NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) —Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Times Square Wednesday evening in protest over the recent landmark nuclear deal with Iran.
As CBS2’s Jessica Schneider reported, some 10 thousand are rallying in solidarity with signs and voices raised against the nuclear deal.
Protest organizers proclaim: “Washington is prepared to give Iran virtually all that it needs to get to the bomb. To release $150 billion to Iran will result in the expansion of worldwide terror.”
Former New York Governor, and Presidential contender, George Pataki joined the chorus of voices urging lawmakers to block the deal.
“Reject this deal. Protect America. Protect Israel and protect the world from freedom,” Pataki said.
The Stop Iran Rally Coalition — which claims to be a bi-partisan group — is also calling out Sen. Charles Schumer, saying he “has the votes as presumptive leader to override this deal….If this deal is not stopped, New York voters will know whom to blame.”
Sen. Schumer said in a statement Wednesday that he wasn’t ready to make a decision on the deal yet.
“I’ve read the agreement and I’m seeking answers to the many questions I have. Before I make a decision, I’m going to speak at length with experts on both sides,” the lawmaker said.
In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry led back-to-back, closed-door briefings, trying to sway lawmakers to approve the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
“We are convinced that the agreement that we have arrived at with world powers is an agreement that will prevent Iran from the potential of securing a nuclear weapon. It will make the region, our friends and allies safer, it will make the world safer,” Kerry said. “And we are convinced that the absence of any viable alternative absolutely underscores that fact.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. is fiercely lobbying lawmakers to reject the deal. And Republicans are pledging to do just that.
“Because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, and we’re going to do everything possible to stop it,” said Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner.
And many at the rally said more people in the country need to start listening and speaking out as well.
“I’m very concerned about what our situation is here. Nobody wants this deal to go through and we’re hoping that Obama will hear the voice of the American people and we’re hoping that Congress will listen to what we have say. And hopefully we can do something about that,” said one protester.
“I feel people really don’t understand the main issue. To me the main issue is not what happens 10 years from now, but what happens as soon as the sanctions are removed from Iran,” another protester told Schneider. “Which is the main terrorist regime in the world, which spreads terrorism all around the world, which is responsible for the deaths of Americans as well as Israelis.”
Several academic, military, and political leaders will speak to the crowd Wednesday night. All of them urge that this is an issue that transcends politics and they’re urging Congress to keep sanctions against Iran, even if it means overriding President Barack Obama’s likely veto on any legislation against the deal, Schneider reported.
Congress has 60 days to approve or reject the deal. The Senate will hold a hearing on the deal Thursday.
President Obama was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Tuesday night, pitching the Iran deal as the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and claiming once again that it came down to this deal, or war. This week he did an end-run around Congress by going to the United Nations, where the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the agreement between the P5+1 (U.S., England, France, Germany, Russia and China) and Iran. As we have pointed out, this agreement virtually guarantees Iran a path to having nuclear weapons, if they don’t already. Plus, it will release them from tough sanctions (no “snap-back” sanctions are feasible), and will soon provide them with approximately $150 billion of their frozen oil revenues to continue to expand their state sponsored terrorism and hegemonic ambitions. The U.S. held all the cards when the negotiations began, yet made concession after concession, completely abandoning numerous red lines that were previously insisted upon.
Today, Wednesday July 22nd, an important demonstration and rally will be taking place in Times Square, in the heart of New York City, to call attention to the multitude of problems with this so called agreement, and to try to prevent it from going into effect. It is called the Stop Iran Rally, and features an outstanding lineup of speakers. Six of them are members of our Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi, including Adm. James “Ace” Lyons (Ret.), former CIA Officer Clare Lopez, Gen. Paul Vallely (Ret.), Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret.), Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee). In addition, the list includes former CIA Director James Woolsey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Morgenthau, Caroline Glick, Frank Gaffney, Mort Zuckerman and George Pataki. Too many to name them all. To see the full list, take a look at the poster.
The event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m., and will last at least two hours. You can watch it live by clicking here. I will be in attendance, and will be reporting on the event.
