Gaffney’s ‘Mathematically Absurd’ Warning of ‘Stealth Jihad’

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan administration Frank Gaffney appeared in a Tennessee courtroom Monday, Sept. 27, to offer his “expert” testimony on behalf of four plaintiffs seeking an injunction to prevent the construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, commonly referred to as the Murfreesboro mosque.

From the Murfreesboro Post:

“I’m here to warn this community of seditious acts of Sharia Law,” Gaffney said. “And that threat has trickled down to local governments.”

Gaffney’s testimony carried little weight with the Judge, the witness having clarified the true nature of his expertise to the court:

“I don’t hold myself out as an expert on Sharia Law,” Gaffney told the court on the witness stand. “But I have talked a lot about that as a threat.”

This is exactly what Gaffney is an expert at — scaring the crap out of people regarding a topic, on which, he is decidedly NOT an expert.

Two days after his court testimony, Gaffney went on CNN to discuss the Murfreesboro case with Anderson Cooper and Akbar Ahmed, former Pakistani diplomat, presently the chair of Islamic studies at American University (h/t TPMMuckraker). In the below clip, Cooper starts with Gaffney, asking the president of the Center for Security Policy to elaborate on the “red flags” signaling the onset of Sharia infiltration.

Gaffney’s opening was curious. “Well, several were introduced into evidence during the court proceedings,” Gaffney told Cooper. While such items may have been introduced into evidence, it doesn’t mean they’ll have any bearing on the Court’s conclusions. And, as the Murfreesboro Post reported, much of Gaffney’s testimony was objected to by the County attorneys and their objections were subsequently sustained by the Judge.

What follows from Gaffney is the standard neoconservative misrepresentation of Sharia and overstatement of the threat, which, in Gaffney’s warped view, poses an existential threat to America by way of “stealth jihad.”

Watch the clip or read the CNN transcript for the details of Gaffney’s foolish paranoia. Also be sure to read Rachel Slajda’s Sept. 23 TPMMuckraker piece recounting the origins of the neoconservative war on Sharia. Here, however, consider Ahmed’s response to Gaffney on CNN as he puts the likelihood of Sharia replacing the U.S. Constitution in its proper perspective:

If every Muslim in the United States of America, which is about 2 percent of the population, wanted Sharia — which is not the case at all — even if they wanted it, could they impose it over a population of 98 percent who are not Muslim in a democracy?

In my country where I come from, Pakistan, 98 percent of the population is Muslim. There is no Sharia law. I’ve been a commissioner in charge of large parts of the country. Our laws are criminal and civil procedure codes derived from British colonial law which go to Westminster, which in turn has influenced the U.S. Constitution.

So the notion of Sharia being implemented in America with about 2 percent of the population, to me, is mathematically absurd.

(CNN clip via Media Matters Action)

The court battle over the Murfreesboro mosque is in recess until Oct. 20, but its outcome is a foregone conclusion. The legal arguments presented by opponents of the project — that county officials didn’t provide sufficient public notice during the approval process — are baseless. The whole sorry episode, much like the inflated controversy over the Park 51 community center in lower Manhattan, is sideshow propaganda from one group of clash-of-civilization types directed at another. For a sideshow, however, as Glenn Greenwald,Greg Sargent, and Jonathan Chait argued last month, its pursuit could have significant, possibly dire, consequences for America.

Most concerning at present, though, is that Gaffney’s convoluted conspiracy spew, once relegated to the neocon fringe, is now treated as plausible.

Salon’s Joe Conason recalls Gaffney’s 2003 alarmism aimed at prominent conservative Grover Norquist and the Bush administration for “… engagement with Muslim groups that [Gaffney] and others [anti-Park51 crusader Pamela Geller among them] had identified as jihadist or radical.” Few conservatives paid them any mind back in the day. ”All that has changed since the inauguraton of a president whose middle name is Hussein and whose father was Muslim,” Conason writes, “because he provides a central focus for a politicized campaign against Islam…”

Now, potential 2012 GOP candidates for president seem content to wear their hatred of Islam on their sleeves. Whether it’s Sarah Palin’s petty invocations of the president’s middle name, or Newt Gingrich’s steadfast adherence to the neocons’ fear mongering message, Islamophobia stands to be a prominent feature on the Republican policy platform for the foreseeable future.

