| Rohrabacher friends and colleagues believe that Norquist initially introduced Rohrabacher to Saffuri. They point to the Congressman’s long-standing ties to Norquist, which go back at least as early as the mid-1980s, when they worked together to build support for anti-Communist insurgencies in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia and Nicaragua. “Grover has led a lot of people astray in recent years,” one Rohrabacher colleague said. “Saffuri would always call Dana’s office whenever he was doing an event, just as any lobbyist would do. He was well-schooled by Grover on how to be a politician’s buddy.” < -snip- > Key to understanding Rohrabacher’s ties to radical Islamic groups and the causes they espouse are several trips Rohrabacher has made to Qatar, paid for by the Islamic Institute and the Government of Qatar, according to Rohrabacher’s financial disclosure forms. Coordinated in part with the Heritage Foundation, the conferences ostensibly focused on promoting free market economics in the Arab and Muslim world. During the April 2001 trip, however – just months before the 9-11 attacks - Rohrabacher met privately with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. Wakil on the fringes of the conference, which Norquist and Saffuri also attended.
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