December 22, 2008
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com

Frontpage Interview's guest today is Tom Trento, Director of the Florida Security Council, a state-based organization that assists the general public in properly preparing for and responding to the threat of Radical Islam.

(Tom Trento)

FP: Tom Trento, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Trento: Grazie! Good to be here.

FP: You are producing a Sharia Billboard. Tell us about it.

Trento: Jesse Petrilla, founder of United American Committee (UAC) had the very creative idea for a simple, but effective billboard to be strategically placed close to a Muslim population center. He asked me to help with the project and be the spokesperson.

FP: Expand for us a bit on why a billboard is needed and what exactly it is saying.

Trento: Billboards are excellent communication tools to direct controversy in a controlled manner, for educational purposes. The philosophical assumption behind that sign is that most American Muslims absolutely reject efforts to replace the US Constitution with the Qu'ran by Islamist clerics and pseudo- rights organizations like CAIR. We believe these American Muslims are intimidated by the Islamist thugs, who act more like two-bit gangsters then religious men, so our billboard is there to assist the good Muslims to stand against the bad Muslims.

FP: So what exactly is on the billboard? You removed a noose graphic, yes? How come?

Trento: Sharia Law Threatens America. That's what it says and it says it all.

Each word was carefully selected for maximum emotive power and accurate legal analysis. Once Americans wake up and realize that "Sharia," effectively means "religious," that is, the "law of the religion of Islam," the average joe-on-the-street usually responds by saying: "Are you %#@&*^ kidding me!?"

No American wants religious Islamic law, or the law of any religion, to replace the US Constitution. On one of our design drafts we had a powerful graphic of a hangman's noose coming down over the top of the billboard. The idea was to illustrate the deadly threat this jurisprudential system poses to America, but our focus testing indicated that the noose was interpreted in so many different ways that it became a distraction to our basic message. So, we "cut down" the noose.

FP: Where is the billboard located? What reactions have you received?

Trento: The 48 foot anti-Sharia billboard is up and located on Interstate 75 just south of Detroit. Specifically, just south of Luna Pier Rd. on the south bound side of the Detroit-Toledo Expressway.

The response is actually better than we anticipated. The billboard drives traffic to the UAC web site and our educational process begins at that point. We have been doing radio and TV interviews regularly and of course, there has been the occasional "hate-mail" from angry Muslims. The "official" Muslim response has been non-existent, which is very strange for the loud-mouthed "protectors" of Islam.

I don't think the Islamist organizations (CAIR, MPAC, ICNA, etc) want to touch this because it's an absolutely toxic public relations issue. From the Islamist perspective, Sharia must be injected into the veins of dumbed-down Americas in a surreptitious, stealthy manner. Once we put a gigantic sign up in the air for the public to see and shine a light on the insidious nature of Sharia...the bad guys go limp. Conversely, the response from middle-America has been extremely supportive and encouraging. Our Sharia project has initiated creative thinking in many organizations to do similar advertising in their areas.

FP: Tell us about Sharia in Europe.

Trento: Sharia in Europe is like cancer in your stomach. As much as those of us on this side of the pond enjoy practicing the high art of ridicule directed at our western brothers and sisters, the global fact remains that Europe is a fundamental and absolutely necessary part of the American "body." If Islamic law metastasizes in Europe and becomes dominate in any manner, catastrophic consequences will be felt in New York, Los Angeles, Butte, Aspen and every other part of America. If we run a billboard campaign overseas it would be entitled, "Sharia Law is Killing Europe."

FP: Your thoughts on Sharia and the Muslims of America

Trento: I make a serious distinction between the Muslims of America and American Muslims. The former desire the implementation of political Islam in America through Sharia and jihad (if necessary) whereas the latter simply desire to worship Allah, while pledging allegiance to America and all for which she stands. Herein lays the secret that Muslims do not want revealed. American Muslims are being intimidated by the (phony) Muslims of America through the tightly controlled Islamic communities and Mosques and forced to remain silent about any views that counter or challenge the clerics, imams or anything related to the Muslim Brotherhood.

FP: How about some examples of Sharia in America?

Trento: Organized societies are managed by institutions. Even the Muslim Brotherhood understands that axiom. Therefore keep your eyes on the subtle introduction of innocuous and "helpful" suggestions about a "new and improved" approach to building up particular social institutions.

For instance, on Thursday, November 6, 2008 the US Treasury Department working with Harvard University's Islamic Finance Project sponsored a training seminar for government employees on managing U.S. financial assets in compliance with Sharia Law.

Ironically, when America faces one of its most serious financial challenges, there seems to be a great deal of money available from the Saudis to help us out. And the well-intended folks at Harvard want to help the US Treasury figure out how to follow some "mere" Islamic religious laws in order to get at that money.

