Posted on 03/19/2003 12:14:02 AM PST by JohnHuang2
In the run-up to this war, Not In Our Name became one of the major peace organizers and coalitions in the United States. Not In Our Name has spared no cost purchasing ads in newspapers around the world to publish its anti-American Statement of Conscience. Its signatories include scores of Hate America bigwigs, like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Gloria Steinem and Barbara Kingsolver. Hollywood icons (and many more has-beens) like Danny Glover, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daly, Martin Sheen and Ed Harris have also signed or endorsed the statement. NION organizes marches and other protest activities in its support.
However, Not In Our Name is deeper than the latest academic babblers and limosuine liberals. NION professes peace, yet it is involved - directly as well as indirectly - with terrorist organizations and anti-American propaganda campaigns headed by fanatical Communist and Muslim groups. NION has cemented alliances with bona fide radical organizations like the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom and the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Not In Our Name: What is IFCO?
Not In Our Name (NION) requests donations on its website, yet on this site donors are asked to make checks payable to NION/IFCO. IFCO is the acronym for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization. NION states that the Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is our fiscal sponsor. Fiscal sponsorship by IFCO means Not In Our Name receives donations that are tax deductible because of IFCOs 501c(3) (charitable, federal tax-exempt) status. IFCO charges a fee for this service.
Why is NION not a 501c(3)?
Donations to NION/IFCO are then mailed to the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which is located at 339 Lafayette Street in New York City. The address is the same as NIONs. The intimate nature of a financial partnership shows how closely aligned these two organizations are. And that's scary, because the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom has been associated with Communist causes since its inception. Molly Klopot of the WILPF is a NION organizer. The WILPF is related to IFCO as well as NION. Marilyn Clement, who is the Executive Director of WIPLF, is the Treasurer of IFCO.
The building where the offices of NION, the WILPF and the War Resisters League are located is known as the Peace Pentagon, and is owned by the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute. A.J. Muste was a peace advocate who compiled frequent flier miles visiting Hanoi during the Vietnam War era. The Muste Foundation funds groups like the War Resisters League, School of the Americas Watch, Nicaragua Solidarity Network, International Peace bureau, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Coalition for Human Rights of Immigrants, and WILPF.
NION: Castro and Islamist Terror
The Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization is a pro-Castro proxy group. Members of their staff such as Lucius Walker (Executive Director), Marilyn Clement (Treasurer) and Ellen Bernstein (Grants Administrator) are all Castrophiles In Havana in November 2000, Lucius Walker proclaimed, Long live the creative example of the Cuban Revolution! Long live the wisdom and heartfelt concern for the poor of the world by Fidel Castro!" This was a follow-up to his pro-Castro speech in 1996, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. Marilyn Clement is a co-organizer of the WILPFs Sister-to-Sister Cuba project. The WILPF also issued a condemnation of Clintons Cuba policy in 1998. Bernstein was also quoted as saying she believes Cuba is the paradigm of democracy.
IFCO does not limit its activity to pro-Castro factions, though. Its management maintains relationships with extremist Islamist groups as well. Walker travels frequently to Iraq, usually alongside Ramsey Clark. IFCO is a member of ANSWER Steering Committee.) Bernstein is a member of the American Muslim Councils campaign against the use of secret evidence. Clement met with Palestinians during a WILPF solidarity conference in May 2002. IFCO is also a fiscal sponsor of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF). The co-founder of NCPPF was the recently indicted terrorist financier Sami Al-Arian.
However, NIONs links with Muslim terrorists are not just indirect, through IFCO. NION invited both Sami Al-Arian and Lynne Stewart to address their October 6, 2002 rally in Central Park. Stewart was indicted for passing messages on behalf of her terrorist client Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.
One of the members of NIONs Advisory Board, Abdeen Jabara, is a member of the legal advisory board for the American Muslim Council. He is a past president of the Arab-American Ant-Discrimination Committee, a board member of William Kunstler's Center for Constitutional Rights, and a co-counsel with Lynne Stewart for Sheik Rahman, the terrorist convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The American Muslim Council is one of the current members of Al-Arians NCPPF (the same group to which IFCOs Bernstein belongs). Leaders of the AMC have been quoted as praising Hamas and Hezbollah. Jabaras AMC advisory board colleagues include Fakhri Al-Barzinji. Al-Barzinji is involved in Mar-Jac Poultry, which was raided last year by the FBI for links to Sami Al-Arian.
