NTM 1336 | NewTrendMag.org

NewTrendMag.org News # 1336 [ Click on NEWS for back issues ][ OUR BOOKS ][ Previous Issue ]

Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief

Jamada al-awwal 29,1431/ May 14, 2010 # 20

A war is going on in American cities. Br. Kwame has sent us a report about the little town of Newburgh in New York state. Although it was published in the New York Times, it did not make it to the national and international news. Please scroll all the way down.

From Imam Badi Ali [Jamaat al-Muslimeen Shoora leader, North Carolina]

Spotlight on Tariq Ramadan: It is good to know who is being projected as the leader of Muslims in America [courtesy of the White House]. Tariq Ramadan is trying to do what Warith Deen Muhammad failed to do through the African American community: to create a tame "Islam" in the service of secularism. There are many others like Ramadan at work in America to develop an "Islam" based on the notion of separation of church and state. The Muslim Brotherhood movement is hard at work, trying to get rid of the influence of Syed Qutb. Understandably, the secular powers do not want to see the emergence of an Iqbal, or a Maudoodi or a Syed Qutb in the West. The tamed Brotherhood movement is working hand in glove with the Obama regime to mislead the Muslims of America.
[More later.]

Background
Long time Collaborator: Who is behind the imperialist powers?
Ismaili Sect Leader Agha Khan in his Own Words: Supports Karzai, Sees Taliban as Threat

Interview with Der Spiegel, Germany, in 2006:

SPIEGEL: Afghanistan is currently being confronted with major problems and the situation seems to be deteriorating by the hour. What went wrong? And what can the West do to make the situation more stable?
Aga Khan: The security situation is indeed very worrying -- it is getting worse, especially in the south. Most of our projects are in the capital and in the north where (the situation) is better but not satisfying. We can supply energy from Tajikistan, we can provide civil services. We try to avoid the danger that certain areas in Afghanistan will be rehabilitated more quickly than others. If this development overlaps with ethnic divides you have another problem. But the main problem is that most people in Afghanistan have not seen an improvement in their daily lives. The process of reconstruction does not seem to be penetrating. We have not succeded in bringing a culture of hope to this country. One of the central lessons I have learned after a half century of working in the developing world is that the replacement of fear by hope is probably the most powerful trampoline of progress.
SPIEGEL: President Karzai is a personal friend of yours. Many people see him as a weak leader, and some call him "Mayor of Kabul" because he is unable to control large parts of the country.
Aga Khan: We should do everything to help him. He has an enomously complex agenda to deal with. He is our best hope. And besides, he is the elected leader and we have to work with the parliament.
SPIEGEL: Even if warlords and a former members of the Taliban are represented in Afghanistan's parliament?
Aga Khan: You either accept the results of democracy or you don't. Otherwise you talk about qualifying democracy.

Three Quick letters Pinpointing Times of India's Attempt to Distort Islam
Darul Uloom Deoband did not issue any such Fatwa.

Walaikum asalam

Thank you to both Br. Salahuddin and Br. Shamim Siddiqui for clearing up this confusion.

In my book STRUGGLE of MUSLIM WOMEN many years back I gave the evidence from the Qur'an and Hadith that Muslim women are allowed to work. The book went through four editions, followed by a second book LIBERATION of WOMEN THRU ISLAM, and a good number of women in America embraced Islam after reading it. Some of these women are active in Jamaat al-Muslimeen.

Your brother in faith
Kaukab Siddique, PhD
Associate Professor of English & Mass Communication

The link is: www.newtrendmag.org

From: TSidd Date: Thu, 13 May 2010
Subject: Re: Want your opinion: Deoband fatwa: It's illegal for women to work

Assalamu Alaikum

Shukrun wa Jazakallah for issuing the clarification. That has defused the confusion. However the issue needs a thorough probe in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah and the needs and urgencies of the modern complex society. If the permission is there, no one should try to curtail it under the garb of "traditionalism", reflecting old Jahiliysh. If not, what are the alternatives in terms of Shariah. The issue must be resolved.

Shamim Siddiqi [New York]

In a message dated 5/12/2010 , Salahuddin writes from India:

Asak,

Darul uloom Deoband did not issue any fatwa stating it is iilegal for woman to work.

