Lulua
25-08-2002, 18:59
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
PLAN TO ATTACK FLORIDA MOSQUES LINKED TO ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 8/23/02) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, tonight said the arrest of a Seminole, Fla., man who apparently planned terrorist attacks on mosques in that state may be linked to the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric by right-wing commentators and religious leaders.
Robert J. Goldstein, 37, was arrested last night after authorities found a stash of explosives and weapons, including .50-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles, in his home. The more than 30 explosive devices included hand grenades and a 5-gallon gasoline bomb with an attached timer. Police also discovered a list of some 50 Florida mosques and detailed plans for destroying an Islamic education center using bombs. (Associated Press, 8/23/02)
SEE: http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/23/florida.explosives/index.html
"The American public is being subjected to a daily barrage of right-wing anti-Muslim rhetoric that is largely unchallenged by mainstream religious and political leaders. The incessant defamatory portrayal of Islam as an evil and violent faith inevitably leads a small minority of bigoted individuals to turn hate-filled words into violent actions," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper also repeated his group's request that President Bush issue a clear statement condemning anti-Muslim hate speech by fellow conservatives.
Just today, media reports in South Carolina revealed that a Republican congressional candidate said Islam is not "a true religion, it's a cult…there's nothing peaceful about that religion. It says kill or be killed."
SEE: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/3921214.htm
As some of the other numerous examples of right-wing Islamophobic rhetoric, Hooper cited televangelist Pat Robertson's almost daily defamation of Islam, Rev. Jerry Vines' speech before the Southern Baptist Convention describing the Prophet Muhammad as a "demon-possessed pedophile," Franklin Graham's claim that Islam is a "very evil and wicked religion," Free Congress Foundation's William S. Lind's allegation that "there is no such thing as peaceful Islam," syndicated columnist Ann Coulter's call to invade Muslim countries and convert the populations to Christianity, the "sarcastic" suggestion by an editor of the National Review that "nuking Mecca" would send a "signal" to Muslims, Fox News Network conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly's comparison of the Quran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," and former Special Counsel to President Nixon Chuck Colson's claim that "Islam is a religion which breeds hatred."
In March of this year, a pick-up truck was driven into the front of an Islamic center in Tallahassee, Fla. Authorities said the attacker was motivated by "hatred of Muslims" and had at one time tried to join the military in order to "kill Muslims." A Bible wrapped in blue cloth was on the front seat of the man's truck. In July, vandals set fire to a sign for a new Boca Raton, Fla., mosque.
PODIATRIST CHARGED, MOSQUES TARGET
United Press International, 8/24/02
One day after a stash of rocket launchers, antipersonnel mines and plastic explosives was seized, a Jewish podiatrist has been accused to planning to attack 50 mosques and Islamic centers, The Tampa Tribune reported Saturday.
Federal agents say they found a "mission template" with details on how to destroy an Islamic education center in the home Robert Goldstein shares with his wife.
In the plan, agents say Goldstein uses a derogatory term to describe the Muslims he hoped to kill, and there was a reference to placing napalm under a dirt road as part of a contingency plan to hold off any police officers arriving at the center.
"Set timers for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow for enough time to get out of the area, but to confirm explosions has been successful," reads the small print in the plan, which was attached to the federal complaint filed against Goldstein, the Tribune reported. "Hand to hand (combat) is unlikely but be prepared to liquidate [Muslims] up close," is another entry in the alleged bombing plan…
SEE ALSO:
PODIATRIST'S ARSENAL PART OF BLUEPRINT FOR TERROR
LEANORA MINAI and MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN, St. Petersburg Times, 8/24/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/24/TampaBay/Podiatrist_s_arsenal_.shtml
SEMINOLE -- The plan for the military-style "mission" showed a drawing of an "Islamic Education Center."
Timers on plastic explosives would go off in 15 minutes, taking down buildings and killing Muslims. Bombs and land mines would detonate in parking lots and playgrounds, killing police and fleeing students.
Dr. Robert Goldstein was taken into custody Thursday evening at his Seminole home after an argument with his wife. Weapons included many guns, hand grenades and more than 30 bombs…
They found an arsenal: two light anti-armor rockets, a .50-caliber sniper rifle, hand grenades, assorted guns and assault rifles and 20 homemade bombs, among other lethal weapons and magazines and articles on how to build destructive devices…
Authorities also found a typed list of 50 Islamic worship centers in the Tampa Bay area and Florida, the criminal affidavit said. Attached to the list were three pages that included a schematic drawing of an unknown center and instructions on what to wear and how to carry out an attack.