Bashir Ahmad is another of Jabaras AMC advisory board colleagues. Ahmad is a member of the SAMAD Group (a financial operation) and Justice Taqi Usmani works for the SAMAD Group. Taqi Usmani is a suspected major player in the Muslim Brotherhood International money laundering network of Dallah Al-Baraka, Al-Taqwa, Al-Rahji Investment and Development Corp. Taqi Usmani operates the Al-Balagh.net, which has a online bookstore in California selling books written by individuals who are on the U.S. and UN terrorist lists.
Jabara is a member of the legal advisory board for the Council for Palestinian Restitution and Repatriation (CPRR) as well. The non-profit CPRR exists to provide legal assistance to Palestinian refugees and their heirs and to educate the public about the legitimate rights of Palestinians.
Two members of the CPRR, Ishaq Farhan and Abdulateef Arabiyat, are members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF)-an Islamist party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
Abdeen Jabara also works closely with another IFCO project called the Coalition Against the "Counter Terror" Act. He distributes its flyers and has appeared in a video for the group, which may be purchased for $15 a copy - from IFCO.
Apparently someone is buying. According to a New York Post report, the most recent IRS records available for IFCO, from the year 2000, show that the foundation took in $1,119,564 in contributions. A Not In Our Name statement report that they have taken in more than $400,000 in recent months for the purpose of publishing their statement.
NION and Narco-terrorism
As disturbing as NIONs relationships with IFCO and Muslim organizations are, just as disturbing is its relationship to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Not In Our Names administration cadre comes from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), through such luminaries as C. Clark Kissinger and Mary Lou Greenberg, both of whom are Directors of NION and members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Clark Kissinger, co-director of NION and the RCP, was quoted as saying that when the RCP took over, it would be necessary to shoot everyone who didn't agree with them."
The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist group that practices Lenins vanguard philosophy, which states that a vanguard of intellectuals is needed to lead the proletariat in establishing a workers utopia. It fosters the worldwide revolution through its membership in the Revolutionary International Movement (RIM). It is through this affiliation that the RCP is related to two organizations listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations; the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM's founders. The Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the Nepal Communist Party.
The RIM via its publication A WORLD TO WIN declared its belief in the Palestinian intifada. The February 28, 2002, edition stated the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement once again reaffirms its unwavering support and calls on all revolutionary and progressive people to step up their actions on (the Palestinians') behalf." Another edition advised Palestinians to link up with the parties and organizations that make up the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. With the weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and its military strategy, peoples war, the Palestinian peoples fight will surely become more integral part of the world revolution, hastening the day when imperialism, Zionism meet their doom."
These Maoist terrorist organizations are financing their activities by trafficking in controlled substances. According to December 13, 2000, testimony by Frank Cilluffo, to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is heavily involved in the European drug trade, especially in Germany and France. French law enforcement estimates that the PKK smuggles 80 percent of the heroin in Paris. Cilluffo is Deputy Director, Global Organized Crime Program Counterterrorism Task Force at Washington, D.C.'s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
This same testimony reveals the Nepal Communist Party, turned to drug trafficking for funding. Nepal serves as a hub for hashish trafficking in Asia. The CIA Fact Book lists Nepal as a major source for heroin from Southeast Asia to the West.
