In light of UNC’s recent Jeep jihadist, Joe Kaufman of the terrorism watchdog group Americans Against Hate writes in Frontpage Magazine about “Tar Heel terror.” Kaufman discusses the Muslim Student Association’s press release distancing itself from Taheri-azar, a part of which was that the only appearances of Taheri-azar with the group were in the on-campus “prayer room.” Kaufman says the group’s website contradicts that:

Under the heading ?Quick Facts [FAQ],? the UNC-MSA homepage answers the question, ?Where is the prayer room located?? The link doesn?t lead one to information about an on-campus entity, but instead, it takes one to the homepage of the Islamic Center of Raleigh, also known as the Islamic Association of Raleigh (IAR).

I’m not sure that’s an outright contradiction (the group could have a “prayer room” reserved on campus without a link about it on its web site), but Kaufman reports some disconcerting details about the IAR, listing its many points of tangency between radical Islamic organizations, as well as the extremist comments by invited speakers (e.g., American Muslism “must implement Islam as a totality [in which] Allah controls every place ? the home, the classroom, the science lab, the halls of Congress”).

Three years ago I wrote of North Carolina universities’ many disturbing ties to top-level terrorists and terror suspects.

For example, Khalid Shaik Mohammed and Mazen al-Najjar were at N.C. A&T State University at the same time Sami al-Arian was at N.C. State. Mohammed, reputed to be “The Brain” of al Qaida, also attended Chowan College. Along with them I also listed the following:

? Mekki Hamed Mekki of N.C. A&T (and Guilford Tech): “linked by federal authorities to al Qaeda and suspected of planning to attack a U.S. target with an airplane.”

? Jibreel al-Amreekee of N.C. Central University: died in Kashmir while fighting Indian troops on behalf of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (the Righteous Army), an affiliate of al Qaeda blamed for the December 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian parliament.

? Mohamad Youssef Hammoud in Charlotte: indicted along with 17 others for illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hezbollah. An AP report at the time said they were “drawn to North Carolina about a decade ago because of the education opportunites.”

If I were to update that column now, I’d have to include Taheri-azar and possibly also Magdy el-Nashar, the N.C. State student suspected but cleared of planning the London bombings.


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