"Moderate" American Islamism And Terror, Zero Degrees Of Separation
By William A. Mayer and Beila Rabinowitz - PipeLineNews.org
December 12, 2005 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In the November 18th edition of the Washington Post, Mary Beth Sheridan reported - "U.S. Muslim Groups Cleared" - that Senator Charles Grassley's Finance Committee had concluded its two year investigation into the financial ties of some of America's most prominent - and in the case of the IAP, Kind Hearts and the Holy Land Foundation, notorious - Islamist groups and charities.
The author's editorialized treatment of the facts included the assertion that the investigation was "high profile."
That claim like the overall tone of the piece, is hard to justify.
Over the last two years there has been precious little media interest in the investigation, its existence being a poor reflection on prevailing multicultural assumptions. During that period of time we found it extremely difficult to obtain any information from the Committee or its members. Upon our repeated requests for clarification, the IRS even refused to acknowledge whether or not it had fully complied with the Committee's extensive document request.
This is hardly the type of atmosphere in which a rush to judgment is usually conducted.
Sheridan's take was mirrored in the Muslim press, which depicted Senator Grassley as conducting a witch-hunt or in the words of CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, "really just a fishing expedition...[one that] didn't catch any fish."
It might have been that response by the Islamist media that prompted the Committee to announce a clarification on the status of the investigation on December 6, which is now being represented as a 180-degree change of direction by the groups who find themselves seemingly back in the Federal spotlight:
"At this time the Finance Committee has completed reviewing the information requested from the IRS in late 2003 regarding Muslim charities. Because of the confidential nature of the IRS documents the Committee reviewed, we are prohibited from disclosing any specific information...The fact that the Committee has taken no public action based on the review of these documents does not mean that these groups have been "cleared"...the Committee will continue to gather information and examine the operations of the charities that have been designated or listed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and other similar charities that come to the committee's attention."
The original announcement "ending" the matter might have gone virtually unnoticed - despite its prominence in the Washington Post - had it not been for the subjects of the inquiry who immediately claimed that they were the innocent victims of U.S. government persecution. With no report being issued to clarify the matter, this left those involved free to characterize the investigation in any way they deemed beneficial.
In the ensuing weeks the investigation was framed as if it had been an ongoing star chamber proceeding. The initial claims of vindication now face the complication of being directly contradicted by the Committee's abrupt declaration.
On the heels of Sheridan's WP article, the Muslim Weekly summed the investigation up with the misleading headline, "Muslim Groups Found Innocent Of Terrorist Ties." More aggressively, the Internet portal alt.Muslim claimed the ending of the investigation resulted in "Undoing A Character Assassination."
To anyone conversant with the intricate relationships often found between groups claiming moderation and those who commit or fund terrorist acts, such bombast had to have appeared as disingenuous.
On December 22, 2003 as part of its oversight mandate, the Grassley Committee initiated a review of tax filings made by 25 Islamist groups and suspect charities whose names had been assembled by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. As the Chairman's Letter to IRS Commissioner, Mark Everson indicated, the purpose was to seek out sources and conduits of terror financing.
"The purpose of this letter is to inquire about and conduct oversight on the issue of organizations, particularly tax-exempt organizations such as charities and foundations, which finance terrorism and perpetuate violence...The Senate Finance Committee retains exclusive jurisdiction over tax matters in the Senate. We have a responsibility to carry out oversight to ensure charities, foundations and other groups are abiding by the laws and regulations, to examine their source of funds, and to ensure government agencies, including the IRS, are policing them and enforcing the law efficiently and effectively..."
The subjects of the probe:
The SAAR Foundation and all members and related entities
Global Relief Foundation (GRF)
Benevolence International Foundation (BIF)
Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA)
Muslim Student Association
Islamic Association for Palestine
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF)
Muslim World League
International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) or Internal Relief Organization(IRO) Al Haramain Foundation
Alavi Foundation
Institute of Islamic and Arabic Science in America (IIASA)
Islamic Assembly of North American
Help the Needy
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Islamic Foundation of America
United Association for Studies and Research (USAR)
Solidarity International and/or Solidarity USA
Kind Hearts
Islamic American Relief Agency and/or Islamic African Relief Agency
Islamic Society of North America
International Islamic Relief Organization
World Assembly of Muslim Youth
Rabita Trust
Human Appeal International
Outside the slim possibility that one of these IRS documents might show that a group had paid for something along the lines of Jose Padilla's travel expenses, no smoking gun should reasonably have been expected.
