Islamberg in upstate New York.Northeast Intelligence Network
DEPOSIT, N.Y. – Hidden in a
remote area off a primitive dirt road lies a mysterious 70-acre compound
in which more than 100 Muslims live in seclusion, following the
teachings of its founder, a radical cleric with alleged ties to
terrorism.
It's neither a Taliban stronghold outside Jalalabad, nor an extremist madrassa on the outskirts of Karachi.
It's a place called Islamberg, a closed and seemingly quiet community
at the foot of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, about three
hours north of Manhattan.
It's also a compound shrouded in local rumors, mystery — and fear —
sitting near the huge reservoir system that provides New York City with
most of its drinking water.
Quietly nestled in the woods, Islamberg remained unnoticed for the
two decades leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon were attacked by a determined band of Islamic
extremists.
That’s when people started questioning the community’s ties to a
Pakistani cleric allegedly connected to worldwide terrorism. They also
started talking about the unusual sounds of gunfire and explosions some
said they heard emanating from the compound.
But before you leap to conclusions and head to the Catskills to
personally fight the war on terror — you need to know the entire story.
The truth, as is often the case, is a lot more complicated than the
headlines suggest.
Islamberg got its start about 20 years ago, when — inspired by the
words of the Sufi cleric Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani — a group
of primarily black Muslims from Brooklyn left New York City to escape
crime, poverty and racism. Aiming to lead what they believed was a
peaceful and holy Muslim life, they built a community of some 40 family
houses, their own grocery store and a bookstore.
And they weren't alone. Other groups, also inspired by Gilani, have
set up similiar communities in 19 other states. According to the group's
own Web site, the Islamberg community is still "struggling," and is
asking for donations to complete its mosque.
According to locals, the land previously belonged to a Deposit, N.Y.,
woman who opened up her home in the in the late 1970s or early '80s to
disadvantaged youths from the city so that they could avoid being led
astray by a financially and morally bankrupt urban environment.
Those boys, according to locals who were friendly with some of the
group, eventually went on to form Islamberg, and at some point they were
joined by another group of more militant Muslims, who created something
of a rival faction within the community.
The group lived quietly there for years with little interaction with
the local communities except for forays into town for supplies or to
sell baked goods at the weekly flea market. Some of the men had jobs at a
local credit-processing center or working for the Port Authority in New
York City (where they are said to maintain a residence near a bridge
that runs between two boroughs).
In the few instances when they did have relationships with the
locals, they were almost always friendly, many said. Sometimes local
children would visit their friends in the compound.
"There was a sense of camaraderie with them," one woman said.
There was a notable exception, a situation involving the local
schools in the late 1990s when some of the Islamberg boys got into a
scuffle with local boys.
"They broke my nephew's nose," said a Hancock, N.Y., woman, who asked that her name not be used.
Another man said the Muslim boys "trashed" the school in Deposit.
Locals variously blamed the fighting on an angry attitude on the part
of the Muslim boys, racism on the part of the local boys or the "usual"
relatively trivial events that lead almost all teenage boys into a
confrontation at one point or another in their lives.
According to Joy Felber, 62, a retired taxidermist who's lived in
Deposit for 19 years, the cause lay with a group of local boys who
picked a fight with the Muslims.
"We had some young boys in town who were causing trouble — not from
the Muslim community — but they were antagonizing the boys in the Muslim
community," Felber said. "It was lack of knowledge. When people don't
know other people, they have a tendency to lash out. And you put two
teenage boys together and sparks fly."
After a further controversy about whether the Islamberg boys should
have been going to public school in Deposit or Hancock (the compound
lies on the border between the two towns, and even longtime residents
differ on whether it's technically in Deposit, Hancock or nearby
Tompkins), the boys were pulled from the schools and the Muslim
community drew away from town life.
All Islamberg children are now schooled on the compound in a school that, according to one report, has a total of 62 students.
