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Title: Armed protesters gather outside Islamic Center of Irving TX
Source:
Dallas Morning News
URL Source: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/ ... islamic-center-of-irving.html/
Published: Nov 22, 2015
Author: Avi Selk
Post Date: 2015-11-22 18:37:53 by Bridge at Remagen
Keywords: None
Views: 1615
Comments: 29
About a dozen protesters — most carrying long guns, some masked and one with his mother — lined up outside an Irving mosque on Saturday. They had come from as far away as Hunt County to the green-domed complex. To “Stop the Islamization of America,” as the mother’s hand-drawn sign urged. A pickup tooted on its way down Esters Road, not the first or last driver to endorse the message. Right behind the truck, a sedan pulled out of the Islamic Center of Irving lot, where afternoon prayers had just finished, and blasted Arabic music as it passed. Two men on the sidewalk mocked the song, distorting foreign lyrics into gibberish as the car sped away. Then they huddled in the cold around their cigarettes, guns and flags, waiting for another passer-by to pay attention. It was a strange protest, held at a strange time in a suburb strangely relevant to America’s brand of anti-Islamic politics. “We tried to talk to the mosque before we did this, but they wouldn’t return our messages,” said David Wright, dressed in black all the way from his backwards baseball cap to the barrel of his tactical shotgun. “So here we are.” Wright said he organized the rally in the wake of an Islamic terrorist group’s massacre of Parisian civilians this month. Like millions of Americans, he wants to block Syrian refugees from U.S. shores, lest they replicate the attack here. But like a fraction of those millions, he was convinced that Irving’s mosque had established the country’s first Islamic court earlier in the year—a false rumor that started online but grew in popularity after Mayor Beth Van Duyne made it the focus of speeches to Tea Party groups. “They shut the illegal court down,” Wright said, incorrectly. “And then, they threatened to kill the mayor.” Thus, the guns. A protester with a bandana over his face showed off his AR-15 to traffic. A 20-year-old who wants to join the Army and ban Islam in the United States carried a Remington hunting rifle while his mother held the sign. “They’re mostly for self-defense or protection,” Wright said, eyeing his 12-gauge. “But I’m not going to lie. We do want to show force. … It would be ridiculous to protest Islam without defending ourselves.” That sounded a bit ridiculous to David Palmer, a City Council member who wandered down to the protest in sweatpants after a concerned mosque member told him about it. “Does it look like there’s any threat here? Nobody’s even close to them,” Palmer said, standing in a parking lot where police cars nearly outnumbered the four or five mosque members who watched the spectacle. “My initial impression was they were using them for intimidation,” Palmer said. “I doubt that they’d be happy if some of the Muslim churchgoers here showed up at their Christian church, their Baptist church, their Methodist church tomorrow morning with rifles slung over their shoulders.” Palmer said the police chief personally warned mosque leaders about the rally. They in turn urged their worshippers to steer clear of the group, which calls itself the Bureau of American Islamic Relations and had recycled some of the signs it took to a Richardson mosque last month, on a national day of protest against Islam. The worshippers largely took that advice, ignoring the protest until it broke up after a couple hours. The Muslims in the tiny audience declined to share their opinion — instead offering praise for freedom of speech and variations on “no comment.” But back on the sidewalk, a man who wore a name tag that read “Big Daddy Infidel” and was afraid to give his full name worried about the day he would be forced to use his hunting rifle to take a human life. “You know, I hope 10 years from now, we just stood out here and froze to say what we wanted to say, and nothing ever came of it on either side,” he said quietly. “I hope the supplies I have in my house, the food and the water and medical supplies, I have to use up in my retirement years.” But, he concluded, “This stuff is among us. People are blind if they don’t think it is.” Update 6 p.m.: The protestors went home at 4 p.m., as planned. The police filed out soon afterwards. Muslim worshippers who streamed in and out of the mosque all afternoon rarely came within 100 feet of them.
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#3. To: Bridge at Remagen, CZ82, GarySpFc, liberator, tomder55, Chuck_Wagon, Don, BobCeleste, TooConservative (#0)
Some good Texas family outing. Yep make sure "Ma" is involved or no dinner tonight:) What can be said? May seem kookie to most but a message was sent akin to the Boston Tea Party...Texans will defend their own and have the means to do so. Note to Jihadis...when you plan your conquest of the US you might want to avoid Texas. I know pastor Bob will have words for Maine:)
After the last ISIS sortie in Texas, it all ended in tears. Remains to be seen if that makes ISIS pick another target or redouble its efforts and take greater risks to target Texas again. For major impact, they would probably want to show they're not afraid of famously armed Texas or anyone else. And to draw America into ground fighting in Syria and Iraq. They have declared their eagerness to fight the American military.
Good points. If IS stages such in Texas it will have to be one of their foreign operatives. Seems hoping a Muslim loner or two living in Texas is assured failure for the time being. A foreign operative in a liberal city like Austin or Houston would be my guess. Only police and criminals have guns there. Like most liberal states.
