Chairman’s Message: Responding to Saqib Ali on Islamic Extremism -
Let Fred Grandy Speak

A tempest in a teapot controversy has stirred in Montgomery County over the past ten days or so because of the Chevy Chase Republican Women's Club choice of former Congressman Fred Grandy as a speaker on the topic of the "Threat of Islamic Extremism to America" on September 24^th.

Former Delegate Saqib Ali has 'alerted the media' and launched a Facebook page "Stand Up to Bigotry in MoCo Republican's Party" see www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=272251526123063 as well as an online petition of the same name.

According to Ali: "We don't need divisive people like Fred Grandy coming to Montgomery County to spread their venom. And we don't need the Republican Party to participate in this nonsense. Please spread the word about this event by telling your friends to join. We may have to picket the event if necessary. Let's hope Republicans come to their senses before then and cancel the event."

I commented to the press that his "attacking a program on 'Islamic extremism' as an attack on all of Islam makes the same mistake critics unfairly accuse Fred Grandy of. 'Islamic extremism' and Islam are not interchangeable terms." Others have also pointed out the Chevy Chase Club's First Amendment right to discuss topics and have speakers of their own choosing.  

Ali's lack of judgment while in office was legendary. For example, to promote his bill banning the sale of sexual stimulants at gas stations he barged into a press conference where Mark Lunsford was speaking about the need to strengthen Maryland's sex offender laws. Lunsford is the father of Jessica Lunsford, whose Florida tragedy inspired many states' Jessica's Laws. Ali handed out to the media samples of the pills that where the subject of his legislation, with names like Night Bullet and Stiff Nights. District 39's Democratic voters are to be commended for his defeat in the 2010 primary.

Ali's contention in this speaker controversy is, that since there is no such thing as "Islamic extremism," that therefore any discussion of the topic is a slur against all Muslims.

Let me share my personal history to respond further.  

In the early nineties our family lived in Brooklyn. Just one block over from our home was Atlantic Avenue, not far along which the Al Farook Mosque is located. This was one of the several mosques in the New York City area at which the so-called "Blind Sheikh," Omar Abdel-Rahman, recruited terrorists. This conclusion is not wild conjecture or biased speculation on my part. Today Omar Abdel-Rahman is serving a life term in a Federal prison as a result of a case arising out of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

According to Evan Kohlmann in Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe, Omar Abdel-Rahman's sermons condemned Americans as the "descendants of apes and pigs who have been feeding from the dining tables of the Zionists, Communists, and colonialists." Abdel-Rahman issued a fatwa in America that declared lawful the robbing of banks and killing of Jews in America. He called on Muslims to assail the West, "cut the transportation of their countries, tear it apart, destroy their economy, burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air, or land."

There is added personal significance beyond my proximity to this mosque.   At the same time my wife Robin was working for Salomon Brothers at 7 World Trade Center.  This structure was eventually destroyed on 9/11.

Today our son Peter serves as a US Marine in Afghanistan. While he was injured this past May by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by the Taliban and hospitalized for a week, he has rejoined his unit and fights side by side with Moslem soldiers of the Afghanistan National Army.

At nearly the same time Saqib Ali was caterwauling about the Chevy Chase Club speaker choice, I was following news accounts about my son's unit's participating in an Iftar during Ramadan with their Afghan National Army and Police counterparts.  (See US Marines News Story: Faith sustains Afghan soldiers during Ramadan.)

Consider then the contrast between Saqib Ali's protest and our US soldiers and Marines sharing an Iftar with Moslem soldiers. Together they understand how deadly an adversary Islamic extremists are. If Delegate Ali is really interested in ecumenical outreach, he should stop denying the obvious existence of this threat.

Mark Uncapher
Montgomery County Republican Chairman