Intrepid e-mailer GWB (no, not that one) alerts me to a couple of blog articles (from the Belmont Club and Gates of Vienna about the Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a controversial Islamic organization with compounds called Jamaats “scattered throughout the United States and Canada, notably in Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.”

First of all, Jamaat ul-Fuqra sounds very close to a joke name, as in the classic Robert DeNiro sketch from “Saturday Nite Live.”

(Warning: naughty humor.)

But more importantly, this is a network of Islamists with ties to “the Beltway Sniper, the killers of Daniel Pearl and shoebomber Richard Reid.” According to the website South Asia Terrorism Portal the JF was “formed by a Pakistani cleric, Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, in New York in 1980, on his first visit to the US. Mubarak Gilani’s intention in forming the outfit was to ‘purify’ Islam through violence.” Gilani is currently in Pakistani custody for his role in Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder. SATP estimates the number of American JFers between 1000 and 3000.

But, you know, the Patriot Act is too invasive of people’s privacy.