Friday, July 17th, marked the 19th anniversary of the deaths of 230 people on TWA Flight 800. There remain unaddressed questions about how this jet mysteriously exploded off the coast of Long Island. But the mainstream media aren’t interested in providing the public with much needed answers, pursuing this scandal, or even, really, marking the anniversary of the victims. Instead, recent coverage of this anniversary has been confined to some local news reports. I’m sure there will be much more coverage next year, for the 20th anniversary.
But the media continue to do a disservice to America and the memories of those lost, by ignoring this enduring scandal and its many victims. They are not interested in re-litigating the facts because the facts overwhelmingly point to an administration cover-up, and to expose this scandal would implicate the Clintons in yet another scandal.
Andrew Danziger, a 28-year airline veteran, spoke out this past April about the transparent government cover-up that took place nearly two decades ago.
“This investigation smelled like bull all those years back, and time has done nothing to soften that stench,” wrote Danziger for the New York Daily News. “I don’t believe the findings, and neither do hundreds of other pilots that I know.”
That might be because the FBI, he says, took the “lead” in the investigation, an “unprecedented” step. In particular, Danziger wrote, one of the lead investigators representing the interests of the TWA pilots at the time told him that “the mechanics and their representatives were denied access, in the early going, to the hangar where all of the recovered material was stored and being re-assembled.”
His colleague also told him that “During the investigation, the FBI periodically required everyone to leave the hangar due to ‘national security issues.’”
“Only after they ‘sterilized the area’ were folks allowed back in to continue where they left off (that is, if what they were examining was still there),” writes Danziger. In addition, eyewitnesses were not allowed to testify, and their words were only summarized in FBI reports which they could not personally review.
“Lots can go wrong with an airplane,” he wrote. “But jets do not explode in midair.”
“…Hank Hughes, an [National Transportation Safety Board] NTSB investigator who headed up the reassembly of the wreckage in a hangar in Calverton, New York, had been telling what he knew since early in the investigation,” I recalled for Accuracy in Media two years ago. “He told a Senate committee in 1997 that he witnessed evidence being tampered with, and some being destroyed.”
I still believe that “the evidence remains overwhelming that the plane was brought down by a missile or missiles.”
AIM conducted a detailed investigation of the downing of Flight TWA 800 to attempt to expose the truth. We examined the evidence supporting each of the three leading theories of what caused the plane to explode, and then crash into the Atlantic, 19 years ago this week. Our award-winning documentary, “TWA 800: The Search for the Truth,” can be viewed here.
Thousands of Americans Rally to Demand Congress Vote Down Iran Nuke Deal
July 22, 2015 – New York City – The “STOP IRAN RALLY,” the largest, grassroots bipartisan American protest against the deal granting Iran a fast track to a nuclear bomb, will be held in Times Square on Wednesday, July 22, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thousands of Americans from all faith traditions, political interests and communities, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, registered Democrats and Republicans, LGBT, Iranian-Americans, and others will demand that Congress vote down the Iran deal.
Under the umbrella of the STOP IRAN RALLY COALITION, more than 100 organizations spanning the nation’s political, religious and social spectrum will participate. A roster of preeminent experts from senior levels of the military, government, academic, and media establishments will speak at the rally.
“Strip away the administration’s rhetoric and it’s clear this deal gives the Mullahs – the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism, $150 billion in return for effectively nothing: no dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program; no anytime or anywhere inspections; no eradication of Iran’s ballistic missile program; no maintenance of the arms embargo; and no halt to Iran’s sponsorship of terror,” said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, STOP IRAN RALLY’s co-organizer.
Wiesenfeld added, “Washington is prepared to give Iran virtually all that it needs to get to the bomb. To release $150 billion to Iran will result in the expansion of worldwide terror. New York Senator Charles Schumer has the votes as presumptive leader to override this deal if he wants. To do anything less is cynical and disgraceful, and the public will not be fooled this time. Americans will not stand for another North Korea. If this deal is not stopped, New York voters will know whom to blame.”
