Two articles this week by Townhall.com columnist Mike Adams (here and here) have refocused attention on Kent State Associate Professor Julio Pino, a Cuban-born convert to Islam, whose outspoken support for radical Islamic elements, including Palestinian suicide bombers, has drawn the outrage of Ohio taxpayers several times in recent years.
This time around, the issue is Pino's contributions to a website called "Global War" (you can link via the Adams article...I'll decline to send any traffic from here) which describes its mission as follows ..."We are a jihadist news service, and provide battle dispatches, training manuals, and jihad videos to our brothers worldwide. All we want is to get Allah’s pleasure. We will write ‘Jihad’ across our foreheads, and the stars. The angels will carry our message throughout the world.". The site sub-head refers to its proprietor as "the most dangerous Muslim in America."
Pino has, variously, declined to comment, said he "absolutely" does not support jihad , said he contributes to the site but has no ownership of it, and said "The site is culled from news sources all over the Web, from the Times of London to the Times of India,....Whatever else is on there I have no comment.''
The KSU administration has distanced themselves from the website itself in a press release today, and has defended Pino from criticism in the past on freedom of speech grounds.
The site operator has clearly been affected by the recent spurt of Internet activity and other media attention. For a few hours on Friday, it was redirecting hits to a "Defend America" patriotic site. As I write this in the early hours of Saturday, it is directing hits to the home page of the blog service, blog-hi.com. The site appears to be largely authored by an individual using the handle "Lover of Angels."
Pino is not commenting today on the question of whether he is in fact "Lover of Angels", but the Beacon Journal is reporting today that an article appears on the site which is identical to a letter sent last year to the campus newspaper, The Kent Stater, over Pino's name.
Several bloggers have already invested considerably more time and effort in this story than I wish to, since it interests me mostly because of its local angle. (Pino appears to be just another in a long line of college professors who despise the country that provides them their employment, their tenure, and the freedom to spew their hatred of it. Yawn.) One blogger in particular with a lot of links on the Pino story is Markedmanner Blog. Check that one out for more details.
Another blogger who has been on the Pino story longer than most, claimed almost a year ago, without offering any evidence, that Pino had been "turned" by the FBI, and that his web site is an FBI "sting" operation designed to attract potential terrorists with its strident rhetoric. Make of that what you will. These people apparently agree...(major moonbattery alert!.) Come to think of it, the sting theory might explain the site's prominent use of the phrase "the most dangerous Muslim in America", which under ordinary circumstances would be a claim guaranteed to bring the FBI's knock at your door.
UPDATE 3/6: Mike Adams' new Townhall column on the Julio Pino matter
Posted by dan at March 2, 2007 06:58 PM | TrackBackIt's a sting:
If Pino in fact "means" what he is purported to write and say and he did in fact write or say these treasonous hateful Jihadist things he should be rewarded with a one way ticket to Club Gitmo, 3 hots and a cot, and a good dose of Jack Bauer style violence topped off with a bit of waterboarding.
The fact Pino's abode isn't located at Guantanimo Bay Cuba already gives me a bit of pause. I believe Pino has been cooperating with the FBI by contributing to a website that touts its jihadist news service, battle dispaches, training manuals, and "The most dangerous Muslim in America." While we all know the Bureau has the uncanny ability to be asleep at the wheel... this case tends to welcome Johnny Jihad to approach the net cast by the FBI and Counter Terror Units. I have a long list of thoughts that contribute to the theory (several in addition to moonbattery mentioned by the wise Mr. Wismar).
Take Fawaz Damra for example: Damra said Muslims should be "directing all the rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews." He said this outside of this country many moons ago and Damra apologized and said he made the remarks before he had any interaction with Christians and Jews.
Thus, if you consider the continuity of our legal system, some precedents of other Jihadist comments made by Muslims, and the fact they were prosecuted, persecuted, and deported... Pino is an informant in my best estimation.