Related on Care2:

Related Elsewhere:

Sharia Paranoia Billboard via Matt57 [public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

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bob m.

11:51AM PST on Dec 29, 2010

Hitler admired islam.
One of their tenets was the spreading of lies.
Birds of a feather.

send a green star

Mara S.

7:23AM PDT on Oct 25, 2010

No David

Islam is a serious problem in ADDITION to anything you just described.

Critics against Islam are fully justified and the Islamic ideology needs to be studied.

These mouvements agaisnt islam are growing rapidly due to the internet. People read more. The so-called "holy" islamic books are available with a click.

So is the real image of the so-called "prophet" Mohammed. Not really an example worth emulating.

Now a days Muslims themselves find out things...

David D.

6:22AM PDT on Oct 25, 2010

oops, (below)
How'd that happen?

This anti-Muslim hatred that is being ginned up as a wedge issue for the election is to distract voters from:
1. The Great Recession was caused by Wall Street and their stooges in the GOP.
2. The GOP has been doing everything in their power to obstruct a recovery, for purely partisan gain.
3. Unprecedented millions are flowing into the GOP campaign coffers from Wall STreet, and especially companies that specialize in outsourcing American jobs to other countries.
4. The tea party is basically the Theocratic Party, and is basically all of the people that still supported George Bush at the end of his term. It's the radical religious right wing of the GOP, that's been around for decades.
They've been ginning up one distraction after another, Az immigration, gay weddings, terror babies, "the Pres. is a Muslim", "ground zero mosque", etc ad infinitum, to try to control the news cycle and distract from the economy.
They complain about deficit spending, 2/3 of the deficit came from the Bush admin. and they lie about taxes, (Pres. Obama lowered taxes for 98% of taxpayers), etc. It's all just a bunch of hooey.

4:58AM PDT on Oct 25, 2010

Colin H.

3:50AM PDT on Oct 24, 2010

Noted and signed!!

anne C.

6:39PM PDT on Oct 15, 2010

Also I notice the hypocrisy of the expert on Sharia, Ahmed who falsely stated that Sharia Law is not practiced in Pakistan( 98% muslim) ..YES! it is !! Apostacy laws there are applied to those who leave Islam and Blasphemy laws are applied to the poor suffering non muslim minorities, who are not protected by police or judges...Google Human Rights violations by Pakistan on its minorities!!! this Ahmed is being totally dishonest, as this article is also!

5:45PM PDT on Oct 15, 2010

The OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) which is the political arm of the Islamic countries of the world have stated at the United Nations that Sharia Law must be respected by all countries,, Respect for barbaric stoning, beheading, gay killing, child marriage and unequal status of women????

Peter D.

8:01AM PDT on Oct 15, 2010

Is the emergence of Islamic places of worship (the building of Mosques) a sign or threat of a changing religious and political idealism? Should Americans be concerned about our overly tolerant immigration policies, this open minded mentality that we can all live together in harmony? Whether this is possible or not, I believe we must take a step back and reevaluate our ideals and our long term goals.

9:46PM PDT on Oct 14, 2010

Sharia Law is the stated goal of Islam which is a theocracy( political and religious rule) as demonstrated by the prominence of mullahs in the everyday rulings of muslim countries..This article is very naive and the author must think Americans live in a vaccuum, and do not see how Sharia is being demanded by muslims in European countries, especially so in Britain where Sharia courts are in many Shires....In fact if you check out a recent survey of British muslims it was the MAJORITY that want Sharia in Britain..so don't think it won't happen in the USA as the numbers of muslims increases ( due to them having a double birthrate to the average population) and they have more political clout..Is the writer of this article ignorant of the Muslim issues in other countries?? BTW, Sharia Law is ISLAMIC Law that deals with punishment of adultery by stoning, chopping off limbs for theft, killing gays, and beheading , hanging etc, for apostasy( leaving Islam) , non equal status for women in divorce,as witnesses, etc, not exactly the form of Law required by civilized society...so why do you think Britain has allowed this?? Because of PRESSURE from muslims... so to say it could never happen in America is dumb!.Sharia compliant products are already being sold in western countries and bought by an unaware public, such as "halal"products, requiring the barbaric slicing of the throat, and slow bleeding to death while the animal is fully conscious, while a mullah recites prayers etc..