And indeed nothing so egregious was discovered, as Grassley's November 16 statement pointed out:
"We did not find anything alarming enough that required additional follow-up beyond what law enforcement is already doing."
But even assuming for the sake of argument, that the Committee investigation had ended at that point, the statement was in no way exculpatory.
Grassley's statement was reasonable, reflective of the relative paucity of resources available to a single Senate Committee with many responsibilities as well as the limited nature of this aspect of the overall investigation into terror funding. This is especially true as contrasted against the vast mandate of U.S. law enforcement - the investigation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations - which consumes not only a significant amount of the Federal law enforcement budget but the majority of the assets of the FBI's nearly $6 billion dollar budget.
With the declaration that the investigation will go forward, PipeLineNews.org, once again strongly suggests that the Bush administration should cease all contact with these groups and/or their representatives.
We do this not merely because they are the subjects of an ongoing investigation but because these groups represent, the vanguard of the Islamist threat to America.
Over the last year the administration's track record on fraternizing with the Islamists has been poor:
Radical Muslim Group Invited To Participate In White House Faith Based Program Conference
We maintain that the danger that radical Islam represents extends beyond the terrorist potential that another 911, a dirty bomb or an anthrax attack poses. For that reason the outcome of any Congressional investigation into what is commonly thought of as terrorism is in large measure outside the dimensions of what might be the even greater long-term threat that radical or political Islam represents.
Islamism is a complex, virulent ideology that is organizationally sophisticated and compartmentalized. The actors that comprise it are not limited to those listed on the Grassley manifest. Although these entities are not necessarily one in the same with those specifically devoted to carrying out acts of terror, they do nonetheless serve a vital functionality in the integrated whole.
The non-violent, relentless pressure of the cultural/legal jihad thus complements the violent.
Cultural jihad - the politics of intimidation
Historically speaking, any study of the manner in which the Nazi party solidified its power in post Weimar Germany would have been remiss for not noting the violence of such seminal events as Kristalnacht. It would also have been similarly defective for not taking into account the activities of the legal institutions [such as the Freier Ausschuss für einen Deutschen Arbeiterfrieden - Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace] which served as a fifth column, preparing the society and establishing cultural receptivity for the eventual triumph of State Socialism in the early thirties.
Noting the similarities between other totalitarian ideologies and those of radical Islam, in a prescient article published in 1995 Dr. Daniel Pipes defined the challenge:
"Though anchored in religious creed, fundamentalist Islam is a radical utopian movement closer in spirit to other such movements (communism, fascism) than to traditional religion. By nature anti-democratic and aggressive, anti-Semitic and anti-Western, it has great plans. Indeed, spokesmen for fundamentalist Islam see their movement standing in direct competition to Western civilization and challenging it for global supremacy." "There Are No Moderates - Dealing With Fundamental Islam."
Imam Muzammil Siddiqui, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America and Imam of the Islamic Center of Orange County is considered to be one of the world's leading experts on Sharia - his philosophy epitomizes the Islamist mindset. His admonition on how Islam should interact with the rest of the world reveals the uncompromising nature of the Islamic perspective on potential dialogue - "Treat non-Muslims as potential Muslims."
When translated into action, Siddiqui demands a continuous effort to convert unbelievers [Da'wa] and an aggressive program of secular expansion by the leadership of American Islam. Such behavior is typified by Council of American Islamic Relations [CAIR] - a Saudi funded front group with ties to Hamas.
Modeling its activities upon those established by the left [not the least of which is the faith's near Trotskyite obsession with permanent religious revolution] CAIR wages an cultural intense assault. Hardly a day passes when multiple charges of discrimination, racism and anti-Muslim bias are not directed at American society.
CAIR is probably the most in-your-face proponent of this style of realpolitik - as ultimately threatening as the more graphic and murderous form now seemingly a part of everyday life, because its intent is a forced accommodation with Islam - on its terms - cloaked behind a lexicon of multiculturalism and diversity doublespeak.
Once or often twice a day, CAIR transmits via the Internet what it calls the IslamInfonet/CAIR media alert. These documents appear in countless inboxes across the globe and their common theme suggests that the senders wish to ultimately operate outside the confines of American society.
This direct action approach of fomenting against the strictures of civil government, its institutions and culture apparently will continue until they are numerous enough to bend the rest of society to their will. At that point [as CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper has stated] they will seek to impose a caliphate and operate under Sharia or Islamic law.
The Islamists claim that their religion is actively being persecuted but during the course of hammering that allegation their latent agenda is never far from the surface.