Texas kinda got lucky last time. And, yes, a man does make his own luck sometimes but I think the terrorists lost because of lack of planning and adequate mental preparation. The cop didn't beat them to the punch in a quick-draw at the OK Corral. They arrived and were a little disorganized and he saw them and reacted instantly. That was a fortunate series of events. You know you can't count on that to happen every time. Sooner or later the terrorists are lucky or they just use explosives at a major target. Like a suicide bombing at a major commercial event or famous public place. Like an attack on the Alamo so they can taunt us with "Remember The Alamo". Next time, if ISIS is serious about messing with Texas (to show the rest of us pussy Americans that none of us are safe), they'll scout their targets, prepare their operatives and execute a plan. Those two terrorist-wannabes were on a mission of their own, not working at the direction of ISIS. Two hateful dumbasses who got shot by an alert and lucky cop.
Those two terrorist-wannabes were on a mission of their own, not working at the direction of ISIS. Two hateful dumbasses who got shot by an alert and lucky cop. That's their entire Mo. When I was the operations office for the antiterrorism program with J34 (before 9/11), the prevalent method of any terrorist group was to attack a lamb instead of a lion. Usually the path of least resistance. The US has loads of those targets with high density populations. IS spending time and resources on surveillance of Texas would be counter productive. There are more lucrative targets with higher populations and more significant shock and sentimental value.
The propaganda of attacking a major target that has some security in a 'tough state' like Texas is much more than the usual slaughter/bombing of unarmed civilians. If I were them, I'd target the Alamo with explosives or RPGs or even deer rifles from a distance. Then they could use taunts like "Remember the Alamo", "We messed with Texas", etc. The propaganda slogans write themselves.
Well we lost at the Alamo. "Remember the Alamo" was a battle cry in which the Texans used to fire up the troops in future battles against Santa Anna. Used famously by the forces under Sam Houston at San Jacinto. So attacking a site of what the Texans considered a massacre (even though they fought back) would not play correctly for the IS types. It would just cause the cry of "Remember the Alamo" to be rejuvenated in the 21st Century. Then Greg Abbot can roll out this flag at the capitol: An IS attack in San Antonio would also tick off quite a many Latino Texans. That would play right into some American political groups. San Antonio is where Hispanic and Blanco Texans bled together for Independence. Again, IS is looking for larger cities with very large massed populations. They love seeing people running like chickens with their heads cut off and then brining teddy bears and flowers to the site of the carnage. You get a lot of that in Europe. I will say NYC responded to 9/11 heroically. So did the Pentagon and the PA crash site. IS will keep doing their piss ant loner attacks here in the US.
It is a nice flag. ISIS is run by spymasters. They are subtle thinkers. They might accept a temporary loss or downturn in blowback to polarize American Muslims to increase their recruiting prospects. They really want to radicalize resident Muslims in America and EU to polarize the public along religious lines.
Which leads us back to a previous discussion of who are the real brains behind IS. I remember we opined on some old Baathist types.
#29. To: redleghunter (#28)
Some generals and some top figures from Saddam's intel agencies. And we know this is true. One of them was a mid-level operative in Saddam's air force intel unit, for instance. A bit is known about the identity of a few others too. Wearing the man-burqas to hide their faces hasn't been effective enough to keep their identities secret and it surprises me that any of them ever thought it could last more than short time. Human affairs are rarely congenial to a leadership who is in hiding. It's just human nature. A leader must be seen and known to be effective over time.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestAbout a dozen protesters — most carrying long guns, some masked and one with his mother —
#8. To: redleghunter (#3)
Note to Jihadis...when you plan your conquest of the US you might want to avoid Texas.
#9. To: TooConservative (#8)
For major impact, they would probably want to show they're not afraid of famously armed Texas or anyone else. And to draw America into ground fighting in Syria and Iraq. They have declared their eagerness to fight the American military.
#10. To: redleghunter, sneakypete, GrandIsland (#9)
(Edited)
#16. To: TooConservative (#10)
That was a fortunate series of events. You know you can't count on that to happen every time. Sooner or later the terrorists are lucky or they just use explosives at a major target. Like a suicide bombing at a major commercial event or famous public place. Like an attack on the Alamo so they can taunt us with "Remember The Alamo". Next time, if ISIS is serious about messing with Texas (to show the rest of us pussy Americans that none of us are safe), they'll scout their targets, prepare their operatives and execute a plan.
#23. To: redleghunter (#16)
When I was the operations office for the antiterrorism program with J34 (before 9/11), the prevalent method of any terrorist group was to attack a lamb instead of a lion.
#24. To: TooConservative (#23)
If I were them, I'd target the Alamo with explosives or RPGs or even deer rifles from a distance. Then they could use taunts like "Remember the Alamo", "We messed with Texas", etc. The propaganda slogans write themselves.
#25. To: redleghunter (#24)
Then Greg Abbot can roll out this flag at the capitol:
So attacking a site of what the Texans considered a massacre (even though they fought back) would not play correctly for the IS types. It would just cause the cry of "Remember the Alamo" to be rejuvenated in the 21st Century.
#28. To: TooConservative, CZ82 (#25)
ISIS is run by spymasters. They are subtle thinkers.
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