"OBJECTIVE: Kill all 'rags' at this Islamic Education Center -- ZERO residual presence -- maximum effect," the plan read…
AGENTS: MAN PLANNED TO BLOW UP MOSQUES
STEPHEN THOMPSON, PAULA CHRISTIAN and NATASHIA GREGOIRE, Tampa Tribune, 8/24/02
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAU4E7Z85D.html
SEMINOLE - One day after authorities say they stumbled upon a cache of munitions at his town house that included rocket launchers, antipersonnel mines and plastic explosives, a Jewish podiatrist was accused of planning to blow up roughly 50 mosques and Islamic centers in the Tampa Bay area and throughout the state.
Federal agents say they found in the home Robert Goldstein shares with his wife a meticulous, three-page ``mission template'' to destroy an Islamic education center.
In the plan, agents say Goldstein uses a derogatory term to describe the Muslims he hopes to kill, and there's talk of placing napalm under a dirt road as part of a contingency plan to hold off any police officers arriving at the center.
“Set timers for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow for enough time to get out of the area, but to confirm explosions has been successful,” reads the small print in the plan, which was attached to the federal complaint filed against Goldstein. Also:
“Hand to hand is unlikely but be prepared to liquidate [Muslims] up close.”
A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms describes the center in federal court documents as one of unknown location.
The Islamic Education Center of Florida is west of Tampa International Airport, but the plan, with its references to a playground and other landmarks, sounds like the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay, which has a mosque, an education center and a school at 7326 Sligh Ave., local Muslims believe…
Dennie, the sheriff's spokesman, said there was a list of which Islamic buildings Goldstein wanted to target and how to get there.
The three-page plan targeting the education center makes mention of accomplices - one is named Mike - but a spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office declined to discuss any aspect of the investigation into Goldstein...
Until Friday, Goldstein had never drawn a serious criminal charge - just a couple of traffic tickets he got driving his Porsche, according to Pinellas court records.
There is no record of marital disputes. He married Kristi at the Temple B'nai Israel in Clearwater in 1998.
DOCTOR ACCUSED OF TARGETING MOSQUES
ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/24/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Townhouse-Bombs.html
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A podiatrist who allegedly wanted to destroy mosques and other Muslim centers had so many explosives in his home that he could have accidentally destroyed the 200-unit townhouse complex where he lives, police said.
Dr. Robert J. Goldstein planned to use guns and the explosives to destroy an Islamic education center and dozens of mosques, prosecutors said.
“If one of those bombs were to have gone off, that townhouse would have been destroyed,” ATF Special Agent Carlos Baixauli said. “If the others exploded, we would have lost most of that townhouse complex.”
PLAN TO ATTACK FLORIDA MOSQUES LINKED TO ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 8/23/02) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, tonight said the arrest of a Seminole, Fla., man who apparently planned terrorist attacks on mosques in that state may be linked to the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric by right-wing commentators and religious leaders.
Robert J. Goldstein, 37, was arrested last night after authorities found a stash of explosives and weapons, including .50-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles, in his home. The more than 30 explosive devices included hand grenades and a 5-gallon gasoline bomb with an attached timer. Police also discovered a list of some 50 Florida mosques and detailed plans for destroying an Islamic education center using bombs. (Associated Press, 8/23/02)
SEE: http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/23/florida.explosives/index.html
"The American public is being subjected to a daily barrage of right-wing anti-Muslim rhetoric that is largely unchallenged by mainstream religious and political leaders. The incessant defamatory portrayal of Islam as an evil and violent faith inevitably leads a small minority of bigoted individuals to turn hate-filled words into violent actions," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper also repeated his group's request that President Bush issue a clear statement condemning anti-Muslim hate speech by fellow conservatives.
Just today, media reports in South Carolina revealed that a Republican congressional candidate said Islam is not "a true religion, it's a cult…there's nothing peaceful about that religion. It says kill or be killed."
SEE: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/3921214.htm
As some of the other numerous examples of right-wing Islamophobic rhetoric, Hooper cited televangelist Pat Robertson's almost daily defamation of Islam, Rev. Jerry Vines' speech before the Southern Baptist Convention describing the Prophet Muhammad as a "demon-possessed pedophile," Franklin Graham's claim that Islam is a "very evil and wicked religion," Free Congress Foundation's William S. Lind's allegation that "there is no such thing as peaceful Islam," syndicated columnist Ann Coulter's call to invade Muslim countries and convert the populations to Christianity, the "sarcastic" suggestion by an editor of the National Review that "nuking Mecca" would send a "signal" to Muslims, Fox News Network conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly's comparison of the Quran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," and former Special Counsel to President Nixon Chuck Colson's claim that "Islam is a religion which breeds hatred."
In March of this year, a pick-up truck was driven into the front of an Islamic center in Tallahassee, Fla. Authorities said the attacker was motivated by "hatred of Muslims" and had at one time tried to join the military in order to "kill Muslims." A Bible wrapped in blue cloth was on the front seat of the man's truck. In July, vandals set fire to a sign for a new Boca Raton, Fla., mosque.
