Questions Raised About Ties Between Brookings Institution, Qatar’s Government

Recent revelations of significant financial ties between the Brookings Institution and Qatar’s government are raising new questions about the policy positions of the influential Washington think tank—including one top scholar’s writings about an al Qaeda-linked group, known as Ahrar al-Sham, that is funded by a terrorist financier linked to the Qatari royal family.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Qatar has pledged a $14.8 million, four-year donation to Brookings, making it the “single biggest foreign donor” to the think tank. That money will help finance Brookings’ Doha Center in Qatar and its project on U.S. relations with the Islamic world.

The director of the project, William McCants, also served from 2009 to 2011 as a senior adviser to the State Department on countering violent extremism. In January of this year—a month after the State Department said it was open to meeting with the Islamic Front rebel alliance in Syria, which reportedly never took place—McCants co-authored a Foreign Affairs piece in which he argued that President Barack Obama might want to hold off on designating one of the Front’s most important militias, Ahrar al-Sham, as a terrorist group.

McCants admitted that a leading figure and co-founder of the group, Abu Khalid al-Suri, recently “published a statement praising bin Laden and al Qaeda’s current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri.” Suri proved that “as has long been rumored, al Qaeda and Ahrar al-Sham are joined at the hip,” McCants wrote.

Still, McCants expressed concerns that labeling Ahrar al-Sham as a terrorist organization would hinder the transport of U.S. humanitarian aid throughout rebel-controlled regions of Syria. The Islamic Front, including Ahrar al-Sham, was also the “best hope in Syria for defeating” the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), he argued. The sub-headline of the article described Ahrar al-Sham as “an al Qaeda-linked group worth befriending.”

Additionally, he claimed that Hassan Abboud, another leader and co-founder of Ahrar al-Sham, “has never endorsed bin Laden’s vision of a global jihad.”

What McCants did not mention in the piece is that in December, the Treasury Department sanctioned a Qatar-based terrorist facilitator who gave nearly $600,000 to Suri—the co-founder of Ahrar al-Sham. Suri was al Qaeda’s representative in Syria, the department said. The Qatari terrorist financier who was sanctioned, Abd al-Rahman bin ‘Umayr al-Nu’aymi, advised the Qatari royal family and government-backed foundations in Qatar on charitable giving, the Washington Post reported.

McCants’ stance on not identifying the al Qaeda-linked Ahrar al-Sham as a terrorist organization raises potential conflict of interest concerns for Brookings.

David Nassar, vice president of communications for Brookings, said in an emailed statement that “no donor influenced the conclusions made by Dr. McCants and his two co-authors in the [Foreign Affairs] article.”

“Brookings has strict guidelines in place to ensure the independence of our scholars’ research and prevent donors from influencing our scholarly work,” he said. “William McCants and his coauthors (one of which is a former FBI agent who has nothing to do with Qatar or Brookings) did not flatly counsel the president against designating Ahrar al-Sham a terrorist organization or argue that the group did not pose a threat. The authors plainly saw Ahrar al-Sham as a long-term threat because of its association with al Qaeda.”

“As they say in the concluding paragraph: ‘None of this is to suggest that the United States should sit idly by and allow Ahrar al-Sham to grow unchecked. Its obvious sympathies to al Qaeda certainly augur ill for the future,’” Nassar added. “They urged the President to consider the need to deal with ISIS when deciding how to deal with Ahrar al-Sham.”

When asked by the Washington Free Beacon after a Bipartisan Policy Center event on Tuesday whether Qatar’s donations influenced his writings, McCants referred a reporter to Nassar’s statement but added, “Absolutely not.”

McCants acknowledged in a January interview with McClatchy that if the United States designated Ahrar al-Sham as a terrorist organization, it could “put the U.S. at odds with Qatar, Ahrar’s main state sponsor.”

Reports also raise doubts about McCants’ contention that Abboud, a top leader of Ahrar al-Sham who was killed earlier this month, did not subscribe to the global jihad ideology of al Qaeda. Abboud was a close confidant of Suri, the Ahrar al-Sham co-founder who had extensive relations with Osama bin Laden and was killed in February.

Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, wrote in the Huffington Post earlier this month that he had held “over two years of periodic discussions” with Abboud before his death. Abboud was a “conflicted academically minded individual” who veered between support for jihad and more moderate goals, Lister said.

“He was almost certainly a crucial barrier preventing young Syrian Ahrar al-Sham fighters from joining al Qaeda [Jabhat al-Nusra] or even ISIS,” Lister wrote about Abboud.

