There's something to consider about Romney which hasn't hit the media- yet. The Romney-Marriott-Saudi connection.

As many of you know, the Romney family are lon g-time family friends of the Marriotts. In fact, Romney was named after J. Willa rd Marriott. Marriott corp presently has Hotels in Saudi Arabia in Medina, Jedd ah and Riyadh. Marriott has been named to have three more, multimillion dollar h otels in MECCA. For those unfamiliar with Mecca, it's considered the holiest pla ce in Islam, where Muslims pilgrimage every year for the Hajj. Mecca is also a source of revenue for the KSA. Please bear in mind that, while t hese hotels (slated to be built by Marriott by 2014) will bring revenue to the M arriott corp, they will also bring in revenue to the KSA in what is called a "Ji zya tax", a tax levied on all non-Muslims (including their businesses) wherever there is a nation goverened by Shari'ah. Please remember that Mitt Romney only recently stepped down from the Board of Di rectors of Marriott Hotels. Romney has quit the board before, both times to run for President. Here's what the Marriott corporation spokesman had to say about the impending ho tels in Mecca: We are honored to participate in this exceptional development that is historic in its magnitude in Islam s holiest city with three of our most highly regarded and iconic lodging brands...These hotels will provide worshippers and visitors to Ma kkah with an array of outstanding accommodations and services at a range of pric e points to fit virtually any travel requirement." Back in 2010, after disclosures in the media, the Marriott hotel in Oak Brook ca ncelled a conference hosted by the terror-linked Hizb ut-Tahrir. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a group banned in other countries, but tolerated in America, in spite of its stated goal being that of a world wide caliphate. Though the target of a terrorist bombing in Jakarta, for the most part, Marriott enterprizes seems to be more than willing to have open arms where Islam and Isl amic countries are concerned. That they have an open door to Mecca is interestin g as well. While some would argue that Marriott Corp. cannot possibly be held accountable ( and Romney certainly can't be held guilty by association) there's got to be some reason for the comfortability factor where Islamists and Marriott Corp. is conc erned. In 2010 the Marriott Hotel in Hamburg, Germany hosted another Islamist conferenc e, this one being the "Iran Business Conference". Last time I checked, Iran was n't exactly our friend, but business is business, right? The keynote speaker for the event was Germany's Iranian Ambassador, Sheikh Attar , who: "...represents a criminal regime that flouts international law in developing an illegal nuclear weapon, brutally represses its own people and is the world's lea ding state sponsor of terrorism" (radicalislam.org). This is the same Attar who supported the massacre of Kurds while governor of Ku rdish and Azerbaijani provinces. In 2007, AtlasShrugs reported that Marriott had been employing security personne l with ties to the terrorist-linked Black Muslim Bakery: "Over the past decade, more than a hundred thousand visitors have strolled into the Oakland Marriott Hotel and convention center, where among the first faces th ey encountered were those of well-dressed young men sporting bow ties. These men are the hotel's private security officers, who also happen to be members of the

Black Muslim clan believed responsible for the assassination of Oakland Post ed itor Chauncey Bailey. Even after Bailey's brazen murder just a few blocks from t he hotel on August 2, the Black Muslims remained at the Marriott, roaming its gi ant lobby and each of its 21 floors. Marriott spokesman Chris Daly said that in addition to providing security for hotel guests and the city's main convention c enter, the men 'even perform bellhop duty if need be.'" In 2009, the Florida Security Council filed a breach of contract action against Marriott (Delray Beach) for cancelling a contract with the FSC who had invited G eert Wilders, the internationally known parliamentarian who has made it his miss ion to warn others about the dangers of Islam. Marriott hired Robert Cromwell, former FBI agent who was involved in the FBI div ersity training (meeting with representatives of CAIR, by the way) to perform a "security risk assessment" . Cromwell has long been snuggly with Islamist groups like CAIR as part of his job in the FBI (almost ironic, isn't it?) Over the past few years, the Marriott chain has been host to many Islamic confer ences. While this, in and of itself, doesn't make for a problem, one has to wond er if, since Romney is such good friends with the Marriott family, there could p ossibly be some nepotism involved should Romney garner the Presidency. In other words, the same familial and business revenue link that caused the left to quest ion Dick Cheney's former relationship ties to Halliburton may not be a smoking g un where the Romney/Marriott link is concerned. Only with the latter, it's not a corporation benefitting financially from fighting against Islamic influences ag ainst our freedoms, rather, it's a corporation getting snuggly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries and organizations, for the benefit o f Marriott and Romney himself, once he steps back on the board of Marriott, as he has in the past. There's another concern about Romney and this tie doesn't involve Marriott. It i nvolves Mormonism itself. In 1972, Hugh Nibley, a well respected Mormon and LDS Apologist, wrote about the similarities between Mormonism and Islam. Nibley contrasts and connects Mohamma d and Joseph Smith: "Here indeed is a closer parallel to the case of Joseph Smith; in fact, early Mo rmon leaders saw no reason why Mohammed should not be considered a true prophet, for there have been many prophets, great and small, in the past whose words are not in the Bible" (Islam and Mormonism-a Comparison). The contrast, according to Nibley, is that the Muslim believes that Mohammad was the last, or the "seal" of the prophetic line, while the LDS believe there's an on-going appointment of prophetic succession. In an article in the official LDS Church magazine, The Ensign, there was an arti cle about tolerance, Islam, and the LDS stand on the issue. The article, dated f or the year 2000, contained some interesting historical references: "As early as 1855, at a time when Christian literature generally ridiculed Muham mad as the Antichrist and the archenemy of Western civilization, Elders George A . Smith (1817 75) and Parley P. Pratt (1807 57) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles delivered lengthy sermons demonstrating an accurate and balanced understanding of Islamic history and speaking highly of Muhammad s leadership. Elder Smith obser ved that Muhammad was 'descended from Abraham and was no doubt raised up by God on purpose' to preach against idolatry. He sympathized with the plight of Muslim s, who, like Latter-day Saints, found it difficult 'to get an honest history' wr itten about them. Speaking next, Elder Pratt went on to express his admiration f or Muhammad s teachings, asserting that 'upon the whole, [Muslims] have better mor als and better institutions than many Christian nations'" (citation: Deseret New s, 10 Oct. 1855, 242, 245". But even today, according to the article, there is a certain connection between