Where as it has only suggested that working women should dress "properly".

It does not surprise me when media projects the distorted view of the Deoband.

The Times of India has history of presnting many distorted news. Some of the news published in The Times of India is very funny.

Can The Times of India show the copy of the alleged "Deoband fatwa: It's illegal for women to work, support family" to prove the news it published yesterday?

Pakistan
Taliban mujahideen Score Heavily Against General Kayani's US-backed Military

May 10, 2010: According to BBC and AFP, Pakistani Taliban hit the Pakistani military in a forested area in the Orakzai area. [See map below.] General Kayani, America's chief instrument in the Pakistani power structure, admitted thru a spokesman that "fierce" fighting took place and that 9 elite Pakistani troops were killed, including two officers. Kayani seldom admits such losses, usually claiming that only one soldier was killed.
The heavy losses are attested to by Kayani refusal to let any journalists enter the area. [New Trend's sources say that Kayani has had more than 10,000 troops killed in the fighting against Taliban mujahideen since the attack on the Red Masjid.]
BBC also indicates that Pak Taliban forces have re-appeared in Swat where Kayani has been claiming complete victory.

[New Trend takes back some of its criticism of the ineptitude of Pak Taliban with reference to the Times Square attempt. The Pak Taliban are doing quite well on the battlefield. Also, we must confirm that Pak Taliban were correct in saying that Hakeemullah Mehsud is alive and well. Editor]

Khalid Khawaja, who fought for the Rights of CAIR's Victims, Laid to Rest.
Red Masjid Leader, Maulana Abdul Aziz, Led Funeral Prayers
[Photo exclusive to New Trend from Khalid shaheed's son Huzaifa.]

Photo shows Maulana Abdul Aziz leading the funeral prayers for martyr Khalid Khawaja.[See his final sight in the inset.]

The photo is important because pro-government media in Pakistan are spreading General Kayani's disinformation that Khawaja was against Red Masjid. By contrast, his wife Sis. Shamama is accused of being the force behind Umm Hasan, the woman leader of Jamia Hafsa. Propaganda against her has heated up.

With thanks to Sis. Anisa Abdel Fattah [re-Bangla Vision]

Israel, Egyptian Rulers and Obama Working Together to Crush Gaza

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz has hailed the strong cooperation relations between his government and Cairo especially regarding the siege on Gaza Strip.

The Hebrew radio on Monday quoted the minister as saying that the Egyptian-Israeli relations had improved noticeably recently despite differences over a number of issues.

He pointed to the solid cooperation in the field of barring smuggling of weapons to "terrorist organizations" in Gaza.

The statement came in the wake of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Egypt where he met with president Hosni Mubarak for an hour and a half.

Benjamin Ben Eliezer, who attended part of the meeting, said that Netanyahu and the accompanying delegation were warmly welcomed in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Meanwhile, Hebrew media reported that American president Barack Obama told Netanyahu in a telephone conversation that Washington was strongly committed to Israel's security.

Obama's phone call was meant to signal the start of American-patronized indirect talks between the PA in Ramallah and Israel.

http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s780BOXMRGse 45iEDwBtM7mIVkaK 4hJ%2fiuy% 2fM3pN4aFQAslttd OjAvdtXnHI% 2fz7muuN% 2fQcY4OvJrine3bP YADFuhzddIZ0LhS8 69WiZy1i% 2fR4%3d

Many Muslims don't know: World War II History Impacts Modern Europe

The Normandy Invasion Movie by Spielberg Gave one Side of the Story: Here is the other.

A New Openness to Discussing Allied War Crimes in World War II
Der Spiegel (Germany)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,692037,00.hml

.. .. Allied soldiers committed war crimes in Normandy to a much greater extent than was previously realized. Beevor extensively quotes reports and memoirs of those who took part in the invasion, many of whom state that American, British and Canadian troops killed German POWs and wounded soldiers .. .. Near one village, Audouville-la-Hubert, they massacred 30 captured Wehrmacht soldiers in a single killing spree .. .. It would seem that no shadows were to be cast on the war that gave the Americans, in particular, the moral right to have a say in shaping Europe's postwar future as well as creating the practical conditions for it to do so.

