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Letters written by Adam Gadahn (pictured) to Osama bin Laden outline how Gadahn planned a message to Ireland, hoping to convert it to Islam. AP

Al-Qaeda planned message to convert Ireland to Islam

A letter by Al-Qaeda’s American spokesman says Ireland was ripe for conversion because of its ‘sympathy’ for Palestine.

AL-QAEDA’S MAIN SPOKESMAN in the United States was preparing a message to the people of Ireland in an attempt to encourage the country to convert to Islam, new documents have revealed.

A series of documents seized during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, which have been published by the Combating Terrorism Center, include a letter to bin Laden written by Adam Gadahn outlining his attempts to convert Europe.

“I was… starting to prepare a message to the Irish,” the translated letter, dated August 2010, reads.

This was after I noticed the sympathy of the Irish people to the Palestinian issue, and the soft treatment by the Irish Judicial system of the Muslims accused of terrorism, and also not participating with its troops in Bush’s Crusade wars (although it is participating within the European Union forces in training the Somali army).

Gadahn’s letter also discusses how the combined traumas of the economic collapse and the Church’s clerical abuse scandals had affected Ireland.

“What helped to prepare the message was the last economic crisis that affected Ireland a lot, thus forcing its youth to look for sources of living in the outside,” Gadahn wrote.

“The other matter is the increasing anger in Ireland towards the Catholic Church after exposing a number of sex scandals and others.

The people there are moving towards secularism, after it was the most religious of atheist Europe, and why do not we face them with Islam?

Any plans to issue a note to the people of Ireland – and also to Catholics in the Arab region – was upset by a raid on a Catholic Church in Baghdad by the Islamic State of Iraq, a militant group linked to Al-Qaeda and regularly referred to simply as ‘Al-Qaeda in Iraq’.

This attack halted me, and I thought twice about my two project messages. As actions are more effective than words, their act and the contacts they carried during the attack, and the statement they issued later, do not help to gain people’s sympathy.

Elsewhere, the documents outline how Bin Laden had considered changing the name of the organisation – which is formally titled ‘Qa’ida al-Jihad’ – because the name had come to be considered as a body outside of the teachings of Islam.

“This is what was raised repeatedly in the past as indicated by Obama, that our war is not on Islam or on the Muslim people, but rather our war is on the al-Qaida organisation,” bin Laden had written.

“So if the word al-Qaida was derived from, or had strong ties to, the word Islam or Muslims, or if it had the name ‘Islamic party’, it would be difficult for Obama to say that.”

Bin Laden also suggested that the name had come to depict a military-only organisation, which had ultimately detracted from its overall aim of ‘unifying the nation’, and proposed ten alternative names for other group leaders to consider.

In full: The documents released by the United States (PDF)

Read: USA had concerns over Dublin-based Muslim think tank – WikiLeaks

More: US court rules against release of dead bin Laden photos

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    Mute #Tag
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    Mar 10th 2017, 5:39 PM

    You can’t say that though you can call for Jihad

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    Mute John003
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    Mar 10th 2017, 5:49 PM

    If he has used the term Isreali rather than Jew and called for destruction of Israel woukd he have got jail sentence…

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    Mute John B
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:58 PM

    Whilst the libtards want the world to be lined with cotton wool, I also agree this is ridiculous. Obviously if there is outright incitement to and encouragement to violence then jail. But otherwise, free speech should be paramount. Yes this man is a horrible person but we should hear what he says, listen to his arguments and learn from him, then demonstrate the stupidity and hatred in his philosophy. Hiding him in jail just facilitates them even more.

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    Mute OpenBorders
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:09 PM

    So many rightards who don’t understand the difference between Free Speech and Hate Speech, not surprising given the low levels of intelligence amongst the Alt-Right cohort.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:12 PM

    I think that a longer sentence would be appropriate as a deterrence.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:24 PM

    @OpenBorders: I agree. The statements were false, prejudiced, extremely hateful, a dangerous denial of the human status of the victims and likely to stir up anti Semitic violence.

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    Mute John B
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:28 PM

    I disagree with his statements, but I’m not right leaning. Whether or not what he did was disgusting (and I think people who think like him are disgusting), I still think he should have the right to do so, once he does not specifically invite people to violence. And I want to know these people rather than have them locked up. Essentially he is being locked up for thought crime. He still thinks what he said I am sure. Also, because he said it without the protection of religion (some religions look unfavourably upon Jews) he could be prosecuted. If he stated the same thing from a religious stand he would not even be prosecuted.

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    Mute Pat O'Dwyer
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:37 PM

    @Clever Jake: What you point to is to a certain extent correct, but there is still an unimaginable lack of accountability at higher levels. Those people , are unfortunately above, and protected from all laws, national and international. Still a few brave and honest people around though. :
    VIDEO: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Legislation to Stop Arming Terrorists
    Washington, DC—Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act today. The legislation would prohibit the U.S. government from using American taxpayer dollars to provide funding, weapons, training, and intelligence support to groups like the Levant Front, Fursan al Ha and other allies of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda and ISIS, or to countries who are providing direct or indirect support to those same groups.
    https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/video-rep-tulsi-gabbard-introduces-legislation-stop-arming-terrorists

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:37 PM

    @John B: I don’t think that there should be a right to spread hate, prejudice and hold up any group to contempt and hate by adopting the viewpoint of the Nazis.