“The Administration uses scare tactics in falsely claiming that the alternative to this deal is war,” said Steve Emerson, Executive Director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism and a speaker at the STOP IRAN RALLY. “This deal would actually lead to more war, many more deaths of Americans and our allies and much more international terrorism.”
“This is a bipartisan issue, not a political one,” said Richard Allen, a local activist leading the STOP IRAN RALLY volunteers. “Now, Congress must rise to the occasion and expose evisceration of U.S. national security and pass a resolution of disapproval. Congress must also override President Obama’s threatened veto, and return America’s Iran policy to dealing from a position of strength rather than appeasement. We are mobilizing nationwide to let our lawmakers know we will hold each and every one of them to account for the consequences of this dangerous deal being foisted on the American people.”
SPEAKERS AT THE “STOP IRAN” RALLY WILL INCLUDE:
James Woolsey, Former Director of the CIA and Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Gov. George Pataki, Former Three-Term Governor of New York
Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan District Attorney from 1975 to 2009, and Of Counsel, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Allen West, Former Congressman and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel
Prof. Alan Dershowitz, Attorney and Professor at the Harvard School of Law
Pete Hoekstra, Former U.S. Congressman and Chair of the House Intelligence Committee
U.S. Navy Admiral James A. “Ace” Lyons, Former Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Senior U.S. Military Representative to the United Nations
General Paul E. Vallely, Former U.S. Army Major General and Chairman of Stand Up America
Mortimer Zuckerman, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report and the publisher of the New York Daily News and former Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
John Batchelor, Radio Talk Host, WABC-AM
Steven Emerson, Executive Director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism
David Brog, Executive Director, Christians United for Israel
Frank Gaffney, Founder of the Center for Security Policy
Caroline Glick, Deputy Managing Editor of The Jerusalem Post
Kasim Hafeez, Founder of “The Israel Campaign” and Christians United for Israel’s Outreach Coordinator
Tony LoBianco, Actor and Activist
Clare M. Lopez, Former CIA officer, Terrorism and Iran Expert at Center for Security Policy
Herbert I. London, President Emeritus of Hudson Institute and former Dean of New York University
Colonel Richard Kemp, Former Commander of the British Forces in Afghanistan
Genevieve Wood, Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
SUPPORTING QUOTES:
“Whatever happened to the President’s claim that ‘No (Iran) deal is better than a bad deal?’ Well, this is a bad deal. Now is the time for the American Congress to stand up and protect the security of the American people and our future generations. This is a pivotal moment in American history. Will our leaders rise above politics and demonstrate the courage to do what is right for our country?” – Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, co-organizer of the STOP IRAN RALLY
“The President publicly asserts that the U. S. ‘will maintain our own sanctions related to Iran’s support for terrorism, its ballistic missile program, and its human rights violations.’ In reality, this deal removes the most severe terrorist sanctions in place against Iran for years; it removes the embargo on weapons sales to Iran against the explicit warnings of our own Secretary of Defense and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; it allows for Iran to continue developing its intercontinental ballistic missile program that can only have one mission – attaching nuclear warheads; it provides Iran with billions of unfrozen assets that Iran will surely pour into worldwide terrorism as it has done for 30 years; and it shamefully decouples any linkage to Iran’s continuing imprisonment of an American Marine and four other American civilians not to mention its brutal suppression and execution of its own dissidents.
This deal would enable Iran to spend tens of billions of new dollars on its vast state supported terrorist apparatus: from its Iranian Revolutionary Guards who have been responsible for killing hundreds of Americans to supplying their Hezbollah terrorist proxies with vast amounts of sophisticated weapons to threaten American interest and allies throughout the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Latin America.” – Steve Emerson, Executive Director, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Speaker at Stop Iran Rally
“This is a good deal for Iran. Not the American people. This deal abandons every red line the administration said was essential for any acceptable deal to block all pathways to an Iranian bomb. If Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, wants to be treated with ‘respect,’ let them earn it by agreeing to robust spot inspections, ending their missile programs and proving to us that they mean no harm.” – Richard Allen, Co-organizer, STOP IRAN RALLY
ABOUT STOP IRAN RALLY ORGANIZERS:
The STOP IRAN RALLY is coordinated by the STOP IRAN RALLY COALITION, a grassroots movement of volunteer citizens, in partnership with more than 100 organizations spanning the entire political, religious and social spectrum. More information can be found at www.stopiranrally.org. Follow updates about the rally on Twitter @stopiranrally and #stopiranrally.