A Sect which is Attacking Islam From Within.

Pervez Spread Bogus Story that Imam Abu Hanifa Opposed Hadith
Abu Hanifa Not Only Accepted Hadith, but even Mursal Hadith and Narrations of Sahaba
Process of Ijtihad is Available in Hadith Itself

Question and Answer
[The following is from a series of questions asked by Mahjabeen in Canada. The questioner is refusing to give any information about her location and address but as her questions seem to be legitimate, they will be answered.]
Continuation from M. in Canada: Allama Pervez has shown us the weakness of Hadith by taking the example of Abu Hanifa whose School of Thought has the most followers in the Muslim world. Allama Pervez says that Abu Hanifa hardly ever used Hadith, no more than 18 Hadith in his life time. The Allama quotes page after page, nine pages, from the Tarikh of Khateeb Baghdadi (volume 13) which show that Abu Hanifa rejected Hadith as source of Islam and instead used the Qur'an and did Qiyas on its basis. All the scholars of that time were upset with Abu Hanifa, as you are upset with Allama Pervez, and accused him of starting a "new Islam." Allama Pervez ends the discussion of Abu Hanifa with these points:
"1. In DEEN, only the principles and laws of Qur'an do not change, and it is this Book which is above doubt and suspicion.
2. Traditions have a historic value which can help in doing Ijtihad but they cannot be declared a permanent and unchanging part of DEEN.
3. In the light of principles of the Qur'an, we should organize Fiqh by our Ijtihad but this Ijtihad too cannot be declared unchanging till the Day of Judgement." [Maqame Hadith by Pervez, p.170]

This will help you to understand Pervez and stop attacking him.

Note: The three points from Maqame Hadith were photocopied by the writer from the original Urdu. We have translated them with great care and we hope the writer will have no problem with the translation.

REPLY BY KAUKAB SIDDIQUE:

Discussion of Imam Abu Hanifa is relevant at this time because his mosque in Baghdad was hit in the U.S. bombing. I have a photo of it received from Baghdad. The top of the mosque's turret was blown off. It also received damaged to its front entrance and to various parts of its structure.
The followers of the Parvezi sect should protest to the U.S. over the damage if they think Imam Abu Hanifa was a supporter of their line of thinking. I notice that the Parvezis are among the few people in the Muslim world who have not come out against the U.S. bombing of Iraq.

Parvez was a dishonest writer and hence tied himself into knots while trying to mislead the Muslims. We should pay attention to the FITNA he started because he now has followers in America trying to use his bogus arguments in their attempts to help the Zionists by undermining the Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh). [One recent "gem" the Parvezis have produced is that Masjid al-Aqsa, mentioned in the Qur'an, is not in Jerusalem!]

Let's look at the absurdities of Parvez as evidenced in M's question:
1. Does M. know that Imam Abu Hanifa was a non-Arab? In fact his grandfather, Zuti, was a fireworshiper from KABUL, who embraced Islam and, to avoid persecution by his family, traveled to Iraq and settled in Kufa where Abu Hanifa's father Thabit was born.

Parvez's theory was that there was a "PERSIAN Hadith conspiracy" against Islam, as evidenced by the non-Arab origins of the six famous collectors of Hadith. So, if Abu Hanifa was a Persian and an OPPONENT of Hadith, according to Parvez's way of thinking, then obviously the conspiracy theory is again seriously damaged.

2. I have MAQAME HADITH by Parvez, and you are right: he does have nine pages of quotes from Khateeb Baghdadi which indicate that Imam Abu Hanifa rejected (most) Hadith. Here Parvez has undermined himself owing to his dishonesty and lack of scholarship. Note:

i. Parvez does not tell his readers that Khateeb Baghdadi died in 463 (H). [He does not even mention the full name of the author, Ahmad bin Ali al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi, nor the title of his work, TARIKH BAGHDAD, though he quoted nine pages from him.] Perhaps Parvez was banking on the non-availability of the book he was quoting from for most Pakistanis.

ii. Notice that Parvez has created suspicion about Hadith owing to the 3rd century productions of six of the collectors of Hadith. Here he wants to use a FOURTH CENTURY collection of history-related narrations [no comparison in quality to the books of Hadith] and bases a major argument upon it.