The South Asia Terrorism Portal wrote of the Nepal Communist Party: The Maoists (Nepal) draw inspiration from the Revolutionary International Movement, among whose affiliate is the American Revolutionary Communist Party that provides them their ideological sustenance. Observers have noticed striking similarities in the policies and guerilla tactics adopted by the Maoists and those of the Shining Path of Peru . Maoist violence has already cost Nepal several hundred lives and destruction of property worth millions of rupees. In 1996, the year the insurgency commenced, 82 people were killed. This figure included insurgents, security forces, personnel and civilians. During the next year, total killings came down by half 38 people died. The following year, in 1998, after the Maoists intensified their program of violence, 408 people were killed - nearly an elevenfold increase in the number of deaths over the previous year. Ever since, the death toll has been on the rise. By late 2000 the death toll has risen to over 2,100. As of August 2002, nearly 5,000 lives have been lost to the insurgency
Shining Path sent congratulations to RIM for its first anniversary in May of 1985. The Central Committee wrote, ...the people's war in our country continues to blaze defiantly, expanding, spreading its roots and preparing for newer and higher tasks, guided always by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, battling for the emancipation of our people for the purpose of and at the service of the world revolution. Thus we are contributing and will contribute to the tasks of the RIM, more and more willing and able to aid in every possible way our glorious common cause: the emancipation of the proletariat and communism prevailing though out the earth.
"Comrades, the Communist Party of Peru is part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and feels honored to be so, honored to serve in such a far-reaching and historic vanguard battle, as well as to have the comrades in arms found in our Movement's ranks; and furthermore, the Party feels fortified and augmented by the repeated expressions of support, of proletarian internationalism, which it receives from the very outstanding fraternal communist parties and organizations, and very especially from the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement to which we extend our revolutionary gratitude for its constant encouragement and support. All this, comrades, increases our proletarian internationalist responsibility and our unshakeable commitment to the world revolution and its concrete form today, the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement."
NION: ANSWERs Needed
Is NIONs financial relationship with IFCO some innocuous charitable funding arrangement? Is it a coincidence that NION donations are funneled through an organization with links to communist and pro-Palestinian groups? Is it a coincidence that NIONs donations are mailed to an organization that has links with Castro? Is it a coincidence that NION is operated by an organization with links to Communist terrorists? And do the long list of entertainment industry notables who have signed onto its "Statement of Conscience" aware of NIONs links? If not, why not?
The government needs to explain some things, as well. Have the appropriate authorities examined these affiliations? All the data presented in this article is culled from public data. NIONs radical connections have been the subject of articles in publications as politically diverse as Mother Jones and National Review. If the government is reluctant to investigate NION because of political concerns, then it has no right to ask military personnel to sacrifice their lives.
The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist group that practices Lenin's "vanguard" philosophy, which states that a vanguard of intellectuals is needed to lead the proletariat in establishing a worker's utopia. It fosters the worldwide revolution through its membership in the Revolutionary International Movement (RIM). It is through this affiliation that the RCP is related to two organizations listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations; the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM's founders. The Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the Nepal Communist Party.
Hillary Clinton and the Third Way By David Horowitz Hillary Clinton and the Radical Left -***If others could understand your truth, you would not think of yourself as a "vanguard." You would no longer inhabit the morally charmed world of an elite, whose members alone can see the light and whose mission is to lead the unenlightened towards it. If everybody could see the promised horizon and knew the path to reach it, the future would already have happened and there would be no need for the vanguard of the saints.***
Behind Al-Arian's facade (founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprise at USF a decade ago)***In 1995, after a suicide bombing operation carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad killed 21 Israeli soldiers, University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian wrote a fund-raising letter in which he "call(s) upon you to try to extend true support to the jihad effort in Palestine so that operations such as these can continue." Many of Al-Arian's past statements and associations have raised suspicions that he was involved with terrorist organizations based in the Middle East. However, the fund-raising letter signed by al-Arian, shown during the Oct. 28 telecast of NBC's Dateline, is direct evidence of his active support for terrorism.