Yesterday, members of our armed services in Chattanooga, Tennessee, went to work in the service of our nation. Some went to a recruiting center to assist the young people who, like so many before them, would walk through the door on any given Thursday morning and volunteer to defend the United States of America. Four brave Marines went to a Naval Reserve Center to perform their duties to the Tennessee National Guard.
But one of the young people who visited two of those facilities was not like the others. He was there not to volunteer to serve America, but to attack America. Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez was there to carry out jihad, an act of radical Islamic terrorism. An act of war, in which those four brave Marines lost their lives, while at least two others were wounded.
In the wake of this vicious attack on our nation we need to rid ourselves of two dangerous delusions, first and foremost that a ‘lone gunman’–as President Obama described the shooter–is somehow isolated from the larger threat of radical Islamic terrorism. In the modern world, no one acts in isolation. Through social media ISIS, al Qaida, and other groups are infiltrating our nation with impunity while our government will not even admit that radical Islamic terrorism is a problem.
The second delusion is that this attack is somehow isolated from previous episodes, notably those in Little Rock, Arkansas and Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009—both of which were attacks on American military facilities. The Obama administration was woefully reluctant to call either an act of radical Islamic terrorism, instead suggesting ‘workplace violence’ as a justification for the killings. Finally, after years of effort, the victims of Fort Hood were properly recognized as victims of attacks by foreign terrorists when they received Purple Hearts on April 15, 2015. Likewise, the victim of the Little Rock attack received a Purple Heart on July 1, 2015.
We cannot afford to wait six years to recognize what happened in Chattanooga for what it was. We need to see with clarity right now what has happened. We can immediately hold hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee on the need for our enlisted men and women to have the right to be armed in military facilities. Congress can pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act that would allow our government to stop Americans who travel overseas to train with terrorist groups from coming back to attack us at home. We can thoroughly overhaul our broken immigration system that is allowing this type of individual to gain citizenship. And we can accept the reality that while we might wish it otherwise, the forces of radical Islam are at war with us.
You can support the campaign of Ted Cruz by clicking here.
Amman, Jordan (CNN) – Jordanian official said that the shooter in the American civil Chattanooga Tennessee, which led to the deaths of four US Marines Thursday, [was] not a Jordanian citizen, but [held] a Palestinian passport temporarily and without a national number.
The source explained that “after investigations show that the name of the person who launched the attack in Tennessee in the United States, is Mohammed Yousef Saeed Ali Haj, who was born on September 5 / September” in 1990, according to the source. His father moved to live in the United States in 1982.
He added that Mohammed’s father had changed his name to Abdul Aziz in 1990, so that became his son’s name is Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Aziz, according to the Jordanian government source, who added that the gunman holds a US passport, and that the son was in Jordan in 2014 on a visit to his uncle.
***
According to a tip that came into WDEF, Muhammad Abdulazeez was spotted at a gun range just weeks before killing four Marines and one Navy Petty Officer.
Abdulazeez was reportedly spotted with three other men who were wearing long beards like Abdulazeez. All four were reportedly practice shooting.
The claim has not been confirmed by law enforcement but several sources told WDEF the men were likely spotted at Prentice Cooper Gun Range.
When News 12 arrived at the gun range, several men who were practicing shooting said a man who claimed to be a former Marine arrived at the range Saturday morning and said he was doing his own investigation to see if Abdulazeez had been shooting at that location.
The men said he asked multiple groups of people who were at the range.
CBS News is also reporting that Abdulazeez told his co-workers that he and a group of guys recently went shooting at a gun range. CBS News got its information from law enforcement sources who interviewed Abdulazeez’s co-workers.
According to a published CBS News report, the men reportedly shot rifles, BB guns and pistols last month.
