y name is Khadija Abdul Qahaar and I am the owner and publisher of Jihad Unspun. I am Muslim, who like many others, embraced Islam as the result of 911. Many of our viewers will know me as Bev Kennedy and Paul Morris-Read, the pen names I have used on this portal, a necessary precaution particularly in the early days of publishing this portal, due to the nature of our work. I have chosen this occasion of 911 to tell my story, as two years on, I sense the tide is turning and it is my hope that this will inspire others to Islam and to take a stand against this shameful war on “terrorism”.

I am not a “terrorist”, a fanatic or mentally off-balance. On the contrary, I am a level-headed, capable woman, a humanitarian and a contributing member of society. In my former life, I was Bev Giesbrecht, Canadian publishing entrepreneur and in later years, also web developer. I have built several Canadian and Pacific Northwest Coast business magazines that have earned me the respect of my peers and I have founded a variety of successful products, software programs and web sites that have benefited others. For the curious, a copy of my CV is located here.

What would lead a “successful” woman like me, who seemingly has everything going for her, to embrace Islam and publish this portal? Here is my story.

On September 11, 2001 I was in Seattle Washington at a Boeing trade show preparing to unveil a software product my web company had spent over a year developing for the aerospace market. We set up the day before and worked through the night to make the final tweaks for our new products long awaited debut. That debut would not come. Shortly after 8 am, a colleague called to say that a Boeing plane had hit one of the towers and that America was under attack. I told him to “stop with the bad jokes” as I was in no mood for it having worked through the night, when he encouraged me to turn on the TV. The second plane hit just as I did. I was flabbergasted. Needless to say, the Boeing show didn’t open that day and I sat stunned for several hours in front of the television set not believing what I was seeing. I had staff from Canada down for the setup who were to return that day. The borders were closed so a variety of arrangements had to be made and there was no time for emotions. At the end of the day, when the magnitude of the unfolding events hit me, I sat in disbelief and cried. The United States of America, the greatest nation on earth, had been attacked and now everything, absolutely everything has changed.

The four day show finally did open but of course it was a write-off. Show attendees couldn’t get flights out, exhibitors from America and from Canada couldn’t get home, hotel rooms couldn’t be had and people were in a daze. Grown men were seen crying on the streets of Seattle and women were trying to figure out what they were going to tell their kids. My heart bled for America during those days.

By the time I got back to Canada, I was beginning to count my personal costs. A year in development and at best case, there would be several months delay in launching our new aerospace product and reaping its anticipated revenues. Over half of the business in my shop at that time was aerospace-related and this business went instantly on hold. Half of that never did complete. Expenses from the show escalated four times budget as business ground to a halt. September 11th hit us hard and my grief quickly turned to anger.

I spent the next few days glued to the CNN to find out what the hell we were going to do about it. It took no time at all for Osama bin Laden to be convicted in the court of public opinion. Osama who? Who is this guy? What seemed like night after night, analyst after analyst was paraded across the TV screen giving their two minute sound bites. Why all of the chit chat? Let’s go get this guy! The next thing you know, George W, Bush was addressing the America people, saying that we are going to invade Afghanistan, and overthrow the evil government of the Taliban. What??? If we know Bin Laden did this, why are we not using covert operations to nab him? Anyone in their right mind knows that an invasion means bombs and civilian deaths. And what crime has the Taliban committed? They did not attack the United States of America. Let me get this straight - we are going to invade a sovereign nation because they refuse to hand over a resident before we produce the evidence?

What stuck in my mind was the lack of diplomatic efforts. In fact, there was no diplomatic effort what so ever. We ask the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden, they said “gives us proof that he committed this crime” and we said “we are going to invade your country if you don’t”. This is not how modern societies conduct their affairs. As leaders of the free world, we are more than experienced in applying diplomatic pressures to achieve a desired outcome. There was none of this in this instance and it began to appear to me that invading Afghanistan was the goal, not apprehending Osama bin Laden to account for this crime. This troubled me a great deal. Had we resorted to being street thugs?

For the record I have never been a fan of the Bush’s, particularly after their antics that maneuvered George Juniors presidency but I felt in the first few days following 911 that he handled things well. America, and the whole world for that matter, was in shock and calling the nation to prayer was a good place to start. He showed strong leadership in the early days which surprised me. I told friends and colleagues on the night Bush was sworn into office “this man is dangerous” and unfortunately since, I have been proven right many times over.