Abboud also gave an exclusive interview in December to Al Jazeera, the TV network owned by Qatar’s government.

The U.S. military announced this morning that Qatar had played a supporting role in last night’s strikes targeting ISIL in Syria, but unlike Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, it did not directly take part in the attacks.

U.S. officials have raised concerns for years about Qatar’s inability to crack down on terrorist financing from within its borders. A leaked State Department cable from 2007 noted that Qatar’s government gave its “tacit blessing” to a conference for Somali activists hosted by Nu’aymi, the terrorist sponsor who was “closely watched because of his hard-line tendencies.”

“The Qataris have a recent history of seeking mediation roles in regional conflicts [Palestine, Lebanon], usually on the side of the groups the U.S. opposes [Hamas, Hezbollah],” the cable said.

Martin Indyk, director of Brookings’ Foreign Policy Program, was criticized in his role as U.S. special envoy for the recent Israeli-Palestinian negotiations after he asked the Jewish state to make unilateral concessions. Indyk worked with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who openly drew the scorn of Israeli officials over the summer by meeting with Hamas’ allies Turkey and Qatar to resolve the Gaza conflict.

A 2009 leaked cable said Qatar had “adopted a largely passive approach to cooperating with the U.S. against terrorist financing” and added that its “overall level of [counterterrorism] cooperation with the U.S. is considered the worst in the region.”

More recent reports have been just as critical of Qatar. The State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism for 2013 said Qatari terrorist financiers remained a “significant terrorist financing risk and may have supported terrorist groups in countries such as Syria.”

David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, also blasted the “permissive terrorist financing environment” of Qatar in a March speech.

“The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL], the group formerly known as al Qaeda in Iraq [AQI],” he said.

LET THE INVESTIGATIONS BETWEEN QATAR, THE US STATE DEPT, AND THE CLINTONS BEGIN:

QATAR DONOR TO CLINTON NON-PROFIT : As Hollywood hotshots protest the Beverly Hills Hotel over its ownership by Brunei's sultan and his embrace of Sharia law, it turns out the Brunei government has financial connections to "The Clinton Foundation."

The tax-exempt, nonprofit Clinton foundation lists Brunei along with Kuwait, Oman and Qatar (new home of the Gitmo Five) as donors that gave between $1 million and $5 million through last year.

The Clinton foundation itself confirmed the 2002 Brunei donation: "The Clinton Foundation's impact would not be possible without the generous support of our donors," the foundation's website reads. "Their contributions have made a difference in the lives of tens of millions across the world." Read more at foxnews.com ...

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W/ a straight face, 2016 Hillary recently told Greta the Gitmo Five are NOT a problem to the US. BUT......due to her "concussion" (cackle) she completely forgot to mention the Qatar donation.

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Clintons raised $2-3 billion in two decades
The Hill ^ | July 2, 2014 | Alexandra Jaffe / FR Posted by Cincinatus' Wife

Bill and Hillary Clinton raised $2-3 billion in the two decades they’ve been prominent on the national stage, according to the WSJ.

The Journal tallied the Clintons’ speaking fees, fundraising for their foundation and the sums raised for Bill Clinton’s two presidential campaigns for the DNC while he was in office and for Hillary Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns.

Between $1.3-2 billion came from U.S. companies and industry sources, making up at least 75 percent of the sum — more than the 60 percent industry sources contributed to the two Bushes’ political operations.

The Journal reports that if Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, as expected, she could return such donors to the Democratic Party, a source of concern for Republican fundraisers as they gear up for what’s expected to be the most expensive presidential election in history.

Overall, the Clintons’ political operations raised $1.2 billion, their nonprofit "foundation" drew between $750 million and $1.7 billion and they made about $100 million in speaking fees. --SNIP--

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CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE
276 web pages of obscure programs
all of them vehicles to raise money
all of them salivating for payback w/ Hillary in the WH.

1271 Avenue of the Americas 42nd Floor
New York, NY 10020
212-348-8882

WEB SITE http://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative

LINK http://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-presidential-center

BACKSTORY Billy Boy Clinton was grinning like a simpering fool at the annual meeting of the tax-exempt "Clinton Global Initiative" foundation....even Obama was there hugging Billy like they were old pals.....all in the wake of the bombshell news that:

<><> the NYT exposd that the tax-exempt Clinton Global Initiative uses shady financing;

<><> the tax-exempt Clinton Global Initiative had employed an active Muzzie terrorist named Gehad el-Haddad (Gehad is Farsi for "jihad") Gehad also knows how the Muslim Brotherhood launders money to finance terrorism, using "tax-exempt foundations."