***
Abdulazeez had purchased three guns after returning from Jordan, including an AK-74, an AR-15, and a Saiga 12. In the home was also a 9mm and a .22 caliber weapons, it is unclear in whose name those weapons were registered.
As we reported Friday, the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga (ISGC) is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood through the Hamas-linked North American Islamic Trust (NAIT.) Now new evidence has been revealed showing that ISGC actually raised funds for the building of their new mosque in 2009, by referencing jihad and key Muslim Brotherhood figures.
The title of the slide, “In the cause of Allah” is an English translation of Fi Sabil Allah, as in the phrase “Jihad Fisabilallah”, which means violent jihad against unbelievers. Classic Islamic law reference book, the Reliance of the Traveller, notes in its index, “Fisabilallah: See Jihad”. There is no other reasonable interpretation of the phrase in context.
The reference to jihad in the fundraiser related to the Mosque, was done as a means of explaining that a contribution to the building of the mosque qualified under “Zakat” (annual tithe which is obligatory in Islam), under the category of funding Jihad.
Reliance of the Traveller notes, “The seventh category is those fighting for Allah, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster (O: but who are volunteers for jihad without remuneration)…”
The slide “Cause of Allah” references Yusuf Al Qaradawi, and S.A.A. Maududi, founder of Pakistani Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami. Both Qaradawi and Maududi are prolific on the subject of Jihad.
Qaradawi has been noted for his avid support for the terrorist group Hamas and their jihad against Israel, including issuing fatwas authorizing suicide bombing, and has supported jihadist movements in Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and most recently in Egypt. Qaradawi is the leader of the Hamas financing network known as the “Union of the Good”, which utilizes Zakat funds received by its charities in order to support Hamas.
In his work, “Islamic Education and Hassan Al Banna,” Qaradawi discusses how it was the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) which revitalized the classical concept of Jihad for a modern age:
The aspect of Ikhwani training which makes it eminent and unique is Jehad or crusade i e. : Crusader·like training…The real implication of · Jehad (crusade) had been dismissed from Islamic training and way of life, before its conception among the lkhwans.
And in his “Priorities of the Movement in the Coming phase” Qaradawi says:
…it is a duty to defend every land invaded by infidels, stating that such jihad is imperative for Muslims in this land as an individual obligation and that all Muslims must support them with money, arms and men as required until all their land has been liberated from any aggressor who usurps it. Therefore, the Islamic Movement cannot stand idle and watch while any part of Muslim land is occupied by a foreign aggressor.
The other modern Islamic scholar referenced by the document, Maulana S.A.A. Maududi, was famous for successfully merging classical Islamic concepts of Jihad with a modernist language of revolution. He noted the following in his work “Jihad in Islam”:
It must be evident to you from this discussion that the objective of the Islamic ‘Jihād’ is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system of state rule. Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single state or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution. Although in the initial stages it is incumbent upon members of the party of Islam to carry out a revolution in the State system of the countries to which they belong, but their ultimate objective is no other than to effect a world revolution.
So the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga announced in 2009 that it openly aligned its views of Jihad with the views of Qaradawi and Maududi, and told its Muslim congregants that donating to the construction of ISGC was permissible, because it represented funding jihad.
Chattanooga shooter Mohammed Yusuf Abdulazeez and his family were regular attendees as ISGC. Despite claims by the mosque leadership that Abdulazeez was a rare attendee or little known there, a photo from a family Facebook account shows that Abdulazeez held his graduation party at the mosque, and that it was well attended, indicating they were well known regulars.
This fundraising document was publicly available information, three years before U.S. District Attorney William Killian attended the grand opening in 2012 and expressed his friendship with a mosque leadership who built their mosque with a promise that funding them represented an investment in jihad.
Now that investment appears to have matured.
U.S. District Attorney William Killian should recuse himself from this case, because of his association with ISGC, and the investigators must begin to conduct a detailed and through investigation of ISGC itself, and what role its support for violent jihad may have played in the attack in Chattanooga which claimed the lives of five servicemen.
as presumptive leader to override this deal….If this deal is not stopped, New York voters will know whom to blame.”
516-343-0543
