Stolen from Starwise: It’s the Chicago Way!
Standing behind Rezko is Talat Othman, a leader in the American Muslim community in Illinois and an extremely successful Arab American businessman.
It was Othman who introduced Rezko to former Illinois governor Jim Edgar and it was Othman who aided Rezko in gaining access to Illinois political circles (Hanania, “Arabs in Chicago discover political clout and controversy”).
Rezko was also recognized as “Entrepreneur of the Decade” by Othman’s Arab-American Business and Professional Association (ibid).
Othman has a close relationship with M. Yaqub Mirza, a naturalized Pakistani businessman and physicist (Trento 336).
Othman and Mirza were co-chairmen of the Islamic Society of North America 2001 Convention (336). The two were also involved in Amana Mutual Funds Trust, an Islamic mutual fund which, according to investigative journalist Joseph Trento, “specializes in investments that are consonant with Islamic beliefs” (336).
Othman sits on Amana’s board and Mirza served as the mutual fund’s chairman (336).
On March 20, 2002 a U.S. Treasury task force known as Green Quest raided 14 homes and businesses believed to be involved in terrorism financing that were affiliated with Mirza (Guidera and Simpson, “Agents Raid Properties Affiliated with Chairman of Islamic Fund”).
According to Guidera and Simpson, the Green Quest investigators were “most interested in Mr. Mirza’s role as an officer in the Saar Foundation, a nonprofit started in the 1970s by members of the Saudi Arabia’s al-Rajihi family, which has interest in banking, construction, and real estate” (ibid).
Stephen Schwartz identifies the Saar Foundation as the “keystone” to the Mirza-related network (”Wahhabis in the Old Dominion”).
The hidden hand of the Muslim Brotherhood can be identified through the Saar Foundation’s connection with a shell company known as Al-Taqwa (Schwartz, “Wahhabis in the Old Dominion”).
The Al-Taqwa shell game was originally based in Switzerland and had as one of its leading figures a notorious Nazi disciple named Ahmed Huber (ibid).
It was an extensive network that included companies based in the Bahamas, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (Hosenball, “Attacking the Money Machine”). Al Taqwa even had a foothold in the United States until after September 11 when its assets were frozen and its operations were shut down by a U.S. presidential order (”Wahhabis in the Old Dominion”).
According to a Newsweek investigation, the Al Taqwa network “was set up in the 1980s by prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood” (”Attacking the Money Machine”). Al-Taqwa’ chairman, Youssef Nada, even admitted to being a member of the Brotherhood for 50 years (ibid).
Apparently, the Green Quest raids made Othman extremely nervous.
Two weeks after the raids, Othman and several other Muslim activists met with Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill to protest the raids (Trento 337). Was Othman afraid that the investigation would connect him to the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan for a “grand jihad”?
Four individuals who were targets of the investigation were affiliated with Amana, the mutual fund where Othman serves as a trustee (337). It is also interesting to note that another Amana board member, Samir Salah, is known to have ran a Caribbean branch of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al-Taqwa network (”Wahhabis in the Old Dominion”).
When Obama tries to downplay his connections to Rezko, is he merely trying to conceal his poor judgement in the realm of campaign finance? The 44th President may be trying to hide a much more disturbing reality from the eyes of the public.
That reality is the fact that our own government, in league with the power elite, will continue collaborating with America’s enemies. The “grand Jihad” proclaimed by Akram in his 1991 memorandum does not only constitute the Muslim Brotherhood’s crusade to destroy Western civilization. It also constitutes the power elites’s war on the plebians.”
Thanks for all you do Maggie.
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FROM:
http://www.pr-inside.com/andy-martin-illinois-republicans-are-r963563.htm
BILL KURTIS: MEET THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP OF THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN (DEMOCRAT SUBSIDIARY) PARTY
REPUBLICANS ARE JUST AS CORRUPT AS DEMOCRATS IN ILLINOIS, AND MORE SECRETIVE, SAYS ANDY MARTIN
THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY IS A WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE
DALEY MACHINE AND IS CONTROLLED BY THE MCKENNA FAMILY, PART OF THE BIPARTISAN ‘COMBINE’ OF CORRUPTION IN STATE POLITICS
(snip)
Who is this tiny mandarin McKenna? Well, McKenna’s father is a billionaire businessman who, along with his clique and claque, helps finance the Daley Machine. The McKennas can’t get their numbers straight, so it is not clear who is McKenna ‘Junior,’ ‘III,’ and IV. But they are all crooks beholden to King Richard Daley II for the patronage and privilege of doing business with his Machine. How independent can you be when Richard Daley sets the table for dinner?
Illinois Democrats elect a ‘state central committee.’ Each congressional district gets to vote at the general primary election for the state committee representative. For Republicans, however, such direct democracy is a dirty word. In order for the Daley Machine to control the Republican Party, Republican voters are not allowed to vote for state committee members. There is a complicated, indirect process-always rigged-by which McKenna stooges get to select the Republican Party leadership in Illinois. McKenna is the little man on the wedding cake who ‘leads’ this assemblage of hacks and incompetents.
The current Andy McKenna surfaced in 2004, when Democrats were concerned about losing a U. S. Senate election. Democrats put up McKenna as the Daley Machine candidate to run in the Republican primary. McKenna promptly hired one of the Daley Machine’s sleaziest and most corrupt lawyers as his legal adviser, Andrew Raucci.
Since the indictment of Governor Rod Blagojevich, the ‘national media’ (whatever they are) have been speculating that Illinois Republicans may have a chance to recapture the U. S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. Fat chance. Sadly, if you are hoping for Illinois Republicans to lead the fight for reform in Illinois, dream on. McKenna will do everything he can to sabotage the senate selection process or any efforts at reform in either the Republican Party or state politics. McKenna’s minions do everything they can to select ‘losers’ who will lie down and die for their Democratic opponents. McKenna is a winner—at losing.
(snip)