RED HOUSE, Va. -- Only on 9, a thought-provoking story about a Virginia community accused of being a terrorist training ground. The group is called The Muslims of America and some of its residents have been under suspicion by federal law enforcement and others for allegedly being "homegrown terrorists."
Reporter Andrea McCarren and photographer Joe Martin were granted rare access to one Muslim village to uncover the story behind so many inflammatory headlines.
"Oh my God, we're Americans. We were born here. Give me a break," said Matthew Gardner, the Mayor of Red House and the spokesman of The Muslims of America.
"Yes, America should be worried," said Frank Spano of The Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Inside a mosque, in a remote Southern Virginia county that's so rural there isn't even a single stoplight, the Muslims of America bow down in prayer. More than 7,000 miles away, in Pakistan, Sheikh Mubarik Gilani serves as their guide, the spiritual leader over this village in Red House and 21 others nationwide.
"I owe him my life," said Maryam Salaam, a resident. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be about to go to medical school. I wouldn't. I'd be in Philadelphia, living life with no hope and nowhere to go."
"We have extreme loyalty to him. He's like a father to us," said Gardner.
In fact, the Muslim cleric is so influential over his followers that he names their children. This baby girl is seven days old. Her parents anxiously await the Sheikh's name choice.
Sheikh Gilani is a mysterious figure in the Islamic world.
"He himself was a very violent and very dangerous individual," said Spano.
He is also the man Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was meeting in 2002 when he was abducted and beheaded. Pearl was following a tip that shoe bomber Richard Reid had trained at one of Sheikh Gilani's alleged camps in Pakistan.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/The-Muslims-of-America
do read the rest of this report...it is really pretty interesting.....alexis
Reporter Andrea McCarren and photographer Joe Martin were granted rare access to one Muslim village to uncover the story behind so many inflammatory headlines.
"Oh my God, we're Americans. We were born here. Give me a break," said Matthew Gardner, the Mayor of Red House and the spokesman of The Muslims of America.
"Yes, America should be worried," said Frank Spano of The Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Inside a mosque, in a remote Southern Virginia county that's so rural there isn't even a single stoplight, the Muslims of America bow down in prayer. More than 7,000 miles away, in Pakistan, Sheikh Mubarik Gilani serves as their guide, the spiritual leader over this village in Red House and 21 others nationwide.
"I owe him my life," said Maryam Salaam, a resident. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be about to go to medical school. I wouldn't. I'd be in Philadelphia, living life with no hope and nowhere to go."
"We have extreme loyalty to him. He's like a father to us," said Gardner.
In fact, the Muslim cleric is so influential over his followers that he names their children. This baby girl is seven days old. Her parents anxiously await the Sheikh's name choice.
Sheikh Gilani is a mysterious figure in the Islamic world.
"He himself was a very violent and very dangerous individual," said Spano.
He is also the man Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was meeting in 2002 when he was abducted and beheaded. Pearl was following a tip that shoe bomber Richard Reid had trained at one of Sheikh Gilani's alleged camps in Pakistan.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/The-Muslims-of-America
do read the rest of this report...it is really pretty interesting.....alexis
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