THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 276, October 25, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
OBAMA OFFICE OPERATES IN PHILLY'S ISLAMIST CORRIDOR
By Dr. David J. Rusin
ISLAMISTS, CHANGE, & BARACH OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN FOR THE U.S. PRESIDENCY: LINKS BETWEEN THE OBAMA
CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION & ISLAMISTS OPERATING IN THE U.S.A. -- THE SOUTH PHILLY OBAMA HEADQUARTERS STAFF
DOING BUSINESS WITH ONE OF THE MOST RADICAL AMERICAN CONVERTS TO POLITICAL ISLAM, ONE WHO MAY VERY
WELL EMBODY THE TYPE OF CHANGE FAVORED BY ISLAMISTS & BLACK SEPARATISTS
FULL STORY:
When Barack Obama's campaign needed a base for harvesting votes from the southern precincts of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, it set up
shop in a building owned and managed by controversial real estate baron Kenny Gamble. Also known as Luqman Abdul
Haqq, Gamble holds a senior position with the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), whose founding is traced to a
convicted cop-killer and whose leadership is stacked with radicals. He likewise serves as a community organizer of sorts
— one who has been accused of slowly transforming his neighborhood into a "Black Muslim enclave."
The office opened on August 21, 2008, at 1501 Christian Street, with Gamble himself cutting the ceremonial ribbon.
Makeshift banners proclaim it the "South Philly Obama Headquarters," the address of which is listed on the Obama-Biden
website as a field office for the Pennsylvania Campaign for Change. Philadelphia tax records identify Gamble as the owner
of the property, while signage indicates that the building is home to Universal Educational Management, part of his
Universal Companies conglomerate.
Gamble's associates and agendas expose him as a dubious figure that politicians seeking to present an image of inclusion
would be wise to avoid. This is doubly true for a campaign like Obama's, a campaign that already has suffered serious
missteps in its interaction with the Muslim community.
Best known for his work in the music business, Gamble has held high-ranking posts with the Muslim Alliance in North
America, which focuses on African-American converts to Islam. That description fits Gamble and most of the group's
senior members, some of whom also have roots in the Nation of Islam and Black Panther movement. Indeed, the formation
of MANA was inspired by Jamil Al-Amin, the onetime Panther "Justice Minister" H. Rap Brown. MANA's enthusiasm for
Al-Amin remains untainted in the wake of his conviction for the 2000 murder of a sheriff's deputy. He has even addressed,
by telephone, MANA meetings at Gamble's United Muslim Masjid.
MANA's governing bodies teem with Islamists: Siraj Wahhaj, the organization's Amir, was named as a potential unindicted
co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, supports Shari'a-prescribed punishments, and predicts America's
demise unless it "accepts the Islamic agenda." Johari Abdul-Malik directs outreach activities for a Virginia mosque
repeatedly tied to terrorism cases. Abdul Alim Musa promotes anti-Semitic and anti-American conspiracy theories and has
expressed admiration for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Osama bin Laden.
Musa's radical As-Sabiqun group advises Muslims to assemble self-contained strongholds, a strategy similar to what
Gamble is pursuing in Philadelphia. As he explained in an interview with Saudi TV, "One of the intentions that we
had from the beginning was to create a model, so that, in the coming years, Muslims would be able to live close to each
other, that they would live closer to the masjid [mosque], that they would eventually be able to open up businesses so that
they would be able to employ each other and develop community life." More darkly, Philadelphia magazine has
reported that some South Philly denizens "fear that Gamble, a convert to Islam, is inclined toward racial and religious
segregation" and aims to carve out a "Black Muslim enclave."
The Obama office resides at the center of this storm. Gamble's mosque is just a few doors to the north. On the same block,
stands the headquarters of his Universal Companies, a local giant that specializes in urban renewal projects and runs a vast
array of housing, businesses, and other facilities — even a charter school. Records of 1501 Christian Street also highlight
Gamble's modus operandi for growing his empire: get land and buildings dirt cheap from the city, which often seizes them
through eminent domain for the express purpose of having Universal renovate them. According to the Board of Revision
of Taxes website, Gamble bought the property now hosting Team Obama for one dollar in 1991. (The database labels the
plot as 822 South 15th Street, but the available information makes it the only possible match for 1501 Christian Street.)
It is not just the heavily Islamic atmosphere of the surrounding neighborhood — complete with men in traditional dress
praying on the sidewalks — that feeds speculation about a veiled agenda. Gamble's bizarre statements to Philadelphia
magazine last year added more fuel to the fire:
"You don't see the lion with the tiger. You don't see
the tiger with the panther."
"You don't have people selling goods and services in
the Irish community from some other community. In
the Russian community, you don't have people from
other communities. In the Puerto Rican community,
the Puerto Ricans have their own economy, they
have their own stores."
The article notes that Gamble's musings sound like an endorsement of segregation and a desire to engineer a zone
exclusively for Black Muslims.
The placement of an Obama field office in Philly's Islamist corridor is not the first link between questionable
representatives of Muslim America and the Senator's presidential campaign. Mazen Asbahi, Obama's initial
Muslim-outreach coordinator, stepped down in August for connections to a controversial Islamic investment fund and
Illinois imam. His successor, Minha Husaini, then "accidentally" attended a meeting with the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and Muslim American Society, two groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. In addition,
Muslim-Americans for Obama has peddled a policy wish list colored with Islamism and run partisan voter registration
drives from swing state mosques, which would appear to violate their tax-exempt status.
Obama's staff could be forgiven for accepting contributions from Gamble, but renting office space from him at the heart of
his troubling socioreligious enterprise falls well beyond the boundaries of good judgment. Simply put, the campaign is
doing business with someone who may embody the type of change that Islamists and racial separatists can believe in.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Dr. David J. Rusin is a research associate at Islamist Watch and a Philadelphia-based editor for Pajamas Media. He
holds a Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be contacted at rusin@meforum.org.
The foregoing article by Dr. Rusin was originally published in Pajamas Media, October 22, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1999)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
October 25, 2008
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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