'Say nothing' culture makes Ireland an Islamic extremists' safe haven
Posted on Friday, May 14, 2010 at 01:30 PM
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Ireland is a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Shocking, right? Of course it is. However, that's the view of Imam Ali Al-Saleh, who is the head of Ireland's biggest Mosque, the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin {photo}.Speaking to the Sunday Tribune newspaper Al-Saleh said many of the extremists came to Ireland as asylum seekers and now their children are becoming adults, taking over university societies, brainwashing other students. These "indigenous" extremists are being bolstered by students from the Middle East.
This may explain why American Jamie Paulin-Ramirez came to Ireland after she told Colleen LaRose (aka Jihad Jane) in an e-mail that she would like to join her in Europe at a place that would be both a jihadist "training camp" and home. As Al-Saleh puts it, Ireland is an extremist "safe haven" and an al Qaeda "base."
Yet, unlike France, Britain, Holland and other European countries, Ireland does not have a large Muslim population. Ireland has no colonial legacy among the Islamic nations - there is no Irish equivalent to Algeria, Pakistan, Indonesia or any ex-colony among the Muslim nations.
There are only 30, 000 or so Muslims in Ireland (approx .75% of the population) and no areas where they live in large numbers. There is no Irish equivalent to Marseilles, Bradford or Detroit. Muslims are, as Al-Saleh says, "an integrated part of Irish society."
There are no Muslim neighborhoods teeming with loads of innocent Muslims just trying to fit in and get by, amongst whom extremists can hide, using the innocent mass of Muslims as a shield. So where are Ireland's Islamic extremists hiding? In plain sight, it seems.
This is why I think Jamie Paulin-Ramirez's marriage is so important to the story. True or not, I can easily see a situation where a public official might bend the rules to suit a Muslim, immigrant couple because we 'mustn't judge' and 'we must accommodate them' are two overriding themes when it comes to Ireland's treatment of immigrants.
Irish people are actually very reticent when it comes to criticizing people, despite the "fighting Irish" stereotype. Most Irish people wouldn't complain in a restaurant even if there was a worm in their soup.
This reticence combined with a relentless, dogmatic campaign promoting multiculturalism has the effect of muting criticism and thwarting questioning. Most Irish people would be very reluctant to say anything even if they heard a 6 year old boy recently arrived from America saying "all Christians will burn in hellfire," as Paulin-Ramirez's son said to his grandmother, Christine Holcomb-Mott {photo}.Paulin-Ramirez's brother Mike described her son's school in Ireland as "a radical Muslim school." He made that assessment from 4,000 miles away.
I would bet there are plenty of people in Waterford who feel the same way about the school attended by little Christian, now Walid, but who would be very wary of saying anything publicly. This is the culture, the atmosphere, the society in which the radical Muslims are thriving.
Al-Saleh cannot be the only one. The Christian majority have to join him in condemning this sort of thing. Otherwise we risk becoming al Qaeda's European headquarters, a place where silence abets Islamic terrorism.
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IrishAndProud | May 19, 2010, 01:25 AM EDT
manofaran, you just might notice (that is, if you actually bothered to read my posts and not just 'skim' them) that I said 'Muslim POPULATIONS,' and not 'all muslims.' A small number of Muslims will inevitably fall away from Islam (this happens everywhere, with every faith when it arrives in a foreign land), but the observant ones still have far higher immigration and birth rates than the natives, vastly making up for those who fall away. Islam is a cancer.
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McNabb1966 | May 18, 2010, 09:41 PM EDT
@manofaran... "sounds like alot of scared white people out there. lol"...No, not really. The fact of the matter is that a girl like the new Miss USA is much more frightening to a wide array of Muslims in the world than to "white people." I'd say it's the folks who would rather put her in a burka who are "scared."
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manofaran | May 17, 2010, 07:56 PM EDT
As for never assimilating, Miss Usa Arab, muslim americian. There you go lads, she's a hottie too.
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manofaran | May 17, 2010, 07:29 PM EDT
Sounds like alot of scared white people out there. lol.
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Liamkeyes | May 17, 2010, 01:12 PM EDT
They have large Families, They stick together, stay out of the pubs, save their money, buy property and before you know it, they will have representation in the Dail as Education is another requisite with them
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maloney | May 16, 2010, 10:26 PM EDT
bigfistedmick--more like thick headed mick. You sound like an obama fan
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maloney | May 16, 2010, 10:20 PM EDT
Hey yank. Those good muslims that are going to root out the bad terrorists. Not happening in england, the USA or anywhere else. Catch the ball.
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IrishAndProud | May 16, 2010, 08:27 PM EDT
(continued) Do you want Ireland to end up like Britain, just across the water from you there, Yank? How about the Netherlands...have you seen THEM, lately? Tell me, what is going to stop Ireland from ending up like them? What's eventually to stop it from having a Muslim majority? How much cancer is 'okay' to have? Islamic populations in Western nations NEVER shrink, and NEVER assimilate.
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IrishAndProud | May 16, 2010, 08:24 PM EDT
Yank, how 'big' does a Muslim populace in Ireland need to grow before it STARTS becoming an 'issue?' Do you have a particular size, in mind? Do you have an exact number? I hope so...because the Muslims in Eire aren't going to just magically stop growing, and their birth rates alone are FAR higher than the Irish birth rate. Simple MATHEMATICS should be ringing your alarm bells, Yank...and if they're not, then you are part and parcel of the apathetic passivity your own article addresses.
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miltonedunn | May 16, 2010, 10:19 AM EDT
At this time it seems if only the Aussies have
the real way to controll a country.Live heer be
happy and have only this country in your heart.
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TheYank | May 16, 2010, 02:07 AM EDT
Truth is, I agree more with BigFistedMick, than the rest of you guys. I don't see Ireland's small Muslim population as an issue at all. What's an issue is how the small, but extremist wing of Islam can establish a base in Ireland.
Those Muslims who are integrated (or integrating) in Irish society need the rest of us to help them root out this element. That's what Ali Al-Saleh is basically asking for when he was interviewed by the Sunday Tribune.
Those Muslims who are integrated (or integrating) in Irish society need the rest of us to help them root out this element. That's what Ali Al-Saleh is basically asking for when he was interviewed by the Sunday Tribune.
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IrishAndProud | May 16, 2010, 01:12 AM EDT
Uh, Mick...if militant Muslims are taking advantage of Ireland's stupid passivity and promoting more of their inherently NON-Irish culture, that is not a good thing. I have NEVER seen or even HEARD of a Muslim assimilating into a non-Muslim culture, which both Ireland and the USA are. Rather, they not only do not (and cannot) assimilate but they demand their host country conform to THEM. Exactly how is that good?
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BigFistedMick | May 16, 2010, 12:08 AM EDT
OK... The source of the article is not from you personally, but the comments below had me fuming! I have lived abroad and worked with people of all nationalities while in Canada. Some, who were also Muslim, who have family in Ireland. And look to Ireland with fondness. It is wrong to label EVERYONE with the same stick. It is just ignorance!
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BigFistedMick | May 15, 2010, 11:43 PM EDT
I have rarely encountered such ignorant ill-informed spittle. Both your article and the comments below are the sort of self-aggrandizing hate-mongering that festers from the pseudo journalism that riddles the internet like cancer. It is an absolute shame that such ignorance is given any voice.
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