Muslims and the LDS Church not found in Christian quarters: "In recent years, respect for the spiritual legacy of Muhammad and for the relig ious values of the Islamic community has led to increasing contact and cooperati on between Latter-day Saints and Muslims around the world...The Church has sough t to respect Islamic laws and traditions that prohibit conversion of Muslims to other faiths by adopting a policy of nonproselyting in Islamic countries of the Middle East. Yet examples of dialogue and cooperation abound, including visits o f Muslim dignitaries at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City; Muslim use of Chu rch canning facilities to produce halal (ritually clean) food products; Church h umanitarian aid and disaster relief sent to predominantly Muslim areas including Jordan, Kosovo, and Turkey; academic agreements between Brigham Young Universit y and various educational and governmental institutions in the Islamic world; th e existence of the Muslim Student Association at BYU; and expanding collaboratio n between the Church and Islamic organizations to safeguard traditional family v alues worldwide.11 The recent initiation of the Islamic Translation Series, cosp onsored by BYU and the Church, has resulted in several significant exchanges bet ween Muslim officials and Latter-day Saint Church leaders. A Muslim ambassador t o the United Nations predicted that this translation series 'will play a positiv e role in the West s quest for a better understanding of Islam'". Could this be why Mitt Romney tends to be rather, shall we say, milktoast about Islam? According to the article, Howard Hunter, member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was once told by an Egyptian cabinet minister: if a bridge is ever built between Christianity and Islam it must be built by the Mormon Church (All Are Alike Unto God, Hunter, 1979). The author then gives a very sanitized version of the life of Mohammad, omitting anything which could possibly offend, like the fact that he had a Jewish woman drawn and quartered; like his marriage at the age of 52 to a little 9-year-old A isha; his pillaging of Christian caravans; raping of women... you know. The usua l things "prophets" do for sport. The article goes on the paint a rosey, somewhere surreal image, of Islamic belie fs and practices. But in all fairness to the author, this article was written pr e-911. So maybe he simply didn't know any better and the Mormon view of Islam ha s changed? No, the LDS church reprinted the article in 2002. (see links: http://lds.org/ensign/2000/08/a-latter-day-saint-perspective-on-muha mmad?lang=eng&query=islam+muslims [2000 link] http://lds.org/liahona/2002/06/a-l atter-day-saint-perspective-on-muhammad?lang=eng&query=islam+muslims [2002 link] ) Mormonism counts the offspring of Ishmael as their "brethren". In a 1979 article in the Ensign, another glowing report of Islam and Mohammad states: "Like the apostle Paul, Muhammad recognized the existence of slavery, but unlike Paul, was able to do much to mitigate it". The author also writes glowingly about how Mohammad saw a necessity for polygamy and set guidelines for it. The article even mentions the limitation of four wiv es per man, but nowhere mentions that Mohammad had more than four; nor does it m ention the existance of muutah marriage (http://lds.org/ensign/1979/06/ishmael-o ur-brother?lang=eng&query=islam+muslims) .