleson hates Muslims. It is clear that he hates terrorism. We would be wise to be alert.

Anonymous said...

I don't believe hate has any place in this discussion, and if it does, then "Christian" values aren't really being spoken of here.

I also think this article is incredibly opinionated, and it is absolutely allowed to be, but boy oh boy do I not believe for one second that any terrorist is looking to Oklahoma to be the grounds of radical war.

Also the map is hilarious. Seriously good investigative work, sir. And the opinion of one old man about Timothy McVeigh does not a conclusive argument make.

I would love to see people do what is right because it is the right thing to do, rather than do what is right because they get a reward at the end.

Wade Burleson said...

Hate?

I love my Muslim friends.

I hate any ideology that calls for chopping off heads of infidels.

Love4OKC said...

http://www.okcfox.com/story/26645217/idabel-residents-recall-growing-up-with-moore-attack-suspect

Wow, it didn't even take very much for me to find. Again. I ask for you to consider how your post is any different than what extremists are doing....sellling fear and hate. Looks like Alton was raised Baptist and was arrested multiple times prior to converting to Islam (even attacked a cop). Your hate filled message proves nothing but your intolerance for another religion. So sad...

Wade Burleson said...

Anonymous,

If a Baptist chopped people's heads off who refused to become Baptists, I promise you I would say the same thing about Baptist terrorism that I am saying about Islamic terrorism.

Please realize that I understand the difference between practicing Islam and practicing terrorism while adhering to Islam.

It is the latter I am opposing - and so should you.

Christiane said...

People, I will defend WADE BURLESON as an honorable person who does not hate people of other faiths.

I may disagree with him on some issues, and he with me, but I am convinced of his good character and honesty. I hope we begin to understand that it is possible to speak out against evil in all of its variations without labeling entire minority groups and faiths in the process. In the mean time,
people may rest assured that when WADE says he opposes terrorism in all its forms, he means just that. He defends innocent people. He would not slander them, nor is he intolerant of those who are different from himself. In his advocacy for innocent people who have been and are persecuted, he IS on the side of the angels.

Wade Burleson said...

Christiane,

Thank you.

Erp said...

Wade,

So what does a law banning sharia do beyond what already exists? US courts already use the hierarchy of US law (US Constitution, treaties, Federal law, state constitutions, state law, local laws) in determining cases. Foreign law is looked to when determining contracts, marriages, and so on that involved foreign law but in the US, US law trumps non US law (so for instance an Iranian's first marriage in Iran would be recognized in the US but not a second marriage unless the first had previously been dissolved by divorce or death or the US would allow an Israeli Jewish woman to remarry in the US if she got a US civil divorce but her husband had not given her a religious divorce [she would not be able to remarry in Israel though she might get the Israeli courts to imprison her husband until he gave her the divorce, something the US courts would not do]).

All a law banning sharia would do is intimidate US Muslims just as a law banning canon law would do to Catholics or a law banning halakhah would do to Jews since everything that is illegal in any of those laws (such as execution, confinement, maiming, involuntary fines, etc.) is already illegal. One could argue about particular points of sharia but in which case argue and ban those particular points (e.g., halal slaughter but in which case one must ban kosher slaughter also since the basic method is the same).

BTW plenty of terrorism is done by those claiming the title of Christian (see Ireland where some Protestants and Catholics engaged in terrorism against each other not too long ago) and the KKK certainly claimed to be a Protestant group fighting against aka terrorizing Blacks, Catholics and Jews. I'm also pretty certain that most of those terrorizing gays in Uganda claim the title of Christian also.

Anonymous said...

Agree with you. Terrorism in any form has to be addressed.
Being that I am female, I view almost all men as a threat to my safety. (And that of my neighbor too)
To love thy neighbor includes protecting them as yourself. I encourage all women (since we are often the target of depraved men) to be prepared to defend life.
I carry a weapon, often a pistol or pepper spray. A can of Wasp spray is legal to have in the workplace. Mae

Unknown said...

I think it's really funny to question that Stephen Jones, the well-known attorney from Enid, doesn't know what he's talking about. Funny.

Anonymous said...

Excellent reply..

Aussie John said...

Wade,

We live in a strange world when some hold the perverse view that one cannot love a people,and, at the same time face the reality that, some of those people have a particular philosophy of life which is a danger to all.





Wade Burleson said...