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    Mute Pat O'Dwyer
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:40 PM

    @Pat O’Dwyer: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said, “Under U.S. law it is illegal for any American to provide money or assistance to al-Qaeda, ISIS or other terrorist groups. If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Yet the U.S. government has been violating this law for years, quietly supporting allies and partners of al-Qaeda, ISIL, Jabhat Fateh al Sham and other terrorist groups with money, weapons, and intelligence support, in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government.[i]

    “The CIA has also been funneling weapons and money through Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others who provide direct and indirect support to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. This support has allowed al-Qaeda and their fellow terrorist organizations to establish strongholds throughout Syria, including in Aleppo.

    “A recent New York Times article confirmed that ‘rebel groups’ supported by the U.S. ‘have entered into battlefield alliances with the affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria, formerly known as al Nusra.’ This alliance has rendered the phrase ‘moderate rebels’ meaningless. Reports confirm that ‘every armed anti-Assad organization unit in those provinces [of Idlib and Aleppo] is engaged in a military structure controlled by [al-Qaeda’s] Nusra militants.’

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:50 PM

    @OpenBorders: I have little doubt that you are highly excremental but you are entitled to your opinion and to express it as you wish since you are merely attempting to ridicule me as an individual and not because I belong to a particular group or type.

    So press ahead all you wish.

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    Mute OpenBorders
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:50 PM

    You’ve probably sussed it Tony but that last reply was from one of my admirers from Cork!

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:57 PM

    @OpenBorders: I knew that but it allowed me make a point.

    The point is that people can express hate, abuse, contempt, ridicule and insult but as long as it is towards the individual as an individual it is legitimate and fair expression.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:59 PM

    @Tony Daly: and the remark was directed to your admirer since yiu already know the point.

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    Mute Pat O'Dwyer
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    Mar 10th 2017, 8:30 PM

    Free speech ?? As a counterbalance to (Mis) and (Dis ) information :

    Jeff Bezos, Amazon endorse holocaust denial! (UPDATED)
    By Kevin Barrett, Veterans Today Editor
    In what amounts to a ringing endorsement of the claims of Holocaust revisionists, Amazon.com has apparently concluded that their books cannot be effectively refuted – and therefore must be banned.
    M.S. King, author of The Bad War, has been notified that his book has been banned from Amazon. The explanation:
    We’re contacting you regarding the following book: The Bad War: The Truth NEVER Taught About World War II. During our review process, we found that this content is in violation of our content guidelines. As a result, we cannot offer this book for sale.
    Amazon did not explain precisely which guidelines had been violated, nor did it cite specific passages. Therefore the “violations” claim is an obvious lie. The real reason King’s book and others were banned is that Jewish-Zionist pressure groups have mounted a campaign (timed to accompany the “cemetery desecration” PR stunt?) aimed at making Holocaust revisionism books unavailable. Obviously they believe the revisionists’ claims are irrefutable — and have convinced Amazon that such is the case.
    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/03/08/bezos-denial/

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    Mute Jimmy Ireland
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    Mar 10th 2017, 5:41 PM

    Hate speech, as damaging as it is, is just that – speech. You wouldn’t see 4 years sentences for serious assaults yet putting hateful comments online, which people have to follow you to see, is deemed worthy of a substantial sentence.

    These fashionable offences are dragging all the attention away from the old-skool but more harmful theft and violent crime.

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    Mute David Rafferty
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:13 PM

    Israeli politicians have made similar disgusting remarks about Palestinians but there’s not even condemnation of that!

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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:22 PM

    Its par for the course with some extremists in that part of the world. You get Palestinian politicians/ clerics telling their people to go stab jews etc etc. Im guessing you condemn this too?

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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:14 PM

    @Jimmy Ireland: this was extreme,y dangerous hate speech and hadca hugh likelihood of leading to attacks on people who are Jewish or suspected of being Jewish. I think that, for the purposes of effective deterrence, a longer sentence would have been appropriate.

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    Mute Craig Barry
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    Mar 10th 2017, 10:09 PM

    @Tony Daly: you not going to respond to David Rafferty or Honeybadger197? didnt think so

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:03 PM

    I know it’s important for you to tell us about what some nobody in England said and all but will you be doing an article about the dangerous armed Albanian ‘refugees’ that we recently received into *this* country?

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/albanian-trios-car-contained-hidden-gun-northern-ireland-court-told-35506630.html

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:07 PM

    That’s the UK too.

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:08 PM

    @Lisa Saputo:

    They were arrested in the UK. They applied for refugee status in Ireland. Being able to read is super!

