Last week, the notorious anti-Muslim grassroots organization convened in Washington, D.C., for its national conference. The event brought together the group’s chapter leaders and members from across the nation, as well as representatives from ACT!’s international chapters including Austria and Canada. The event spanned three days and provided members the opportunity to engage in everything from interacting with members of Congress to being briefed about strategies ACT! hopes to execute in the coming year.
The conference concluded with ACT! intertwining its anti-Muslim message with a ceremony at the Pentagon, supposedly honoring those killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
If you missed this year’s conference, below is a Part One of a recap of several highlights of the event. Check back tomorrow for Part Two to learn what to expect from the group in the future.
Gabriel engages in fearmongering
ACT!’s founder and president Brigitte Gabriel kicked off the event that with a welcome speech that was met with a standing ovation from her loyal base. From there, she preceded to engage in the kind of fearmongering that’s all-too-familiar from the anti-Muslim demagogue. This included her claims that extremist groups currently terrorizing the Middle East, such as the Islamic State in Iraq Syria (ISIS), are representative of the entire religion of Islam. She added that groups similar in nature will continue to arise because of the religion’s nature and that only ACT! is capable of briefing legislators about these threats.
Translation: Keep the donations coming.
Gabriel did make the obligatory point to say not all Muslims are violent. Some audience members erupted in disagreement. She wrangled them in by claiming peaceful Muslims do not truly follow the Qur’an and are Muslim in name only.
The ACT! leader then then proclaimed that if Muslims want to follow the “ideology” of the Qur’an, they should keep it in their “own country” because “we don’t want it in here.”
Paranoid national security briefing
As mentioned in our preview of the event, conference attendees received a national security briefing from several of the Islamophobia movement’s self-appointed terrorism “experts” including John Guandolo and Christian Broadcast Network’s Erick Stakelbeck.
And Guandolo, who is known for perpetuating anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, certainly did not hold back. He used part of his allotted time to warn of what he called the “coming jihad.”
One must remember that Guandolo is presently at the center of yet another controversy concerning his supposed law enforcement trainings, this time in Arizona where he is scheduled to conduct a “training” sponsored by the Maricopa County Attorney’s office on Sept. 19. The event is being protested by community and legal organizations. Of course, Maricopa County is the home of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who himself is no stranger to controversies regarding biased law enforcement practices.
Guandolo has long used his claim that the federal government has been infiltrated by terrorists to encourage local law enforcement agencies and citizens to take matters into their own hands. “The solution to this is you,” he said during a 2009 presentation in Bedford County, Tennessee. “If you are looking to DHS, the FBI and Congress to solve this … you’re going to be woefully disappointed.”
His message hasn’t softened.
Guandolo advised attendees at this year’s ACT! conference to remain suspicious of all Muslims in America, especially those who own hotels and drive taxi cabs which he warned is not insignificant because it’s all part of a greater insidious Muslim plot.
He also warned that nearly 80 percent of mosques and Islamic centers in America have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and likened it to the group having “1,000 military bases” in the country.
“That’s civilian jihad,” he stated. Since resigning from the FBI in disgrace, Guandolo has found a living peddling these conspiracies, and their desire to work so closely with him says much about ACT! and Gabriel.
Check back tomorrow for Part Two of the ACT! for America convention recap to learn more about the group’s upcoming agenda.