iii. Did you notice that ALL the quotes he has given are by OPPONENTS of Imam Abu Hanifa. These are no more than the polemical writings of scholars of that era. Many of them opposed Abu Hanifa because he used Qiyas (reasoning by analogy). [Some of these opponents were great scholars like Ahmed ibn Hanbal who considered Hadith sufficient to answer all exigencies.] They were trying to put him down by saying that he opposed Hadith, which only shows that Hadith was valued by all scholars in the golden era of Islam.

iv. Parvez, being dishonest, left out what Imam Abu Hanifa said about his own position on Hadith. This will surprise you, because it's from the same volume of Khateeb Baghdadi's book from which Parvez quoted page after page of what Abu Hanifa's opponents said. Here are Abu Hanifa's words:

"When I find some command in the Book of Allah, I grasp it, and when I do not find it in the Qur'an, I take the example of the messenger of Allah, pbuh, and I grasp what has been narrated about him correctly by honest people. Then if I find it neither in the Book of Allah nor in the example of the messenger of Allah, I take the words of the Companions of the Messenger, and if there is a difference among the Companions, I take the word of the Companion I prefer to over that of another. I do not go outside the words of all of these to take anyone else's word. As for people other than these, I have the right to Ijtihad just as they have." [Tarikh Baghdad, vol.13, p. 368]

v. A Shafi'ite scholar, Sha'arani, in his classical work Al-Meezan, has quoted from Imam Abu Hanifa. Note that Abu Hanifa not only accepts Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) but even the narrations of the Khulafa as BINDING before using his Qiyas:

"I first act on the Qur'an, then on the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), then on the teachings of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Usman and Ali." [Al-Meezan, vol. 1, page 61]

vi. Study the life of Imam Abu Hanifa. After learning the Qur'an, he went to the city of Basra and learned Hadith from two famous people in the generation after the Companions (tabain), Qatada and Sho'ba. Then at the age of 24, he went to Makka and learned Hadith from another eminent scholar named 'Ata. Then he went to Madinah and learned Hadith from Imam Baqir (from the line of the Prophet, pbuh). Imam Baqir also accused him of putting Qiyas above Hadith and Imam Abu Hanifa gave an example to show that this was not so. He said:

"Obligatory prayer is more important than fasting. If I were using Qiyas first, I would have said that a menstruating woman should make up for the prayers missed. I don't: instead I say that she should make up for the missed fasts."
Imam Baqir died in 114 Hijri and then Imam Abu Hanifa learned Hadith from Imam Jafar Sadiq, also from the line of the Prophet (pbuh). Then he went back to Kufa to learn from Imam Hammad.

vii. Imam Abu Hanifa went on to become one of the greatest teachers of Hadith. He was so well versed that instead of writing it down, he narrated Hadith orally to his students. His students, giants of Islamic scholarship like Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, wrote down the Hadith he narrated to them verbally. Of the 4,000 Hadith, he narrated, one MUSNAD of Imam Abu Hanifa exists even in Urdu with 523 Hadith in it. Incidentally, it begins with the same Hadith with which the Sahih of Bukhari begins.

viii. The Musnad of Imam Hanifa, and all his narrations of Hadith, have been collected and transmitted by numerous scholars of Hadith. One of the greatest tributes which can be paid to him is that his MUSNAD was transmitted even by differing scholars from non-Hanafi schools of thought. I will mention only one: Ibn Asakir, a Shafi'ii, from Damascus, 499-571 H.

ABU HANIFA EVEN ACCEPTED MURSAL HADITH;

Let alone rejecting or opposing Hadith, Imam Abu Hanifa even accepted Mursal Hadith in which the name of the Companion who narrated from the Prophet (pbuh) is not given. Such Hadith from Abu Hanifa can be seen in the Kitab al-Athar by Abu Yusuf (famous student of the Imam). Such Hadith would be a problem for later collectors, like Imam Bukhari, who would usually reject them. Imam Abu Hanifa was able to accept them because he got them via great scholars of Hadith like Nakha'i and Hasan Basri who had met the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh).

