September 13, 2006

Radical Islamists Using Paintball to Train for Jihad?

On Thursday's 700 Club, we'll have an important story that I urge you all to watch. It shows how radical Islamists in our own backyard are twisting an innocent game into a jihad training ground.

More than 10 million people of all ages worldwide now play the game of paintball, -making it one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. CBN News recently took a trip to a local paintball field and found that everyone from church groups to young Republicans get together for fun-filled paintball outings.

If you haven't played, it's pretty simple: Players hunt their opponents, take aim, and splatter them with paint-filled "bullets." It's fun, competitive and safe, thanks to the protective gear players are required to wear.

So why is CBN News interested in a game that's been called the modern day equivalent of "Tag" or "Hide and Seek?"

Well, since 9/11, several jihadists in the U.S. and Europe have been arrested and charged with using paintball as a form of paramilitary training. One of the London subway bombers--Mohammed Khan--was an avid paintball player. Likewise, 17 Toronto Muslims charged this summer with plotting terrorist attacks in Canada used paintball to train. Another Canadian Muslim charged with planning terrorist attacks, Mohammed Khawaja, also played paintball.

Here in the U.S., two Georgia Muslims charged earlier this year with plotting attacks against U.S. targets played as well. The most notorious case, however, occurred in the Washington, D.C. area. A group of 11 American Muslims there have been convicted for plotting to wage jihad against U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Indian troops in Kashmir. They trained by playing paintball in the northern Virginia countryside. One of the men told a grand jury he considered paintball "a form of jihad."

Terrorism expert Laura Mansfield and anti-jihad activist Jeff Epstein have been tracking this disturbing trend. They supplied CBN news exclusively with a shocking al-Qaeda video that was posted on an online Muslim message board in the U.S.

The video begins with images of missiles taking out America. It then moves on to a speech by Adam Gadahn, an American-born member of al-Qaeda. Next come scenes of two men playing paintball. But that's not all. The men also conduct mock suicide bombings and practice explosives training. Most of the footage, however, shows them playing paintball.

Epstein believes al Qaeda is trying to send a message to its followers with this video. He says paintball is a relatively inexpensive way to target practice--as opposed to spending a larger amount of money on securing modern weaponry and ammunition. In fact, U.S. law enforcement and the military have used paintball at times to train.

To catch this chilling al-Qaeda video and learn more about jihadists twisting paintball to suit their own diabolical ends, be sure to tune in to the 700 Club on Thursday, September 14. In the meantime, be sure to read this account of how radical imams are rallying young British Muslims to the jihadist cause through paintball outings. Here's a sampling:

The party of youths pulled on their blue overalls, snapped shut their visors and, taking aim with their paintball guns, prepared for four hours of licensed mayhem.

But the men who pursued each other last Sunday morning through the wooded grounds of Delta Force’s paintballing park near Congleton, Cheshire, had little in common with the stag parties and company teams nearby.

Instead of listening to corporate pep talks between sessions, the young Asian men were instructed by an imam dressed in fatigues on the need to unite Muslims worldwide in an international empire.

One senior member of the group, who is a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT), which Tony Blair has proposed should be banned, insisted that devout Muslims should refuse to vote in British elections...

During one game, a player said: “I’ve been shot.” His team-mate replied: “Don’t worry, the shahid [martyr] never dies.”

Read it all.

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