And then Sept. 11, 2001 happened. Anti-Muslim sentiment soared
throughout the United States, and in the case of the Islamberg compound,
concern grew among their neighbors.
Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, the Pakistani Sufi cleric whom
the Islamberg residents call their spiritual leader, has long been
suspected of being one of the founders of a group called Jamaat
al-Fuqra, a group that the U.S. and Pakistan say is responsible for a
long list of terrorist activities around the world, including murders of
rival religious figures in the U.S.
Gilani also was the man American reporter Daniel Pearl was going to see when he was abducted and murdered.
Gilani has denied any connection with either Pearl's death or with Jamaat al-Fuqra.
The possible connection between Islamberg and extremist Islamic terrorism wasn't lost on authorities.
"We've had files on them for years," said Sgt. William Vymislicky of the New York State Police.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said that he could neither confirm
nor deny any current investigations, but that the bureau follows up on
every reported case of possible terrorist activities.
And, according to some locals, the Islamberg community has given them
plenty of reason to be wary. If you visit the compound's entry gate,
you will be stopped at a guard shack by men armed with guns. And some
say that you sometimes can hear gunfire or even explosions coming from
the area.
"You'd better be careful if you go up there," several locals said. "They have guns."
After Sept. 11, local rumors about the compound ran rampant, from the
plausible to the patently ludicrous: The compound trained terrorists
for combat; there was a tank buried somewhere on the grounds; Usama bin
Laden had gone into hiding in the compound.
A series of articles about Islamberg in newspapers and on the
Internet further fueled the flames, and people started to focus more
closely on the work the men did on New York City's bridges and tunnels,
and how close the compound was to a major reservoir.
But other local residents say fears about Islamberg are unfounded.
The region is a hunter's paradise, practice shooting is a nearly
universal hobby in the area, and the sounds of explosions most likely
come from a very nearby quarry.
"I live up on Columbia Lake and I hear gunshots all the time, and
it's not from the Muslim community," Felber said. "I always hear people
practicing and shooting their guns and stuff."
Of those locals who expressed fears about Islamberg, almost none of
them said they had ever actually had any substantial interaction with
anyone from the compound.
And though the community is noticeably less friendly that it once
was, some say that it still welcomes those who make an effort to be
sympathetic.
The doctor at the local clinic in Deposit, John Giannone, now fasts
on Ramadan out of respect for the community's beliefs and has maintained
a relatively close relationship with the group. When his house was
devastated by flooding that nearly wiped Deposit off the map in June
2006, volunteers from Islamberg came down and helped him clear out the
debris and clean up the rental home his family had moved into. Giannone
says they even did the dishes.
That flood was one occasion when Islamberg shone, according to many.
According to several accounts, Islamberg men, women, boys and girls
pitched in and helped clear debris, clean people's basements, distribute
food and maintain the emergency shelter where residents gathered. On
July 4, the Muslims joined the rest of the community for a dinner to
commemorate their shared adversity.
"We were all just overwhelmed, and I remember the thanksgiving prayer
that was said to bless everyone, no matter who you are and to bring the
community together. And in that moment, we were a community, we were
together as one," Felber said. "I couldn't see a person that was going
to be part of a terrorist group standing in a food line of thanksgiving
there serving the community."
But plenty of questions remain:
How close is Islamberg to Gilani?
How does it accept, reject or interpret the portions of his writings that espouse violence?
Does the community send people overseas or to other camps for training? And, if it does, exacly what kind of training?
How does the group see its relationship to the local community, and does it plan to do anything to improve it?
Islamberg's elders refused a request to visit with them and tour the
compound, citing a recent spate of negative publicity. For now, it
remains an enigma in the mountains.
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Thank you for all that you do on a daily basis for this country. I read your topics daily.
EDITOR’S NOTE: YES, IT WILL BE POSTED.
EDITOR’S NOTE: JIM GARROW IS ON TONIGHT. TO LISTEN LIVE, AT 9PM CENTRAL, GO TO THE LINK “LISTEN” IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF TEH WEB SITE.