In conclusion, Parvez's entire story about Imam Abu Hanifa and Hadith is BOGUS. As for the principle of Ijtihad (independent reasoning), it is already given in the Hadith and is based on the Qur'an and the Hadith. I'll quote it from a good book of Hadith which I have in my personal library:

"Ma'az narrates that when the messenger of Allah (peace be on him) sent him to Yemen to become its governor, he asked Ma'az: Tell me, when something happens, how will you decide about it? (Ma'az replied) I will judge it according to the Qur'an. (The Prophet asked) If it is not in the Qur'an? (Ma'az replied) Then I will judge according to the hadith of the messenger of Allah. (The Prophet asked) If it is not in the hadith of the messenger of Allah? (Ma'az replied) Then I will use my own thinking and do my best. (Ma'az narrates) Then the messenger of Allah hit Ma'az on the chest with his hand and said: thanks be to Allah Almighty that He gave Ma'az the inspiration which pleased His messenger." (Darimi's Sunan, chapter 20, hadith 12. Darimi died 255 H.]

With thanks to Br. Dr. Shaukat Khan {Charlotte, North Carolina}
Beautiful One-Liners

1. Give Allah What is Right, not what's left.

2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end, Allah's way leads to an endless
hope.

3. A lot of kneeling, will keep you in good standing.

4. He who kneels before Allah, can stand before anyone.

5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma, but never let
him be the full stop.

6. Don't put a question mark where, Allah puts a full stop.

7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the mosque for a face lift.

8. When praying, don't give Allah instructions, just report for duty.

9. Don't wait for six strong men to take you to the mosque.

10. We don't change Allah's message, His message changes us.

11. The mosque is prayer-conditioned.

12. When Allah ordains, He sustains.

13. Warning: Exposure to Allah may prevent burning.

14. Plan ahead It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.

15. Most people want to serve Allah, but only in an advisory position.

16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Qur'an.

17. Exercise daily Walk with Allah.

18. Never give the devil a ride He will always want to drive.

19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.

21. He, who angers you, controls you.

22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives are developed.

23. Give Satan an inch and he will be a ruler.

24. Allah doesn't call the qualified He qualifies the called.

25. Read the Qur'an It will show you how simple life can be.

Ameena Ansari (Umm Qaasim)

"Closeness to Him is beholding His closeness to you" : Ibn Ata Illah
"The total and lasting mistake is to have free time and not betake yourself to Him, or the obstacles to be few, and not journey to Him" : Ibn Ata Illah

Context for the Arizona Campaign
16 years before there was an Arizona SB 1070, ushering in a new wave of repression against the Mexicans residing in North America, there was a similar development in California. I hereby present a condensed summary of a series of articles written on the subject at that time, in the interests of promoting understanding of what is going on in Arizona and elsewhere at the present time.

THE MEXICAN POGROMS 1994: Sixteen Years Before the Arizona anti-Immigrant Campaign
By Husayn Al-Kurdi [Chicago]

One of the hidden factors in the Proposition 187-fuelled anti-Mexican campaign now raging in California is the fact that all residents of California and the rest of the Southwestern "United States of America" are actually guests of the Mexicans. This is their ancestral and original homeland, having been wrested away by conquest in 1848. The Southwest was once northern Mexico, and most Mexicans are decisively Red Indian, with small admixtures of Spanish and Black blood. They are basically descended from the Aztec, Maya and other indigenous peoples of the region. When young Chicano protesters rhetorically ask their "Border-defending" predominantly white tormentors the question "Who's the Wetback, Sailor?" they are merely pointing out a historical reality. It is the European descendants of Christopher Columbus and of the Dutch, British, Spanish, French, Portuguese and other European settlers who were the actual
border-crashing "wetbacks".

A similar response to Proposition 187's "pro-California" pretense would be the "Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?" chant heard in San Francisco and Los Angeles protests in which young Mexican and Chicano students poured out of their classrooms to manifest their resistance to the "Mexican removal" scheme. Their response to the expulsion drive refrained the slogan of the anti-draft protests of the Vietnam War era in which youths exclaimed "Hell No, We Won't Go!."

