CAIR protests in Tampa and 970 WFLA gets it wrong

Wednesday morning, listening to 970 WFLA, I was enraged to hear the newsperson report on the citizens of Hillsborough County “protesting Islam”!

Tuesday marked the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

This anniversary day, parents and concerned citizens protested the Hillsborough County School Board for allowing Hassan Shibly, Executive Director of CAIR Tampa, to speak to the students of Steinbrenner High School in Lutz during an AP History class on religion.

For nearly a year, these citizens have spoken at over a dozen school board meetings, imploring the board to enact a policy to vet speakers who seek to speak to our students, and allow a procedure for informing parents if a speaker is scheduled so that they might have the choice to attend or have their child/ren opt out if they so choose.

The issue is not Islam, it is CAIR… the unindicted co-conspirator with links to the terrorist group HAMAS, as determined in the Holy Land Foundation case several years ago.  This fact is undeniable, and the fact that Mr. Shibly has chosen to be affiliated with this organization cannot be dismissed as irrelevant.

The overall ignorance of the Hillsborough County School Board on this subject is what is most concerning, as is their lack of respect for the parents whom they represent and the children they are supposed to be safeguarding and educating.

Later that evening I attended a conference, where there were presentations from several experts in the area of radical Islam and civilization jihad.  We viewed the film Losing our Sons, which tells the story of two American sons:

Melvin Bledsoe is a small business owner from Memphis, Tennessee, who was proudly able to send his son Carlos off to attend Tennessee State University. The story follows Carlos from the university, where he was indoctrinated and converted to Islam, and then to Yemen for further brainwashing in the ways of Jihad.  Mr. Bledsoe explained that he was made to study the Quran for 23 hours every day, and allowed one hour to sleep.

Daris Long was proud when his son Andy chose to follow in his footsteps and joined the Army and became an Army recruiter in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The path of these two young men crossed June 1, 2009, when Carlos, who took the Muslim name Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, opened fire in a drive by shooting, killing Private William “Andy” Long and wounding Private Quinton Ezeagwula.

When Carlos was arrested he admitted to shooting the men and that he intended to kill as many military personnel as possible.  He explained that his actions were justified according to Islam and that it was just “common sense”.

This tragedy brought two grieving fathers together to tell their story and to let people know what is happening on our college campuses and schools in America.

The film details the fathers as they appear before Congress to testify about the incident and the events that led up to this terrorist act.  Inexplicably, our government has refused to consider this a terrorist attack, just as they have refused to consider Major Nidal Hasan’s November 5, 2009 massacre at Ft. Hood a terrorist attack.  Hasan is awaiting trial on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.  His business cards had the letters S O A (soldier of Allah) imprinted on them. He shouted “Allahu Akbar! (God is Great!)” as he opened fire on military personnel in the Soldier Readiness Center, and kept shooting until he was shot and paralyzed.  The government categorized this an incident of  “workplace violence”.  By classifying these attacks as other than what they are, America’s record of preventing radical Islamist terror attacks within our borders since 9/11/2001 is spotless!  Those who died and were injured are not even entitled to receive the Purple Heart! America is a battlefield.

There is a connection between our institutions of education, and the Muslim Brotherhood agenda of “civilization jihad”.

Our leaders in the highest positions of government cannot even utter the words “radical Islamism” and acknowledge it as a national threat.

The events in the last few days have sent a message loud and clear, as we memorialized and remembered the tragedy of 9/11: that we are still hated and targeted by a radical Islamic element within the Muslim faith.

It is not about protesting Islam, it is about defending the rights of our children to be safe from Islamists proselytizing in their classrooms and in our schools.

In the film, Andy’s mother spoke directly into the camera and said “WAKE UP!”