PODIATRIST CHARGED, MOSQUES TARGET
United Press International, 8/24/02
One day after a stash of rocket launchers, antipersonnel mines and plastic explosives was seized, a Jewish podiatrist has been accused to planning to attack 50 mosques and Islamic centers, The Tampa Tribune reported Saturday.
Federal agents say they found a "mission template" with details on how to destroy an Islamic education center in the home Robert Goldstein shares with his wife.
In the plan, agents say Goldstein uses a derogatory term to describe the Muslims he hoped to kill, and there was a reference to placing napalm under a dirt road as part of a contingency plan to hold off any police officers arriving at the center.
"Set timers for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow for enough time to get out of the area, but to confirm explosions has been successful," reads the small print in the plan, which was attached to the federal complaint filed against Goldstein, the Tribune reported. "Hand to hand (combat) is unlikely but be prepared to liquidate [Muslims] up close," is another entry in the alleged bombing plan…
SEE ALSO:
PODIATRIST'S ARSENAL PART OF BLUEPRINT FOR TERROR
LEANORA MINAI and MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN, St. Petersburg Times, 8/24/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/24/TampaBay/Podiatrist_s_arsenal_.shtml
SEMINOLE -- The plan for the military-style "mission" showed a drawing of an "Islamic Education Center."
Timers on plastic explosives would go off in 15 minutes, taking down buildings and killing Muslims. Bombs and land mines would detonate in parking lots and playgrounds, killing police and fleeing students.
Dr. Robert Goldstein was taken into custody Thursday evening at his Seminole home after an argument with his wife. Weapons included many guns, hand grenades and more than 30 bombs…
They found an arsenal: two light anti-armor rockets, a .50-caliber sniper rifle, hand grenades, assorted guns and assault rifles and 20 homemade bombs, among other lethal weapons and magazines and articles on how to build destructive devices…
Authorities also found a typed list of 50 Islamic worship centers in the Tampa Bay area and Florida, the criminal affidavit said. Attached to the list were three pages that included a schematic drawing of an unknown center and instructions on what to wear and how to carry out an attack.
"OBJECTIVE: Kill all 'rags' at this Islamic Education Center -- ZERO residual presence -- maximum effect," the plan read…
AGENTS: MAN PLANNED TO BLOW UP MOSQUES
STEPHEN THOMPSON, PAULA CHRISTIAN and NATASHIA GREGOIRE, Tampa Tribune, 8/24/02
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAU4E7Z85D.html
SEMINOLE - One day after authorities say they stumbled upon a cache of munitions at his town house that included rocket launchers, antipersonnel mines and plastic explosives, a Jewish podiatrist was accused of planning to blow up roughly 50 mosques and Islamic centers in the Tampa Bay area and throughout the state.
Federal agents say they found in the home Robert Goldstein shares with his wife a meticulous, three-page ``mission template'' to destroy an Islamic education center.
In the plan, agents say Goldstein uses a derogatory term to describe the Muslims he hopes to kill, and there's talk of placing napalm under a dirt road as part of a contingency plan to hold off any police officers arriving at the center.
“Set timers for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow for enough time to get out of the area, but to confirm explosions has been successful,” reads the small print in the plan, which was attached to the federal complaint filed against Goldstein. Also:
“Hand to hand is unlikely but be prepared to liquidate [Muslims] up close.”
A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms describes the center in federal court documents as one of unknown location.
The Islamic Education Center of Florida is west of Tampa International Airport, but the plan, with its references to a playground and other landmarks, sounds like the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay, which has a mosque, an education center and a school at 7326 Sligh Ave., local Muslims believe…
Dennie, the sheriff's spokesman, said there was a list of which Islamic buildings Goldstein wanted to target and how to get there.
The three-page plan targeting the education center makes mention of accomplices - one is named Mike - but a spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office declined to discuss any aspect of the investigation into Goldstein...
Until Friday, Goldstein had never drawn a serious criminal charge - just a couple of traffic tickets he got driving his Porsche, according to Pinellas court records.
There is no record of marital disputes. He married Kristi at the Temple B'nai Israel in Clearwater in 1998.
DOCTOR ACCUSED OF TARGETING MOSQUES
ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/24/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Townhouse-Bombs.html
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A podiatrist who allegedly wanted to destroy mosques and other Muslim centers had so many explosives in his home that he could have accidentally destroyed the 200-unit townhouse complex where he lives, police said.
Dr. Robert J. Goldstein planned to use guns and the explosives to destroy an Islamic education center and dozens of mosques, prosecutors said.
“If one of those bombs were to have gone off, that townhouse would have been destroyed,” ATF Special Agent Carlos Baixauli said. “If the others exploded, we would have lost most of that townhouse complex.”