Will the military then pledge to not impose martial law as part of any coup d’etat?
Will the military then pledge to not punish those of us who protest against military control?
Will the military then pledge to immediately upon seizing power dismantle the FEMA camps already in place and not use them?
Will the military then pledge to allow full and unrestricted travel throughout the country and abroad?
Will the military then pledge to not impose capital controls or place economic restrictions on citizens?
What will the military do when other countries beginning abandoning the dollar and the economy implodes, the stock market plummets and there is massive inflation leading to civil unrest?
Would the military suspend habeas corpus like Lincoln did in 1862? Or any part of the constitution and bill of rights for that matter?
Do the members of the military know and understand that there is no provision in the constitution for removing elected civilians leaders by way of military action? How then would they justify their actions?
Will the military then pledge to immediately seize the billion of rounds of ammunition and other arms from the DHS?
Will the military then pledge to release any flag officer who is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations or any other globalist entity?
Will the military then pledge to suspend any movement toward the implementation of Agenda 21 and other globalist agenda items?
Who exactly would the military leadership that are planning a coup remove from office? Which specific members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government? And by what means? What’s the litmus test for removal?
Will the military immediately withdraw its troops from any region of the world where they are unwanted or any any undeclared war zone?
Will the military immediately suspend partnerships with any domestic agency (NSA, CIA, FBI, etc.) which violates the constitution on a daily basis?
Will the military immediately launch an investigation into the trillions of taxpayer dollars that are missing or unaccounted for in its accounts?
How exactly would the military provide a transition back to the only constitutionally allowable government?
What would be the time frame for that transition?
Do you really think that once the military has affected a coup that they would want to relinquish control back to anyone that doesn’t support their coup?
We can hope and pray those in power act with honor and intelligence. As well as doing so ourselves.
He seems way to happy to tell his stories.
Your list of questions is great – here are a couple more if you can work them in:
1. What will become of the Federal Reserve?
2. Will the attacks on the 2nd amendment stop?
3. What will be done about the United Nations?
4. How long before free elections can be held?
5. Will there be martial law imposed and if so how long might it last?
6. What becomes of all the welfare programs that have been implemented across the country to incliude all the big social programs the government has going – social security, medicare, Obamacare, etc.
Thanks for all the work you are doing on my behalf.
Could you please ask Dr. Garrow to comment on the story that broke today on Steve Quayle’s website that stated that Philip Wood, a passenger on MH 370, sent a text
message from his phone on March 18 and the message was traced back to the island
of Diego Garcia? If this is true then the word of our government’s evil intentions regarding
MH 370 must be made as public and as loud as possible.
Steve Quayle has posted a link on his site to jimstonefreelance.com which states that an iPhone photo was taken by the IBM employee Philip Wood who was on flight 370 from Kuala Lampur. The Exif data is showing the location data attached to the image is from a Lat/Long located on the island of Diego Garcia.
Please take a look at this link at give your thoughts on it. Also ask Mr. Garrow about this.
Meetings which included High Profile Military, Senators, Congressmen and some very smart people in our government. Some are CIA and I’m sure Dr. Garrow would know them and that he also knows about the Extraterrestrial Presence that our military is and has been totally quiet about for 40-50 years. These people are convinced that there are UFO and space vehicles around. Also, one of the speakers said the the “OTHER” kind of people out there have, like a non-gravity type of vehicle that does not require gas or oil to run them and my thought is that maybe that is the reason why the government won’t tell the American people that the UFO’S are and have been here because the “ELITES” wouldn’t any longer be able to sell and make money off the gas or oil. Please ask Dr. Garrow what he knows about this issue. Because these researchers sure believe that the UFO’S are really here.
“We/You Will See These Things In The Sky”… It kinda looks like there are UFO’S here… I Pray Not… But, some people much smarter than me, think so…