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THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONS / MUSLIM TERRORISM CONNECTION --- The recent story that a Muslim terrorist was working at the Clinton Foundation AND conducting terrorist activities at the same time, explains why the Clintons just remade themselves into the hallowed "Clinton Family Foundation."

NOTE The Clintons' shady foundation financing is unveiled in a recent NYT expose of Clinton corruption, greed, cronyism...with overtones of money laundering.

The Clintons bagged millions in kickbacks from the Red Chinese for Loral Space technology, paid for by American tax payers. There's the $350Million the Chinese government gave their "foundation" for "favors" Mr. Clinton performed for the Chinese (technology transfer), and you have quite a pile of illicit money.

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THE HARRY REID CONNECTION---There's also a Harry Reid connection to the tax-exempt "Clinton Global Initiative" one of the three Clinton foundations.

PUT ON YOUR TINFOIL HATS TO CONNECT THE DOTS:

(1) Harry Reid's son Rory is in business w/ the Chi/Coms on a multi-billion dollar solar energy project; Cliven Bundy and his land are standing in the way.

(2) Reports say Bill Clinton recently went to China to panhandle for his tax-exempt "Clinton Global Initiative" foundation.

(3) The "Clinton Global Initiative" (NOT KNOWN for giving out grants)---gave Harry Reid's granddaughter a grant for a Brooklyn, NY theatre she runs (what is a Brooklyn theatre's connection to "global initiatives?")

(4) A Nevada energy company also gave Reid's granddaughter's theatre group a grant.

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"Money laundering" comes to mind. Could the Chinese be financing the Reid's solar project through donations to the Clinton Foundations....which is then laundered to Reid's granddaughter?

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REFERENCE----HARRY REID IS LIVID THAT HIS GRAND-DAUGHTER HAS BEEN OUTED AS A RECIPIENT OF LAUNDERED CAMPAIGN CASH---Reid lashed out at reporters, saying, “My granddaughter has been the target of harassing phone calls, strangers tracking her down, knocking on her door and negative, unwanted attention on the Internet.” “This has gone too far and it needs to stop now,” Reid said. “I deeply regret any role I had in creating this situation but now, as a grandparent, I say enough is enough.”

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Besides the "jewelry company" financed by her grandfather, Ryan Elisabeth Reid runs the Sprat Theater Company, a small theater in Brooklyn, which is also coming under scrutiny. According to Sprat’s Theatre Company Web site, it has received grants/contributions from:

<><> the Clinton Global Initiative (connected to global terrorism via Muslim Brotherhood employee),
<><> two major Las Vegas foundations:
Caesar’s Foundation, and the NV Energy Foundation.

NOTE NV Energy Foundation---is a non-profit division of NV Energy (a public utility). The NV Energy utility is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company which took over in 2013....and is now owned by a Warren Buffet unit.

BTW, here's Harry w/ his grand-daughter....the one who got $31,000 in laundered campaign funds for her "jewelry company" and grants from Clinton and Nevada energy foundations.

Reid and granddaughter Ryan Elisabeth Reid.

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STATE DEPT HILLARY'S TAKE ON THE GITMO FIVE RELEASED TO QATAR (Qatar is a generous donor to the Clinton Foundation): “These five guys are not a threat to the United States,” says Hillary. “They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. "

It’s up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them. So I think we may be kind of missing the bigger picture here. We want to get an American home, whether they fell off the ship because they were drunk or they were pushed or they jumped, we try to rescue everybody.”

CLINTON, INC book review

Daniel Halper provides a meticulously researched account of the calculations, secret deals, and backstabbing that led to the Clintons’ return to political prominence, and to Hillary’s position as 2016 frontrunner.

The Bill and Hillary Clinton who left the White House in January 2001 almost seem like two different people from the ones the country now reveres. Back then they were a disgraced couple, weighed down by a decade of scandal, controversial pardons of financial supporters, and the pedestrian pilfering of furniture from the White House.

A dozen years later, as they prepare for a second White House run, the Clintons are in a completely different orbit. Not only have they gone from virtually penniless to multi-millionaires, they are arguably the two most popular politicians in America-respected and feared by Republicans and Democrats alike. Even their daughter Chelsea, raised in the White House as her father was impeached, is considering a go at politics. The Clintons will be around for some time to come.

Investigative reporter Daniel Halper of the conservative Weekly Standard uses a wealth of research and detailed interviews with friends, allies, and enemies of the Clintons to reveal the strategy they used and the deals they made to turn around their political fortunes-deals with their political allies, their political enemies, and even each other.

SOURCE http://clintonincbook.com/

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