RUTHFULLY YOURS

“U.S. counter terror agencies have traditionally paid little attention to those groups, presumably because they represent a safe and legal outlet for the frustrations of young, aspiring Jihadists,” the IPT explains.

Captain Dean T. Olson, author of Perfect Enemy: The Law Enforcement Manual of Islamist Terrorism told FrontPage that the activities of these groups are within the law as long as they don’t overtly help a terrorist group or lie to the authorities when questioned.

“It is not illegal in America to think about or even agitate for jihadi violence or imposition of Sharia, by peaceful means or otherwise,” Olson said.

On October 26, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh was arrested in Hawaii for trying to join the Taliban in Pakistan. Shehadeh had openly supported Al-Qaeda on his websites that were also used to promote Revolution Muslim. Several friends of the website have been arrested on terrorism-related charges. In June, one of the group’s own website writers, Zachary Chesser, was arrested after repeatedly trying to join al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia. He has pled guilty.

This is the same writer that threatened the lives of the creators of South Park after they depicted Mohammed on their animated comedy show. Revolution Muslim reacted by posting their photos and saying their lives are now in danger. The website denied calling for their murder, but the post included addresses at which Muslims could “pay them a visit” and audio from Anwar al-Awlaki preaching that those who defame Mohammed should be killed. Comedy Central reacted with appeasement and censored the episode from showing Mohammed, an act surely seen by the extremists as a vindication of their methods.

Revolution Muslim also recently praised a Muslim woman who stabbed a British parliamentarian that supported the war in Iraq, saying they hoped it would “inspire Muslims to raise the knife of jihad.” Unsurprisingly, she was a reader of their website. The writers provided a list of the British politicians who voted for the war, gave suggestions on how to locate them, and even linked to a website where knives can be bought.

The Islamic Thinkers Society is just as guilty of fomenting violence. The group’s website says that their “struggle is always [through] intellectual & political non-violent means,” but their condemnation of terrorism only applies to actions against Muslims they support. The site includes a fatwa forbidding Muslims from voting because only Allah can legislate. In 2006, the group received attention when it reacted to a bombing in Tel Aviv by holding an anti-Israel protest that included proclamations that “with our blood and with our lives we will liberate al-Aqsa [Jerusalem]” and “the real Holocaust is on its way.”