COMMENT | Miami terror arrests |  |
Were Muslims really sailing the “Seas of David?”
Another Islamist terrorist cell has been caught red handed - but if you look a little closer, there were no actual Muslims or credible threat involved.
By Shahed Amanullah, June 23, 2006
The association with Islam and terrorism is so complete that every article discussing yesterday's arrest of seven men in Miami for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower - the tallest building in America and designed by prominent Muslim American engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan - is soaked in Islamic terminology, even though there were no actual al-Qaida operatives or Muslim Americans involved. The odd circumstances around the event include a cult-like group named the "Seas of David", which has 40 to 50 members who call themselves "soldiers of God" (but mostly resemble "Kramer" jihadists). They passed their time selling African-American hair care products and, in the words of a group member, "train through the Bible... not only physical but mentally". The cell attempted to contact al-Qaida in order to secure support for their plans, which attracted the attention of the FBI, who supplied a fake al-Qaida operative. Like the 2003 sting operation that foiled an attempt to peddle Stinger missiles to terrorists (another example of a terrorist plot free of actual Muslim involvement), the FBI informant supplied military boots per request of the "Seas of David" and took notes on the unfolding plan, which was falling apart even as the seven men were arrested. Unlike the arrests in Toronto last month, this is a group more Christian in practice than Muslim, consisting of names that would never come up on a " no-fly" list: Narseal Batiste, Burson Augustin, Patrick Abraham ("Brother Pat"), Stanley Grant Phanor ("Brother Sunni") Naudimar Herrera ("Brother Naudy"), Lyglenson Lemorin ("Brother Levi-El"), and Rotschild Augustine ("Brother Rot"). "Nothing in the four corners of the indictment," opines legal commentator Andrew Cohen, "convinces me that these guys were legitimate terrorist wannabes as opposed to a bunch of angry bozos looking lazily for al-Qaeda to hook them up with all sorts of goodies." So when the dust settles, all there will be is an angry Bible study group that tried in vain to contact al-Qaida, with the goal of destroying one of the greatest gifts Muslim Americans have given to the US - not exactly the "terror cell" story Americans have come to expect.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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Keystone cops.............
- Posted by DrM on June 24, 2006 at 05:20 PM
The press conference was put on the same day that the movie "Road to Gitmo" was released.
- Posted by Migocup (Just down the block.) on June 24, 2006 at 06:22 PM
This story didn't get any coverage in South Africa .. probably because its not muslims involved. But if a bearded guy got arrested for jaywallking .. it'd be on the news
- Posted by Ghulam (South Africa) on June 25, 2006 at 08:49 AM
>> not exactly the "terror cell" story Americans have come to expect.
..or even more scarier .. story Americans want to hear
- Posted by Ghulam (South Africa) on June 25, 2006 at 08:57 AM
What bothers me most that the media continues to say these guys are Muslim when all evidence points to the fact that they aren't.
- Posted by Samah (USA) on June 26, 2006 at 06:20 PM
Yes, I blogged some on this issue already at:
this site
Wow, this is interesting. Never heard that some of the 'terrorist' arrests were against non-Muslims. Thanks for the info.
Quest- Posted by quest on July 6, 2006 at 04:07 AM
What happened to this story?
There seemed to be a huge push when this story broke, but as more information in regards to the (probable) origin of the Seas of David came out (i.e. Moorish Science and not Islam per se) the medias interest in the story waned, as though the idea that the ėterroristî not being Muslims diminishes the accomplishment of the F.B.I. (they did after all foil a ėterrorist plotî)
Also I was surprised at how few of us seized on this as an opportunity to point out what at least to me seems to be an obvious agenda.
- Posted by Abdul-Qahhar (Central California) on July 18, 2006 at 01:27 AM
Abdul-Qahhar,
I think Muslim groups have made the point about the "obvious agenda" it just doesn't make the news- which is another way of supporting the aforementioned agenda. It's very tricky...almost diabolical.
- Posted by Samah (USA) on July 18, 2006 at 01:04 PM
Samah,
The more I think about it, the more I realize that you are right. They (the media) seem to have no interest in offering up balanced or even thoroughly researched information, often resulting in sensational and inaccurate stories that all but vanish under scrutiny.
What can we do to make our objections to this apparent lack of ėjournalistic integrityî more overt?
- Posted by Abdul-Qahhar (Central California) on July 18, 2006 at 10:40 PM
Personally I think we need to stage a massive protest about the way the media depicts us. We need to make so much noise that they can't ignore us. (albeit it, 'peaceful noise')
- Posted by Samah (USA) on July 18, 2006 at 11:57 PM
Shahed, insightful article, well written.
What makes it challenging for me to board planes isn't these nutters from Miami. It is people like those trying to smuggle liquid explosives on flights from the UK to the US. What can we do to stop these people from trying to blow up plains? It just makes my life, and your life, more difficult.
- Posted by MSyed (Rome) on August 10, 2006 at 09:20 PM
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