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2005/11/25

Ohio Islamic leader to be deported

@ 11:51 AM (33 months, 8 days ago)

CLEVELAND — Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for lying about ties to terrorist groups.

Imam Fawaz Damra, the spiritual leader of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994.

That conviction was upheld in March, clearing the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings.

Damra, 44, was arrested early Friday without incident, the immigration office said.

"With today's arrest, ICE begins the process of removing from the United States a criminal alien who has unequivocally supported terrorists and terrorist organizations," Brian Moskowitz, special agent with the federal office in Detroit, said in a statement.

A message left seeking comment from Damra's immigration attorney, David Leopold, was not immediately returned.

The Palestinian-born Damra, who is the imam, or spiritual leader, at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.

In Damra's trial last year, prosecutors showed video footage of Damra and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989.

Jurors also were shown footage in which Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin sentenced the Palestinian-born cleric to two months in prison and four months in home detention. Damra served the prison time from November 2004 to January of this year.

Gwin also stripped Damra's citizenship but informed prosecutors they could not begin deportation proceedings until after the appellate ruling.

Comment(s) »

  1. Pardon the plagiarism, but I couldn't think of a better response. Wake up America. From an unashamed supporter of America, her values and her heritage.





    America's War Song
    by Robert W. Tracinski
    Sep 14, 2001
    It was September 14. Washington, DC, had been attacked, and one of its most prominent monuments had been burned by the enemy. A Washington lawyer sat in the early morning gloom and fretted over the fate of his country.
    The year was 1814, the burned monument was the White House, the man was Francis Scott Key, and his worry was centered on Fort McHenry, off in the distance, where he looked for any sign that his nation's flag still flew after a fierce night-long bombardment. He expressed his patriotism in a poem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' We all know the first stanza of this poem because it is our national anthem. But Key wrote four stanzas, three of which the average American has never heard. Today, as we face a crisis similar to the one Key observed, it is important to hear and understand the spirit expressed in those unremembered verses.

    The first stanza is, of course, known by heart:
    Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
    What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
    Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
    O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
    And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
    Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
    O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

    Key had watched throughout the night, hoping that Fort McHenry would hold out. As dawn broke, the fort's commander had its rain-soaked flag taken down, and he sent up an enormous 30- by 42-foot flag, which had been specially made as a symbol of defiance against the fort's attackers.

    When Key spotted it, he would later write, 'in that hour of deliverance, my heart spoke. Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?' He began writing 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' The first stanza expressed Key's anxious concern for his country. The second expressed his elation as he saw the banner rise:


    On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
    Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
    What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
    As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
    Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
    In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
    'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

    In his pride in his nation and his contempt for its foe, Key did not, as we do today, fret over enemy losses or 'collateral damage.' He saw the death of the enemy as proof of justice. Thus, his third stanza:


    And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
    That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
    A home and a country should leave us no more?
    Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
    No refuge could save the hireling and slave
    From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
    And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave    .

    Today, this attitude would be denounced, by those who pretend to be 'idealistic,' as jingoistic and intolerant. But Key did not apologize for his love of his country and his liberty. His confidence was grounded in a religious perspective that I do not share-but I do share and admire the pride with which he upheld the value of his country, a pride expressed in the fourth stanza:

    Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
    Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
    Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
    Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
    And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
    And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

    Among today's intellectuals, it is fashionable to be indiscriminately 'anti-war'-that is, to oppose any war, just or unjust. But the meaning and events behind 'The Star-Spangled Banner' are a reminder that the existence of our nation, and the preservation of our liberties, had to be obtained by war-and that they must, from time to time, be maintained by war.


    Look at the pictures on the right.


    Comment by Gravelrash— 2005/11/25 @ 12:16 PM — (Reply)

  2. I read about this cleric earlier. Apparently he had ties to CAIR. This group should be classified as a terrorist organization.

