ROBERT SPENCER VIDEO: HOUSE VOTES DOWN PROPOSAL FOR MILITARY TO KNOW THE ENEMY~FORMER CATHOLIC, NOW MUSLIM REP. ELLISON, CONSIDERED FOR CHAIR OF THE DNC, IS A RACIST BLACK ISLAMIC SUPREMACIST, ANTI GAY, ANTI CATHOLIC, ANTI SEMITIC
measure that would require military officials to study the motivating
ideology behind the jihad threat.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The House on Friday rejected an amendment to a must-pass annual defense bill
that would have required the military to study the link between Islamic
doctrine and terrorism and make recommendations for identifying Islamic
preachers promoting extremist ideology.
The amendment, by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) fell short by nine votes, 208-217. All Democrats voted against it, and 27 centrist Republicans joined the Democrats.
That list included Reps. Justin Amash (MI), Vern Buchanan (FL), Chris
Collins (NY), Barbara Comstock (VA), Ryan Costello (PA), Carlos Curbelo
(FL), Charlie Dent (PA), John Faso (NY), Michael Fitzpatrick (PA),
French Hill (AR), David Joyce (OH), John Katko (NY), Jason Lewis
(MN), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Patrick Meehan (PA), Dan Newhouse (WA), Erik
Paulsen (MN), Dave Reichert (WA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL),
Steve Russell (OK), Mark Sanford (SC), Steve Stivers (OH), Dave Trott
(MI), Michael Turner (OH), Fred Upton (MI), Greg Walden (OR), and Don
Young (AK-AL).
Specifically, the amendment would have required the Pentagon to
conduct assessments on the use of “violent or unorthodox Islamic
religious doctrine to support extremist or terrorist messaging and
justification.”
The studies would have been undertaken by U.S. government employees
from relevant departments and agencies with appropriate background and
expertise, with the assistance of experts from academia or another
industry.
The study would have identified major or significant identifiable
Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of thought used by
various extremist groups for specific purposes — such as recruitment,
radicalization, financing or propaganda.
It would also include recommendations for identifying key thought
leaders or proponents for these major or significant identifiable
Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of thought; and
recommendations for technological capability, training improvements, or
process developments to speed the identification of harmful or
destabilizing Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of
thought used by extremist groups.
However, Muslim lawmakers, interest groups and civil rights groups argued the amendment would unfairly target Muslims.
“If you have an amendment that says we’re going to study one religion
and only one, we’re going to look at their leaders and put them on a
list — only them — and you are going to talk about what’s orthodox
practice and what’s unorthodox, then you are putting extra scrutiny on
that religion,” Minnesota Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison said, according to Politico.
Ellison, who is Muslim, met with Franks to try to persuade him to
withdraw the proposal, telling him: “You are abridging the free exercise
of that religion. This is the wrong way to do what he’s trying to do.”
Ellison tweeted after the amendment’s defeat: “Good happens – even in
Congress! Franks Amendment singling out Muslims rejected; Congress
declines to ‘abridge free exercise’ of religion.”
Good happens – even in Congress! Franks
Amendment singling out Muslims rejected; Congress declines to “abridge
free exercise” of religion.— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) July 14, 2017
Franks, who is the chairman of the International Religious Freedom
Caucus, said in an interview that he was not infringing on the First
Amendment’s protection of religious freedom, according to Politico.
“We’ve worked very hard to protect the religious freedom for
everybody,” he said, according to the outlet. “But it is important that
we empower America to identify those heroic Muslims within the world
that will help us begin to delegitimize this ideology of global jihad.”
“Right now, there is a certain spectrum within the Islamist world
that is at the root of the ideological impulse for terrorism,” he said.
“Ironically, Muslims are the prime targets of these groups. To suggest
that this is anti-Muslim is a fallacy, and I think that anyone who
really understands it knows that.”
Franks said he will try to work with colleagues and modify the amendment so it will pass.
Conservative Review writer Daniel Horowitz slammed the House vote:
Before we throw our troops into untenable military
campaigns, isn’t it prudent that we understand the threat doctrine of
our enemy and identify who we are fighting? Evidently, that is out of
bounds for the majority of the politicians in Washington. They think
that the weather and castration surgeries are more within the purview of
the military.
It was the 9/11 attack, masterminded by Osama Bin Laden, the leader
of terrorist organization al Qaeda, that prompted the Afghanistan War
and contributed to public support for the Iraq War. Hundreds of
thousands of American forces have been sent to the Middle East and South
Asia to fight terrorists.