Erp,

Sharia law says a male can have four wives. In states where sharia law is recognized, the IRS allows the Muslim American to classify one of the wives as 'spouse' and the other three as 'dependents.' Would it surprise you to know that Muslim American men who have four wives, and all of whom are on government assistance, get assistance for ALL FOUR WIVES (look at Michigan as an example). It used to be having more than one wife (polygamy) was illegal. If Sharia Law is banned, polygamy would not be rewarded by the IRS - that's one consequence of banning Sharia law in Oklahoma.

Erp said...

I wasn't aware that assistance anywhere in the US for adult mentally competent women went other than to the women directly. What the recipients do with the assistance afterwards is another matter as we know from some of the polygamous Mormon groups and also probably pimps confiscating some of the government assistance that their prostitutes are entitled to. Banning sharia won't change this situation; instead you want a law addressing this particular situation.

I suspect in the IRS case the matter is a matter of treaties between the US and foreign governments for people who are not US residents and may not be US citizens but who owe US income taxes because they earned some money in the US such as book royalties or investment income (or in the case of US citizens living abroad any income they earn even if none was earned in the US). An Oklahoma law won't touch that and a blanket ban on Sharia at the Federal level still won't touch already existing treaties since polygamy is not specific to Islam (some African countries with native religions have men with many more than four wives). I note btw that polygamy is illegal at the Federal level already.

BTW I suspect a stronger blow against some of the worst abuses would be to allow women and men from the countries that enforce the rules that violate international human rights treaties refugee status (e.g., women from Saudi Arabia where all women have to have a male guardian's permission to do even what limited things a woman can do).

BTW it seems that some of the immigrant women in polygamous marriages in the US don't like the situation but are afraid to report because they are an extra wife (or could be perceived as the extra wife) and so vulnerable themselves to deportation if they come to the attention of the authorities. The banning or not banning of Sharia isn't going to change this situation one whit; it is already illegal.

Kathy Pearson said...

Thank you for posting this Bro. Wade. I had no idea that Timothy McVey had ties to radical Islam, but I am not surprised that it is not reported. The truth is not being told to the American people on so many issues because, unfortunately, politics trump truth! Disceptive labels on issues don't begin to shed light on truth. Some examples are ProChoice, War on Women, and now Workplace Violence. Praying for leaders that will stand their ground and speak truth. Phil 6:13-15

Gordon said...

Wade,
To me, he possibility of Sharia Law operating in a modern Democracy, does not exist. Even to someone with little understanding of social order, it must be clear that we are dealing here with a Totalitarian form of government which desires the strict control of all forms of thought and behavior of all citizens.

Both violence and the very structures of Democracy itself are used by these people as a means to the end of conquering any new state. The populace then either have to submit or be eliminated, as can be witnessed in several parts of the world to-day.

This latest atrocity in our midst is a reminder of their modus operandi. Only pigheaded obscurantists and those suffering from cognitive dissonance would try to cover for them.

To have any chance of survival, we will have to cut to the bone in order to eradicate those absolutely crazy infidels who are engaged in our society and elsewhere in promoting this unmitigated social evil.

The propagation of all forms of Totalitarianism should be strictly forbidden because it poisons the very foundations of our existence as a society of free and fair people.

Wake up USA; eject the Trojan Horse within your gates !

Gordon

Kathy Pearson said...

Whoops! My scripture quote was supposed to be Ephesians 6, not Philippians. Thank you son-in-law, Austin, for pointing that out!

Anonymous said...

Are you serious? People are fighting action because they are fearful of being perceived as "intolerant". Foolish people.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gDy6SdJd8

Tom Kelley said...

Anonymous Sun Sep 28, 01:44:00 AM 2014:

Did you actually read Wade's post? I can't imagine how anyone who actually read it could make the comments you made. Wade went to lengths not to do the very things you accused him of. If you can't see that I suspect your prejudices are too great for any response to make an impact. I suspect that's why Wade didn't bother addressing your silly remarks.

Anonymous said...

Wade,
You are right on with this blog.
We in America tend to bury our heads in the sand over any issue that does not knock on our front door.
It is time for awareness and the reality of the vulnerability of our citizens within our borders.
How many workplace violence murders will it take before folks get it.
What is happening to Christians in Iraq, Yemen, Iran, and elsewhere in Africa should be a wake up call for all Christians. Everywhere.
This is real. It is happening. It will find it's way to our shores.
God help us all.