It's very important to understand that Sharia Compliant Finance is a program that has been described by the Islamist Muslims pushing this scam as "financial jihad" against the United States.

FP: Can you talk a bit about UAC and the Sharia educational campaign?

Trento: Head, Heart and Feet. UAC, working with a coalition of anti-Sharia organizations, is directing its educational campaign at the head, heart and feet of all Americans. For the head, we provide academic and intellectual material for serious study. For the heart, our home page features the personal testimony of Wafa Sultan and her horrendous experiences with Sharia in her home country of Syria. Once an individual studies the insidious nature of this hostile legal system and is exposed to the destructive impact Sharia has on human lives, that person usually wants to "do something and get involved." At that point, UAC and other coalition members have a variety of opportunities, directed at getting the feet in motion for powerful and effective activism.

FP: Your thoughts on the attitude of Jewish and Christian clergy in dealing with this crisis?

Trento: But for a handful of courageous Jewish and Christian clergy, Jewish and Christian leaders have been silent or worse yet, complicit with Muslim extremists, thus expediting the eventual destruction of America.

FP: Why this fear about Jewish and Christian clergy to take a stand on Islamic jihad?

Trento: No guts. Lack of courage. Weak-minded. Historically, clergy have been on the fore-front of social action and public policy construction. Sadly, as an evangelical Christian (with degrees from a Bible College and Seminary) over the past 25 years I have seen many religious leaders do all they could to avoid any confrontation even on benign social or political issues.

If these men of God can't find their mouth on cultural issues that pertain primarily to America, does anyone in their right mind think these folks will stand up to Islamist jihadi warriors, who have already reconciled themselves to martyrdom?

To make matters worse, the Islamists (like the spider with little Miss Muffet) are inviting Jewish and Christian clergy to "interfaith" kumbaya dialogues, so that the three Abrahamic faiths can understand, appreciate each other and work together. Though that sounds great on the surface, the fact is that the Islamists are simply constructing their foundation (by disarming Jewish and Christian leaders) to build their system of Sharia law into the American way of life and the Jewish or Christian leader does not have a clue!

FP: What about "moderate" Muslims?

Trento: After many years of racing sports cars, I still enjoy driving Porsches or Ferrari's at a "moderate" rate of speed when conditions allow. But, when my wife is along for the ride, her definition of "moderate" dramatically conflicts with my definition.

Therein lays the essential problem when answering any question about moderate Muslims. The word "moderate" requires an objective baseline for accurate definition which, when absent, results in tremendous confusion and frustration. I have been in meetings where many sincere analysts conclude that there is no such thing as a "moderate" Muslim, because these folks are using political Islam, as defined by its leading scholars and clerics as a baseline.

Conversely, I have also been in meetings where sincere analysts conclude that a "moderate" or "American" Islam is possible, only if the political component of Islam is removed. The bottom line of this complicated issue is that there really are good Muslims who love America, reject political Islam and just want the First Amendment right to worship freely, as every other American enjoys. On both Constitutional and moral principle, we cannot abandon these folks at their greatest time of need.

FP: What is the best way we can help moderate Muslims empower themselves against the extremists?

Trento: We need to go on the offensive. We anti-Sharia fighters must intellectually attack the proponents of Sharia and absolutely demolish any hope they have for implementing Islamic law in any form, within our constitutional system.

As we beat down every consideration of Sharia, the moderate Muslims hiding in the fox holes will begin to raise their heads and make the difficult journey out...to freedom. The average moderate is frightened out of his mind by the theocratic thugs that call themselves by the religious title, Imam. These two-bit religious leaders use the exact tactics that were perfected by my gangster ancestors in their little club, La Cosa Nostra. Most Islamist communities are very close-knit and controlled by a limited of number of authoritative middle-eastern men. These bullies have perfected the use of all the tools that bad guys use to control the neighborhood, like intimidation, threats, loss of jobs, thrown out of the family, and even worse.

The moderate Muslim, by definition, does not have what it takes to stand up against the thug Imams. In order for the moderate to become empowered someone must step in and defeat the Imam's effort at implementing a barbarian political and legal system which suppress not only the freedom of the moderate but will also obliterate the freedom of all Americans. I always wonder: Are there any brave souls out there who will meet this critical challenge?

FP: Tom Trento, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Trento: Glad to help and stay tuned.

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Jamie Glazov is Frontpage Magazine's managing editor. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He edited and wrote the introduction to David Horowitz's Left Illusions. He is also the co-editor (with David Horowitz) of The Hate America Left and the author of Canadian Policy Toward Khrushchev's Soviet Union (McGill-Queens University Press, 2002) and 15 Tips on How to be a Good Leftist. To see his previous symposiums, interviews and articles Click Here. Email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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