Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone
Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked to become a convert and began talking about jihad.
By H.G. Reza
L.A. Times Staff Writer
At the beginning, worshipers at the Islamic Center of Irvine said, they thought Craig Monteilh was just an overzealous convert when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But when he started talking about jihad and dropped oblique references to violence, congregants contacted authorities.
On Friday, an Orange County judge issued a restraining order barring Monteilh from going near the mosque and its employees. Members of the mosque testified Friday in court that the FBI opened an investigation earlier this month.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that an investigation was underway.
Monteilh, 44, has not responded to numerous telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment and did not appear at the hearing. He told mosque members he worked as a personal fitness trainer.
In interviews and testimony at Friday's hearing, four men said Monteilh appeared at the Islamic Center in September and said he wanted to convert.
Mohammad Elsisy, a mosque volunteer who teaches Arabic, said Monteilh wanted to be called Farouk Monteilh and appeared eager to learn about Islam.
But earlier this year, Monteilh began shifting religious discussions to jihad, or holy war, talking about "operations" against U.S. military targets, and suggested that he had access to weapons, said Ashruf Zied. No weapons were seen, Zied said in an interview.
"I said, 'Dude, stop right there, What are you talking about?' " said Zied, a software engineer who said that he was born in Ohio and that his father worked for NATO. "I was trying to steer the guy in the right direction. He was talking about something that's taboo."
Zied, who testified at the court hearing, said that he was frightened by Monteilh's rhetoric, and that it was the last discussion between the two.
They used to socialize, but after that talk, Zied said, he changed his phone number so Monteilh could not contact him.
Former Islamic Center president Asim Khan testified that several worshipers felt threatened by Monteilh and that he talked about getting involved "in a 9/11-type operation."
Some stopped attending mosque because of him, Khan said.
"We're members of the American community, and it's our duty as Americans to make law enforcement aware of these activities," he testified.
In an interview, Elsisy recalled driving Monteilh and another Muslim to Friday prayers at King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. The three men discussed the war in Iraq.
"It was a serious discussion. But when [Monteilh] asked if we knew of an operation because he was ready to help us, the conversation stopped," said Elsisy, an architect.
Elsisy said he and the other man reported Monteilh's comments to mosque officials.
The Islamic Center of Irvine has had a contentious relationship with the FBI. Members believe the mosque is under surveillance, a charge that the agency had denied.
J. Stephen Tidwell, FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, presided at a town hall meeting at the mosque in June 2006 and assured the community that there was no monitoring going on.
for terrorists or hijacking mosques?! It seems to me this guy was CIA operative in covert ops trying to implicate particular mosque in some illegal activity. If only that be the only mosque they targeted with such abominable tricks. They should have bashed him up and give him what he deserves be he bloody idiot or spoke. Muslims must be very wary of new faces and on vigilant guard with old faces because spies are nothing new in Muslim communities across the west. King Fahd and Bushites are well known in procreation of terrorism both domestic and foreign. Saudi Kingdom was established with terrorism same as Israel and both have been extensively supported by British zionist lodges.
"Let there be Light!"
It is fair enough that the judge issues a restraining order on this chap, who wanted to convert to Islam with Holy War on the top of his agenda.
However, if the judge was worth his salt he would find out from what this aspiring holy warrior was converting, but maybe he did not dare to ask for fear that he himself might end up stigmatized as an anti-Semite?
It would also be very relevant to find out about the sources of income of this aspiring "Muslim" apart from his personal fitness business. Would there by any chance be money involved originating from secret agencies?
By all means, let us give the legal system the chance to prove that it is clean by being completely transparent in this case and in other similar cases.
However, I am not too optimistic. I fear that to find protection we have to go elsewhere.
Let us find inspiration where we can. And in this case I think that a debt of gratitude is owed to Paul Wolfowitz. It was he who came up with the brilliant idea to privatize terrorism by organizing a betting market on terrorist attacks. That would be a sure way to attract private actors to the scene of blowing up things when market conditions are right.
At least in the UK I believe that the betting shops offer a much safer bet for justice than the government and the courts. The betting shops would not dare to pay the winners unless they have a very solid and objective basis for doing so.
Look at horse racing f.i.
We know that the government and the Zionist media would tell anything that would fit into their plans to attack the next country for its oil or against its religious belief!
The official story that an Iranian super intelligent brain surgeon would be the "brain" behind completely amateurish events, which had no physical chance to harm anyone, and which were performed in ways to attract attention before any harm would have a chance to be done, would indeed not live up to the high standards of British betting shops!
Therefore, in the name of public safety let us start betting on terrorism and let us not be satisfied with half cooked, incoherent stories, as emerged after 7/7 in London.
We may not care too much about legal Latin like "Habeas Corpus" and the like, but we are not going to accept to be cheated out of our hard earned betting money!
We are going to beat them at their own game!
Ladies and Gentlemen: Please place your bets!
people who set up these types of covert operations are doing a great disservice for both the congregants and new converts who are trying to learn more about Islam and to become part of a Muslim community.
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"Money" has no value - people do.