    Comment by American Crusader— 2005/11/25 @ 12:23 PM — (Reply)

  3. Thanks Gravel for the reminder.

    Comment by elmers brother— 2005/11/25 @ 12:23 PM — (Reply)

  4. The word taqiyya comes to mind.

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/11/25 @ 12:38 PM — (Reply)

  5. [URL=http://myaghnib.com]niwpoikc[/URL] lywnbrba http://qzqxthxc.com imcyjrii fwxqyriw ednqslxe

    Comment by ujdilbyj— 2007/08/13 @ 04:00 PM — (Reply)

  6. As a sign of support for your cause, I have made a minor change to the description of my blog, "a small dose of reality"....what do you think?

    Comment by A Conservative Realist— 2005/11/25 @ 01:15 PM — (Reply)

  7. Check out the latest at asmalldoseofreality.bloghi.com

    :lol:

    Comment by A Conservative Realist— 2005/11/25 @ 05:29 PM — (Reply)



  8. began the process of deporting him


    I just love good news stories!

    Comment by Bozwell— 2005/11/25 @ 06:31 PM — (Reply)

  9. Good start. Need to make sure we send the others like him packing.

    Comment by seawitch— 2005/11/25 @ 06:49 PM — (Reply)

  10. Let's hope they keep the ball rolling.

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/11/26 @ 06:10 AM — (Reply)

  11. asmalldoseofreality,

    way to go agent 86, the chief would be proud. Lets give KAOS a run for their money.

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/11/26 @ 06:20 AM — (Reply)

  12. I warn the Zionist-criminals: If you harm this Brother, it will be the last Brother you will ever harm. Global Islamic Jihad against the Zionist Jews!

    Comment by Lover of Angels— 2005/11/26 @ 08:00 AM — (Reply)

  13. LOA

    Do you plan on throwing a Big Mac at them?

    Comment by elmers brother— 2005/11/26 @ 09:19 AM — (Reply)

  14. or maybe you could throw that Phd you earned right here in the good old US at him.....

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/11/26 @ 09:26 AM — (Reply)

  15. :smile:Yes, My doctorate has done enormous damage to the Zionists in America, so much so that the Head Priestess at Hillel once whined, "It's a disgrace that Jewish money is going to pay for this man's salary." BTW, why has LOA never been deported? If ye only knew...

    Comment by Lover of Angels— 2005/11/26 @ 10:55 AM — (Reply)

  16. Because you can only get deported to Brooklyn.

    Comment by elmers brother— 2005/11/26 @ 11:44 AM — (Reply)

  17. I say good riddance!!!

    Comment by C-Mom— 2005/11/28 @ 05:17 AM — (Reply)

  18. :smile:Yes, but think of all those "sleepers", like LOA, who are left behind, live and dangerous. Who knows when the next martyrdom operation might be coming to your town? I do.

    Comment by Lover of Angels— 2005/11/28 @ 07:13 AM — (Reply)

  19. LOA, how are your classes going at Kent State?

    Comment by student— 2007/03/01 @ 04:56 AM — (Reply)

  20. Send them to me, I will have them into USA flag waving terrorist hater within a week.

    Abu Ghraib has nothing on me.

    Comment by Rage— 2005/11/28 @ 12:53 PM — (Reply)



  21. "Why has LOA never been deported?".


    Well, I'd assume that, like me, the American authorities recognise a wanker when they see one. And they probably recognise the value you represent in stiffening the resolve of sane Americans, and those who love her.
    You continually prove my God correct; he talks of people like you. 2Cor 4:4.... but you'd never be caught dead reading a Bible, would you? After all, Christ was only a Prophet, what would he know.

    Comment by Gravelrash— 2005/11/28 @ 05:25 PM — (Reply)

  22. It's too bad that it takes so much legal work to deport enemies of our country.

    Comment by American Crusader— 2006/04/25 @ 03:22 AM — (Reply)

  23. yep..never fret over the casualties of your enemies...unless your a demoncrate and then of course your enemy can expect to recieve aid and comfort from such bleeding heart liberal jackass'

    Comment by aza spade— 2007/08/13 @ 05:37 PM — (Reply)

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