As of this writing, the most recent newsletter - December 8, 2005 - is typical.
The first item "NC: JUDGE DISMISSES LAWSUIT INVOLVING COURTROOM OATHS," personifies the attitude represented by Islam's leading edge, that U.S. customs, legal tradition and structure should be overturned, in this case to the extent of allowing anyone claiming to be a Muslim to be sworn in at court proceedings on a Quran instead of a Bible. Few examples demonstrate in such a black-and-white manner the fundamental way in which these groups reject this society. Taking a page from the ACLU their argument turns on a twisted interpretation of the Establishment Clause since, "only one book qualifies as 'Holy Scriptures."
The degree to which this society would have to reject its traditions in order to accept the absurdity of using a Quran during the swearing in process shows how thoroughly such groups reject the prevailing culture.
Following that demand CAIR then segues into Da'wa mode:
"CAIR will offer a free copy of the Quran to any judge in North Carolina or throughout the United States for use in oaths or for personal awareness ." CAIR 'EXPLORE THE QURAN' PROJECT - To obtain or sponsor a FREE Quran, go to: Free Quran."
Taking Siddiqui's suggestion to heart, non-Muslims - if not already serving in dhimmitude - are merely tomorrow's converts.
It must be noted that the above free Quran program is underwritten by the Saudi Wahhabis, as part of an official Da'wa grant, a fact nowhere in evidence anywhere in the IslamInfonet transmission.
This is the essence of the attitude that flows through the veins of radical Islam in America, it aggressively seeks to extend the religion using a combination of legal threats, actual lawsuits, press releases, print and Internet hectoring and the much ballyhooed and transparent technique of "cross cultural religious outreach" and "faith sharing."
All of these are avenues of deception; a never-ending push to either subjugate or convert the "kufir."
It is this manner that Fox Broadcasting [see Out Foxed] has been intimidated by the Islamists, first forcing them to alter the plot line of their once promising hit show "24" which had the temerity to depict - gasp - radical Muslims as terrorists and most recently with the revelation by Cliff Kincaid of Saudi Billionaire Forces Fox To Alter French Muslim Riot Coverage
The Islamist's bully-boy tactics are omnipresent, for just a few examples, check - law enforcement "Moderate Friends of Terror" Conducting Sacramento Police Training Sessions , the military Who Is Guarding The Guardians? and the electronic media Which Side Are You On?
In this manner the radicals cow the prevailing society.
The statements and activities of these groups combined with their overall Islamo-fascist weltanschauung precludes any claim that these self-appointed Muslim leaders want to be part of America or Western society, at least as they currently exist. What they are actually engaged in is the promotion of Islamization under the guise of multiculturalism and pluralism. Initially, they hope to gain acceptance, however the eventual goal is the implementation of Sharia.
The Islamic Society of Southern California, the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA], the Muslim American Society [MAS], the Council on Islamic American Relations [CAIR] and the remainder of the organizations under investigation by Senator Grassley's Committee each in their own way either overtly or covertly swear fealty to the goal of becoming the socially and demographically dominant force in whatever society they find themselves a part.
CAIR's former Chairman Omar Ahmad made this clear:
"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."
Dr. Daniel Pipes has chronicled how the Islamists are forcing their religious customs into previously secular domains like public schools, offices, sports stadiums and law enforcement.
An example of their relentless push into the social and political arena, can be seen in the report of a recent CAIR banquet in California which featured LA sheriffs, politicians and religious and civic leaders who in return for giving CAIR undeserved legitimacy - simply by attending the event - were themselves given awards and accolades by the group.
In furtherance of these officials' capitulation to the Islamists, local law enforcement has put together a "religious and culturally sensitive" training tape with which 1,500 deputy sheriffs have been indoctrinated. Compounding the affront, the videotape is to go out to other law enforcement agencies across the country - free of charge.
This apparent descent into dhimmitude by LA law enforcement has resulted in them being inculcated into the fold, acting as fifth columnists for this Saudi funded group - which has 4 members currently jailed, deported or awaiting sentencing on Federal terror related charges.
This is the point of disjunction; the mistaken belief that if these Islamist shock troops are not walking into America's classrooms, courts and media centers wearing bomb belts and brandishing AK 47s, then their ultimate goals are not the same as those who wage violent jihad.
Civilizations have crumbled upon less-mistaken assumptions.
©1999-2006 PipeLineNews, William A. Mayer & Beila Rabinowitz, all rights reserved.