Posted on 02/24/2003 8:06:59 AM PST by TLBSHOW
Terrorist arrest shows holes in White House's Muslim outreach program; warnings ignored
People are asking: Who is responsible for getting terrorist figures into the White House? Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian, arrested this week by the FBI as an alleged mastermind and funder of suicide bombings, was part of the White House's controversial outreach plan to Muslims and Arab-Americans, the Washington Post reports.
According to Newsweek, White House political officials disregarded warnings from the Secret Service that Al-Arian was a potential terrorist, and let him in anyway.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the alleged terrorists were running influence operations to penetrate the US political system and influence policy.
The news confirms what the Center for Security Policy has warned the Bush administration - first privately and later publicly - for nearly two years: That the architects of the White House's well-meaning Muslim outreach program paid little or no regard to national security issues, and ignored information about alleged extremists, including supporters of terrorism, who had hijacked the administration's initiative.
According to the Post, Al-Arian was invited to the White House as part of an American Muslim Council (AMC) delegation on June 22, 2001: "The meeting was controversial within the White House even before it took place. The group that included Al-Arian was scheduled to be briefed by Vice President Cheney, but Cheney canceled. That morning, the Jerusalem Post had run a front-page article headlined, 'Cheney to host pro-terrorist Muslim group.'"
Al-Arian's arrest under a 50-count federal grand jury indictment is sure to prompt the Secret Service and others to revisit the issue, and to investigate just who has manipulated the White House to allow extremists and terrorists into the presidential compound where they have been treated as legitimate representatives of moderate, non-violent causes.
On Friday, February 21, the Wall Street Journal reported that Al-Arian's arrest "likely will inflame a debate embroiling the Republican Party over efforts to court Muslim Americans." The battle, according to the Journal, is led by conservative activist Grover Norquist, "a close ally of the Bush White House who spent years wooing Muslims through a group he founded called the Islamic Institute," against national security-minded critics who include Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney and American Conservative Union President David Keene.
Norquist's Islamic Institute, the Wall Street Journal continued, has received money from "a network of Islamic organizations in Virginia under investigation by federal authorities for suspected ties to terrorism." Meanwhile, Norquist has been a vocal attacker of key provisions of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism legislation proposals, and has led an effort from the right to discredit and undermine Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Insight magazine is reporting that Al-Arian and Norquist have worked together, and that Norquist has gone on record saying he is "proud" to have accepted an award in July 2001 from Al-Arian's National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF), which is described as a legal and political support group for international terrorist organizations.
Keene alluded to the problem in his column for The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. "Make no mistake about it," wrote Keene, "these people are our enemies. To deny this would be foolish and to empower them in any way is a mistake of the first order because doing so legitimizes their claim to speak for all Muslims." Keene added that twice in the last six months, "fellow travelers" and "zealots" have tried to prevent critics of Islamist terrorism from addressing conservative audiences: "In both instances they sought veto power over who should or should not be allowed to discuss the extremist Muslim connection to world terrorism and in both instances they were rebuffed. Having failed to keep the objects of their enmity from speaking, they then proceeded to denounce publicly in the press and on the Internet the sponsors of the events at which they spoke as, you guessed it, 'bigots and racists.'"
Islamic Institute Chairman Khaled Saffuri claims to be shocked at the arrest of Al-Arian, telling Newsweek, "If these charges are true, then he’s betrayed me—and a whole lot of others in the Muslim community." Nevertheless, Norquist has continued to rail against critics of Islamist terrorist fronts, calling them "bigots and racists."
Is another shoe about to drop? According to the federal grand jury indictment, Al-Arian and his confederates tried to penetrate the mainstream political system to influence U.S. government counterterrorism policy. The Wall Street Journal states, "the indictment alludes to efforts by the defendants to gain political clout, alleging that they sought 'to obtain support from influential individuals in the United States under the guise of promoting and protecting Arab rights."
Again, the question must be answered: Who invited and cleared Al-Arian and other suspected terrorist supporters into the White House?
It would also be interesting to know what information was presented to Cheney to persuade him to cancel out of the meeting.
When I visited the WH on a VIP tour about 6 years ago, I was required to provide my name, SNN and DOB. I assume they ran a quick check on me and everyone else that visits.
This has nothing to do with racial profiling; that's the GN argument, and he's been eating his words lately as far as I can tell.
Most don't even know who the VP is. This is a story that plays well for the anti-Administration folks; hence, the rapid posting.
It is Better to open our eyes to the religion of peace , lest we have our throats slit.
If you think (waiting for evidence to support the charge) that bringing the people to the white house that GN does is fineWRONG, there isn't anything left to say to you on this subject. As your mind is made up already.
On May 7 [1998], President Clinton spoke to almost 800 Arab Americans at a Washington dinner. University of South Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian, clutching an envelope addressed to Clinton, sat in a front row. The speech ended, and the president began working the crowd. For a few seconds, the professor had his arm around Clinton, and Secret Service agents politely took the package of letters and articles.Related Story:
Clinton Axed Terror Probe
An excerpt:
The Clinton administration shut down a 1995 investigation of Islamic charities, concerned that a public probe would expose Saudi Arabia's suspected ties to a global money-laundering operation that raised millions for anti-Israel terrorists, federal officials told The Washington Times.It is important to note that when the supposed picture of Bush with Al-Arian was taken, Bush, as a candidate, was not privy to such classified info. To bring this charge against Bush is therefore disengenuous. Clinton, however, is liable as he was made fully aware of the info, but then thwarted an attempt to bring these terrorists to justice.Law enforcement authorities and others close to the aborted investigation said the State Department pressed federal officials to pull agents off the previously undisclosed probe after the charities were targeted in the diversion of cash to groups that fund terrorism.
In the aborted 1995 investigation, the FBI said in a sealed affidavit that the Islamic Concern Project and World and Islam Studies Enterprise — working with charities in Virginia — committed fraud and "served as a vehicle by which [Islamic Jihad] raised funds to support terrorist activities in the occupied territories." In that probe, investigators found that checks drawn on a bank account of the International Committee for Palestine had been cashed by people in the Middle East. They said the checks had been signed by Mr. Al-Arian.
This should give you "ammo" for future discussions...
The fact is that Nordquist attacked Frank Gaffney at CPAC two weeks ago and then "disinvited" him from his regular Wednesday getogether.
The fact is that Nordquist attacked a CPAC vendor and is trying to get this vendor banned from future CPAC's.
The fact is that Nordquist is putting the President in a bad light; not the author of this article!
Gaffney is acting as a whistleblower on this issue, IMHO!
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