Sending the FBI Back to High School

Last October we mentioned a Saudi-funded K-12 school in Virgina, the Islamic Saudi Academy, whose curriculum was so radical that the school was recommended for closure by a congressional panel. ("Saudi School in Fairfax, VA Recommended for Shut Down for Possibly Teaching Jihad").

On Thursday, Erick Stakelbeck, Terror Analyst at CBNNews had these updates:

As I reported back in June 2006, this K thru 12 school--which is owned and operated by the Saudi government and sits just 14 miles from the White House--has used textbooks that vilify Jews and Christians and promote a radical Wahhabi strain of Islam. The Academy is basically an American-based extension of Saudi Arabia's educational system. No wonder, then, that The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel formed by Congress, last year recommended that the school be closed. That didn't happen. In fact, Fairfax County (VA) renewed the Academy's lease just last month. They can't be too happy, then, about this new report:

A federal investigation released Wednesday reveals that some Islamic textbooks are teaching kids it's okay to kill adulterers and converts from Islam.

The books have been used by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax. The school receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.

Passages in their textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists."
The academy has come under scrutiny from critics who allege that it is teaching an intolerant brand of Islam.

Last year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel formed by Congress, recommended the school be shut down out of concern it promoted violence.

"We feel more confident that the potential problems we flagged before really are there," said the commission's spokeswoman, Judith Ingram, after the content of textbooks were reviewed

In the review, the panel recommended that the school make all of its textbooks available to the State Department so changes can be made before the next school year.

School officials acknowledged that some of the Saudi textbooks contain harsh language. They say the texts have improved and are revised as needed by the academy before being distributed to students.

The commission said the texts did appear to contain numerous revisions, including pages that were removed or passages that were whited out. But numerous troubling passages remained, the panel said. Some of those passages include:

- The authors of a 12th-grade text on Koranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed.

- The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write that "(m)ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible," meaning that a Muslim can take with impunity the life and property of someone believed guilty of polytheism. According to the panel, the strict Saudi interpretation of polytheism includes Shiite and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.

- A social studies text offers the view that Jews were responsible for the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims)."

More generally, the panel found that the academy textbooks hold the view that the Muslim world was strong when united under a single caliph, the Arabic language, and the Sunni creed.

The textbooks also hold that Muslims have grown weak because of foreign influence and internal divisions.
("Islamic Textbook Teaches It's OK to Kill").
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In its Report, the Religious Freedom Commission also noted other disturbing textbook passages they though needed clarification, such as:

the following explication of the Koranic phrase, “Respond to God and His Messenger when He calls you to that which will give you life.” (Q 8:24)

Although this Koranic passage does not in itself invoke the term jihad, the Saudi textbook authors write:

“In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In (jihad) is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He) is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty.” (Tafsir, Arabic/Sharia, 68) While there are various meanings of the term jihad, including an internal struggle of the soul, none are given in this brief discussion, which also includes an emphasis on the importance of power or force over one’s enemies and discusses “martyrdom” with approval. Such an ambiguous interpretation can be perceived as giving the verse a militant connotation, potentially justifying acts of violence, which should not be left without elucidation in a textbook that is aimed at children who are still learning the main tenets of religion.

For years US officials have tried in vain to prevail on the Saudis to moderate or reform the radical materials they've been disseminating in the the United States.

Since I'm not bound by protocols of diplomacy, I can say bluntly what our officials cannot: the Saudis don't give a damn what we ask them to do in this regard, and intend to keep pumping this stuff into their mosques and academies in America at the maximum flow we're willing to tolerate it. If Saudi oil flowed our way as fast as their jihadist hate literature, you'd be paying $1.25 for gas.

Yet, between Saudi persistence in spreading Wahhabism, and American officials fears of being accused of Islamophobia, the prospects for stopping this don't look good.

According to Counterterrorism Blog, when the Fairfax, VA Board of Supervisors voted to renew the ISA's lease last month (in spite of the Religious Freedom Commission's strong urgings to shut it down), the Supervisors said they were "satisfied that the textbooks were changed - "apparently," that is, because it commissioned a report to translate the newest version of the textbooks, but the Board refuses to release the report." ("Secret Report on Saudi School in Virginia Must Be Released").

Ye gods. Yes, I'm cynical, but to think that any aspect of American national security rests in the graft-stained hands of elected multi-culti, PC county officials!

This is not a First Amendment, freedom of religious expression issue. These schools are Saudi owned, and Saudi controlled. The Wahhabist doctrine the Saudis are planting on U.S. soil is directly linked to the Death-to-America, violent anti-Western jihadism that is our primary enemy in what we all know as the War on Terror.

We already have seen that at least one of ISA's graduates--American-born--was sufficiently influenced by this indoctrination that he dedicated himself to becoming a jihadist: "ISA's 1999 valedictorian was Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted and sentenced to prison for joining Al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush." ("Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia: Case Study in Homegrown Radicalization")

So when I read about Fairfax County supervisors renewing the ISA's lease because it's the political path of least resistance, I can either let my blood pressure keep going up, or I can make a practical suggestion.

Here it is. If, (or since), we lack the political will, from the county level right on up to Congress and the State Department, to put our foot down and and stop this kind of thing outright, then let's at least get the full educational advantage of it.

If we can't stop the distribution of radical Wahhabist instructional materials into American mosques and Muslim academies, then let's demand that American non-Muslims, all those people being forced to endure diversity training and lectures about Muslim feelings and sensitivities, should be instructed with the same materials.

You may remember how earlier this month the head of the local CAIR chapter for Washington State was suggesting that, "Most police officers don't have a basic grounding in Islam, so before you teach them about Islam, how can you teach them about radical Islam?" ("CAIR Keeps Showing Up").

There's no arguing with that logic. If you can't get accurate instruction on Islam from textbook Saudi Arabia's religious leaders have created for their own high-schoolers (and future martyrs), then where are you going to get it? From blogs like this one? Don't make us laugh!

I have in mind that the FBI, Homeland Security, Immigration, and countless local law-enforcement agencies--all mandated to be "educated" on the true teachings of Islam--would especially benefit from reading these materials.

I'm confident that if our FBI agents had to get through the ISA's 12th grade social studies textbook, we'd suddenly be seeing successful terrorist investigations going right through the roof.