Summary of Meeting with Congressman Ed Royce

The meeting took place on June 28^th, 2011 in his office and was arranged by a very good friend.  Ryan Hougardy, District Representative was also present and took notes.

I gave a brief summary of my background including that I held an Admiral position in the Iranian Navy prior to Ayatollah Khomeini coming into power and barely escaped execution during the revolution in 1979 “No one escaped Iran, they escaped Islam,” I  said.  I went on to demonstrate how I see many similarities between the situation in the US today and pre-revolutionary times in Iran. During the pre–revolutionary era in Iran, most of the population considered themselves moderate Muslims.  In the U.S. today, we consider ourselves predominately Christian and we want to convert Muslims by integrating them into our society which we believe is a resilient democracy.  Prior to Khomeini, Iranians were happy to see mosques being built thinking this would benefit society. After the revolution, when mosques became centers that preached warlike philosophies, they turned from houses of worship to houses of war. 85 years ago, there was only one mosque in America, today there are over 3,000 mosques with over 3,000 waiting to be built in the near term.  Why is this happening? How are they being financed?

Congressman Royce was open to my discussion and disappointed that the State Department is not concerned with these kinds of reports.  Together we developed the following thoughts on how to effect positive change.

• Recommendation that there should be a standard for individuals to be certified as Imams and for them to preach in the United States, because uneducated and radical immigrants come to this country, cannot find work, then become Imams in our communities and preach hate to our young people.
• Recommendation that there should be more transparency or a way to understand and investigate what is going on in the Wahhabi and Shia schools and how this affects our national security. There are two major schools in Najaf, Saudi Arabia:  one is Wahhabi, the other is Shia. Iran is heavily subsidizing the Shia school which is becoming more radicalized, Congressman Royce suggested that we lean on the Saudi’s to investigate the Shia school. He was also under the impression that Wahhabi schools are what we should be looking at given their connection to extremism. I shed some light on the   Shia schools which purposefully move slower, to go unnoticed, planning 20 or so years in advance.

I then spoke about the  Concernedamericancitizens.wordpress.com site that I developed to establish a differentiation between Sharia Law and spiritual Islam and explained how Sharia has nothing to do with the spiritual side of Islam. I explained that 13 States in America have laws banning Sharia law. Will California ever be one of these states? Congressman Royce thought probably not. He also believed that the Constitution protects all individuals, freedom of religion, including Imams.  He believed that:

• We should create a national dialogue concerning threats from Iran and Sharia.

I continued that with all the threats that we have under the name of Allah, I believe it is time for the United States to re-evaluate the status of Islam as an  “As Is” religion. We should not continue to accept the package of spiritual Islam and Shariah Law as a religion.

• It is time for American Muslim authorities to start reformation of Islam. We have some American Muslim Imams in favor of separation of the Barbaric Shariah Law from the spiritual Islam.

I asked for Congressman Royce’s help in separating Sharia and spiritual Islam in the minds of Muslims, in particular the moderate American Muslims.  Furthermore,  I also stressed that we need to get rid of the present regime and support change in Iran. Nearly half of the 70+ million Iranian citizens are under age 30 and are very aware of Westernized life and democracy. They need the United States support to get rid of the present regime. He agreed that we need tougher sanctions, higher unemployment over there, and hyperinflation to tip the scale.  The current administration, unfortunately, is too weak on Iran because they wish to make deals of appeasement. I did not believe that sanctions have any real effect. All American products are still available in Iran for purchase because they are indirectly shipped there through other countries, namely, Venezuela. The Green Revolution is simply the excuse that many people were looking for to stand up to and eliminate the regime they already hate.

Our meeting went well and Congressman Royce asked me to follow up with reports to him on a regular basis. I look forward to a continued dialogue with him and other public officials willing to step out and start effecting change.