The radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir America HTA will host a conference in Chicago on July 11 to hype the virtues of an Islamic state ruled according to the strictest interpretation of Islamic law. The group launched an online social media campaign to promote the event; one that serves as a prime example of how extremists are able to expose the mainstream to their ideology.
HTA hosted a similar conference outside of Chicago last year, which drew about 500 participants. This year, the campaign to promote the conference is more comprehensive, and the group expects many more participants as a result; it has booked an 11,000-square-foot ballroom at the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook that can accommodate more than one thousand.
you gotta be joking!
In the U.S. when a terrorist organization advocates an ideology (understood) by his or her followers to condone harming Americans, should that “Advocator” be protected by Free Speech? Or should that “Advocator” be arrested for facilitating terrorism? It doesn’t appear possible to stop terrorist organizations recruiting in America, individuals to commit terrorist acts on U.S. Soil, if U.S. Government is constrained from arresting persons that disseminate ideologies—understood to condone murder of U.S. Citizens. Some Americans allege Protected Speech stops U.S. Government arresting “religious and ideological disseminators” when they don’t ask Americans to kill other Americans, but that is an oxymoron when the subject of dissemination condones killing U.S. Citizens; consequently terrorist organizations have free rein to recruit in America, followers to cause mass murder and catastrophic damage. Common sense dictates, no person should be permitted to disseminate in America any religion or ideology that condones killing Americans; other countries to protect their Citizens don’t hesitate to arrest “religious and ideological disseminators” that promulgate subject matter that condones murdering nonbelievers: if Americans don’t take action to stop this kind of dissemination, they may not later be able to stop it spreading in their homeland.
Considering the damage to the European Union that this sort of promotion of Sharian Law (very successful from the Islamic point of view), maybe this kind of organization effort should be treated no different from how a similar collection of Neo-Nazi groups advocating attacks on our stragic infrastructure would be treated. It would seem to pose a more dangerous threat that the “blow-hard” skinhead types that presently draw much attention.
Pay attention now, or wish we had later.