Proposition 187 is just one expression of the anti-Mexican movement rooted in the conquest of Mexico in 1847-1848 and the subsequent terrorization of the conquered people by the US Government, the Ku Klux Klan, white settler vigilantes and sheriffs, Texas Rangers, private slaveowner and cattle baron armies, and, in present times, Border Patrols and local police departments. This is the reason that Mexicans being hunted down nowadays insist that "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

"Pogrom" is defined as "an organized persecution, often officially prompted, of a minority group". Proposition 187, passed by 59 to 41%, targets "illegal" children and those in need of medical attention as part of the drive to scapegoat and "get rid of" Mexicans. It calls for the roundup of students, those needing medical care and a range of others with special needs including the blind, handicapped and elderly. Local police, schoolteachers, doctors, nurses and social workers are ordered to check everyone's papers to determine if they are in order. Those found to be suspiciously Mexican are to be swiftly deported. Deporting and killing members of a population are clear manifestations of a genocidal pogrom.

People are dying as a result of this measure. A young boy in Anaheim succumbed to leukemia as a direct result, his parents not having the wherewithal
to consult a private doctor and having to wait to raise the necessary funds. The boy died in the interim. In San Francisco, an elderly woman died of a brain hemorrhage because she was afraid of being deported if she sought treatment. In San Diego, aggressive Border Patrol agents use hollow-point bullets and run people down while rapes and sexual molestations are common practices at and near the highly-militarized "secondary checkpoint stations" at the border and further inland.

"Illegals" are scapegoated for a variety of social problems including crime, health issues, budget deficits and unemployment among non-Mexicans. Former INS Director Harold Ezell claims that 70% of drug dealing is carried out by those whose papers are not in order. Apparently, Ezell is apparently not aware that San Diego has been called the "speed capital of California", with white neighborhoods north of Highway 8 vying for the distinction of being the hottest spots for a variety of booming drug cultures.

Although fewer than half of "undocumented" persons residing in the United States jurisdiction are of Mexican origin, over 95% of those arrested at or near the "borders" are Mexican. Nevertheless, one plan forwarded by "Americans for Immigration Control" calls for 10,000 military troops to help police the 2000-mile long US-Mexico frontier. Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer proposes the placement of National Guard or other military forces along the border, even though such a move would violate the terms of the 1848 US-Mexico Treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo, which ratified the US conquest of over half of Mexico.

The US Commission on Immigration Reform, headed by Black ex-Congresswoman Barbara Jordan released a 250-page report calling for a variety of clamp-down measures against the "illegals". A beaming Jordan announced her support for "Operation Hold The Line", which massed Border Patrol police at El Paso to prevent Mexicans from crossing over. She outlined a program which includes employer sanctions, more stringent "verification procedures" involving a computerized registry based on social security identification numbers and a new "work authorization" system. The plan is to be tested in the five states in which most of the "undocumented" reside: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois.

Groups of poor whites with names like "Americans for America" have been vociferous in their support for Proposition 187 and more repression of Mexicans. Many have been fooled into thinking that these "intruders' are responsible for their depressed conditions. Fascistic-style initiatives often find a receptive recruiting ground among those whose conditions of life are deteriorating. Oppressed groups can be mobilized against each other, to each other's inevitable detriment. Many Blacks have been successfully pitted against the Mexicans, with almost half of those voting in the recent elections supporting Prop 187.

The ventures of American "Manifest Destiny" featured the two great genocides of all times, those directed at Blacks and Indians. The USA is viewed correctly by those aware of its development and by many of its non-white residents as a prison house of nations and peoples rather than the great experiment in democracy and freedom which is depicted in the official literature as the exalted keynote of American life.

Dark clouds of racist repression are gathering over the Sunshine state as the Golden Gate closes itself off to the "strangers" at its gates. Mexicans continue to be hunted and persecuted as another ugly chapter in American history is being enacted. The Mexican Pogroms take center stage in California and threaten to spread as conditions worsen and crises call for distracting scapegoats to take the heat off the real perpetrators of social misery in accordance with the divide-and-conquer perpetual operations of the banker and corporate ruling capitalist class.