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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:10 PM

    And? What’s the connection to this story?

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:14 PM

    @Lisa Saputo:

    No connection.

    I’m just curious as to why thejournal writes about court cases in other countries that would barely make the local news yet they ignore stories about dangerous foreign criminals in Ireland.

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:19 PM

    Because it’s not that interesting to anyone apart from rampant xenophobes.

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:21 PM

    @Lisa Saputo:

    I find the fact that we allow dangerous armed criminals to wander around this country and others to be interesting and I’m not a rampant xenophobe.

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:24 PM

    Reporting on foreign criminals who claim asylum in Ireland is now xenophobic?! The shark has been jumped.

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:27 PM

    What war is currently being fought in Albania that necessitates these guys to claim asylum here?

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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:29 PM

    Speaking of dangerous armed criminals, how are the kinahans getting along?

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:30 PM

    @Dave Thomas:

    Go read one of the multitude of articles about them to find out!

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:32 PM

    So because Ireland has a homegrown gangland problem we should allow foreign criminals in to, otherwise it’s xenophobic?! Take the rest of the weekend off, Dave.

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    Mute Dubabroad
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:35 PM

    Eh…. That’s in the UK bucko… Fact check much?

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:37 PM

    @Dubabroad:

    Yeah, bucko – I fact check all the time!

    If you did the same you would know that the Albanians in question applied for asylum in Ireland, as stated both in the article I linked to and by my handsome self earlier in this thread!

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    Mute OpenBorders
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:11 PM

    Ha ha! Take your medicine Naberius, you got owned!

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    Mute Naberius
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:15 PM

    @OpenBorders:

    I own everyone, especially you!

    23
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    Mute David Harries
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:03 PM

    He got what he desirved just because irish judges don’t like jailing people don’t think four years is harsh

    22
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    Mute Andrew Corcoran
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:15 PM

    Has the journal reported Dane Tyghe to the Gardaí for calling Republicans subhuman animals? ☺

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:18 PM

    @Andrew Corcoran: it is a false statement and utterly unjustified but I consider that Republicans are not a racial, ethnic or religious minority.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:25 PM

    Tony> the hate crime laws in the UK are actually more inclusive than that. A goth girl was beaten to death for being a goth so they expanded the laws to include all sorts of groupings.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:38 PM

    @Kal Ipers: I am not keen on beating people to death because of their identity or for any reason.

    Hateful prejudice can be powerfully contagious.

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    Mute Andrew Corcoran
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    Mar 10th 2017, 10:01 PM

    @Tony: so it’s only wrong to call someone a subhuman animal if they’re a minority?!! Surely it doesn’t matter what religion you are, what ethnicity you are or what race you are.

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    Mute StopWhiteGenocide
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:15 PM

    As an American I find this appallingly retrograde. Still jailing heretics! Thought crime!

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    Mute Malachi
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:19 PM

    It’s not heresy, it’s the ramblings of a deluded, disgusting bigot.

    That said, no one should be jailed for speech unless it’s a direct threat of violence or slander.

    Locking up bigots will not stop bigotry.

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:20 PM

    It’s not a thought if you said it out loud.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:29 PM

    Genocide> As an American your country doesn’t have laws that we have. Hate speech is illegal here in Europe and it isn’t thought police. We are fully aware of what can happen when you allow it. What do you care about it? Thinly veiled racist name along with the misappropriation of the celtic cross as racist symbol. Wonder why racists need to steal other cultural symbols to use do you not have any artist people about. Hitler was a painter why did he need to steal an indian symbol

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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:31 PM

    As a European I find America appalling.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:33 PM

    He was jailed for inciting hatred which is a crime.

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    Mute No To Forced Births!
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:34 PM

    “Make America White Again” LOL .How will you go about doing this ?

    15
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:20 PM

    @StopWhiteGenocide: it was far more than thought crime. It was prejudiced, malevolent and potentially capable of leading to violence and ghettoisation.

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    Mute OpenBorders
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    Mar 11th 2017, 1:49 AM

    @StopWhiteGenocide: When you say StopWhiteGenocide, I assume you are referring to the White Genocide inflicted on the indigenous people of North and South America, and Australia, by white people?

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:26 PM

    The conviction was by a jury of ordinary citizens. It was a conviction based on evidence. The statement were wholly false, unjustified and way beyond the scope of ordinary prejudice.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:16 PM

    It is unfortunate but social media and easier means of broad communication is giving a small minority of people a platform for disseminating hate.

    Hate tends to lead to violence.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:29 PM

    Look at the assassination of the late Jo Cox MP by Thomas Mair when thevrhetiruc if the far right pushes impressiinable and disturbed people into cowardly assassination.

    Killing a human being silences the human being.

    Speech can be dangerous when it is poisoned with pure hate.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:53 PM

    Would we be happy for such remarks to be made against the Irish living in England?

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 10th 2017, 8:24 PM

    The Defendant, Lawrence Burns, got a fair trial more than he would have allowed his victims.

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