� 1994, 2010 News International Press Service

With thanks to New Trend reader Br. Kwame in the Newburgh area.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/nyregion/14newburgh.html?h

Agents Swarm Newburgh in Raid Against Gangs

NEWBURGH, N.Y. � The authorities raided dozens of homes here early on Thursday in a major show of force against the Bloods and the Latin Kings street gangs, whose members have wreaked havoc in this small, troubled city along the Hudson River.
More than 300 officers and agents with the F.B.I.; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the local and state police began gathering before dawn in a former National Guard armory here. By 6 a.m., heavily armed F.B.I. SWAT teams were breaking through doors across this city about an hour north of Manhattan.
"Nothing this size has been tried with this many agents in the region," James Gagliano, the supervisory agent in charge of the region, who has headed the investigation, told the small army of agents as they prepared to roll out.
"Be careful out there," he added. "No blue on blue."
Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which has been working closely with the F.B.I. on the investigation, unveiled a pair of federal indictments later Thursday, naming 60 suspected Bloods members and associates and 18 members and associates of the Latin Kings on a range of drug charges. Of those named in the indictment, 34 were already in federal custody, five were picked up Wednesday night and 18 were arrested in the early morning raids, the authorities said.
The operation was the culmination of 16 months of investigation. Though the charges revolved around narcotics trafficking, the clear intent was aimed at stamping out the violence that has taken a deadly toll in the city. Newburgh, which has a population of about 29,000, led the state in violent crimes per capita in 2008 and is on course to do so again this year. Gang violence has been responsible for all but two or three of the 16 homicides in the city in the last two and a half years, including five since January that have drawn the attention of Washington.
"I think it's going to have a big effect," George Venizelos, acting assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.'s New York field office. "It's going to take a dent out of two gangs."
The Bloods and the Latin Kings are considered by law enforcement to be the most organized and dominant gangs in the city, with the Bloods being the biggest with an estimated 160 members.
"Potentially we can take out a third of their membership," Mr. Venizelos said of the Bloods.
At a news conferences in White Plains, Mr. Bharara said the drug and gang problem in Newburgh had reached "crisis proportions."
"The situation in Newburgh has quite simply become intolerable," he said. He called Thursday's raid "the most sweeping crackdown on gangs in the Hudson Valley that anyone can remember."
He said, "these gang members are not wannabes, but die hard, lifelong gang members."
"Today we tried to bring new hope to Newburgh," he said.
The indictments � one focusing on the Bloods and the other on the Latin Kings � paint a detailed and disturbing picture of Newburgh's deeply entrenched gang culture. The Bloods were broken into a number of sub-groups with names like "Bounty Hunter Bloods," "G-Shine," and "9 Trey." Ranking members could and did call meetings of all the Newburgh Bloods. Attendance was mandatory.
It was at these meetings that ranking members organized their drug operations and used code words to order the assaults or murders of rival gang members who invaded into their territory, according to the indictments. Members "referred to a person who had been targeted for an assault or murder as 'food,' or a 'plate.'" People were inducted into the gang in a process known as "bringing them home."
They brought in crack cocaine from Manhattan and the Bronx, and often used minors to distribute the drugs, act as lookouts and carry weapons, the first indictment states.
While the Bloods controlled the largely black northeast end of town, the Latin Kings' territory included Benkard Avenue and William Street in the largely Hispanic southeast end, according to the second indictment.
Smaller in number, the Latin Kings held regular meetings and required their members to pay dues. Like the Bloods, they closely guarded their drug territory from outside dealers, except those willing to pay extortionate fees known as "rent," the indictment states.Throughout the morning, bleary eyed suspects in handcuffs and hair still mussed from being rousted out of bed were fingerprinted and processed in a small gymnasium inside the armory. Caravans of police vehicles, ambulances and unmarked black Chevrolet Suburbans loaded with F.B.I. agents in Kevlar vests and armed with M-4 rifle jolted wary residents awake. Some stood on their doorsteps to take in the show as agents stormed buildings with battering rams and concussion grenades.
No one was injured in the raids and Newburgh police chief Eric Paolilli called them remarkably uneventful for the number of people involved. He welcomed the federal assistance in leading the investigation.
At one apartment building in the southeast end, families looked out the upper floor windows as agents arrested a suspected Latin King member from a lower floor.
"I knew it, I said it," said one woman as she gave a play-by-play to an acquaintance on her cell phone. "They're dealing drugs."

2010-05-14 Fri 19:57:37 cdt
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