As usual, Al-Arian dismissed the story as old news and impugned the integrity of his critics. The videotapes and letters speak for themselves. When Al-Arian is seen and heard saying "let us damn America" and calling Jews "monkeys and pigs," no one needs to rely on his critics to interpret his remarks. And when he puts his signature on a letter soliciting funds for terrorist operations, his involvement isn't subject to misunderstanding. ***
Who the Real Ogres Are - Under the Guise of Religion NCC, UMC, PASTORS FOR PEACE (Rev. Lucius Walker) ***Another one of the most militant, fanatic and violent "religious" and "humanitarian" organizations part of this network in the U.S. appearing to be working for Castro's tyranny are the "interreligious" group Pastors for Peace. These "pastors" as well as the NCC have received grants from the Arca Foundation, which according to scholar Irving Louis Horowitz is a "highly pro-Castro and partisan," grant-giving agency. From 1994 to1998, Arca awarded about $3 million for pro-Castro projects.***
Terrorists active in U.S. 'backyard': Latin America hotbed for both al-Qaida, Hezbollah***Both al-Qaida and Hezbollah are active in the common border area of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, according to an earlier statement of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in hearings before the Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, cited in a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The activities of the Irish Republican Army, Iran, Cuba and various international terrorist networks operating in Colombia may turn that Latin American nation into a "breeding ground for international terror equaled perhaps only by Afghanistan," according to the committee report.
Further to the south in Latin America, Hezbollah and the terrorist Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) are operating in the tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The suspected activities of these groups include counterfeiting U.S. currency and drug smuggling, with the area in which they function described as a "haven for Islamic extremists" by the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa Hutchinson, in testimony before the House International Relations Committee. "The situation in the tri-border area [of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil] highlights the ease with which terrorist organizations can infiltrate and assimilate in other countries and go relatively undetected for an extended period of time," Hutchinson stated.
The linkage among various terrorist groups and nations associated with support of terrorism in Latin America combines considerable financial resources and technological expertise. In addition to the vast oil wealth of Iran, the South American terrorist network can rely upon South American drug money to finance its activities. Colombia alone produces 90 percent of the cocaine and "at least" 70 percent of the heroin sold in the U.S., according to estimates of the House International Relations Committee.***
The Latin American Bloc: The Ignored Danger to Freedom***Other regular attendees are terrorist allies include: representatives of Nicaragua's Sandinistas; El Salvador's FMLN; Irish Republican Army; Basque ETA; and PFLP-GC.[xix]
The Latin American bloc is growing closer and closer together, while expanding allies outwards. The Bloc collectively is allied to Saddam Hussein (or was), Iran, Libya, China, Russia, India and South Africa. And perhaps even worse, the Bloc is tightening into a single community, almost like the Latin American version of the European Union.
With Venezuela and Brazil leading the efforts to oppose and counter the US-proposed Free Trade of the Americas agreement, the Latin American countries are calling for "full Latin American integration" to counter US economic dominance. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Chile all are participating in these talks. Brazil and Argentina are leading the effort to form a joint parliament, common currency and common policy towards international venues and organizations, to be reached by 2006, although a final agreement has not been reached. They hope for the Mercosur customs union to merge with the Andean Community, which would effectively swallow the current pro-American countries of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia into the bloc. Venezuela, a member of the Andean Community, is expected to lead the efforts on the Andean side.***
Terror Close to Home In Venezuela, a volatile leader befriends Mideast, Colombia (FARC) and Cuba *** The oil-rich but politically unstable nation of Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other terrorists, say senior U.S. military and intelligence officials. Bush administration aides see this as an unpredictably dangerous mix and are gathering more information about the intentions of a country that sits 1,000 miles south of Florida.
One thing that's clear is that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fast becoming America's newest nemesis, U.S. officials say. He has forged close ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro and has befriended some of America's other notorious enemies, traveling to Saddam's Iraq and Qadhafi's Libya. Now, after surviving an attempted coup and a nationwide petition demanding his recall, Chavez is flirting with terrorism, and Washington is watching with increasing alarm.
"We are not disinterested spectators," says Roger Noriega, the new assistant secretary of state for Latin America. "Any actions that undermine democratic order or threaten the security and well-being of the region are of legitimate concern to all of Venezuela's neighbors." U.S. officials are monitoring three sets of developments:
Middle Eastern terrorist groups are operating support cells in Venezuela and other locations in the Andean region. A two-month review by U.S. News, including interviews with dozens of U.S. and Latin American sources, confirms the terrorist activity. In particular, the magazine has learned that thousands of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Venezuela is supporting armed opposition groups from neighboring Colombia; these groups are on the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations and are also tied to drug trafficking. Maps obtained by U.S. News, as well as eyewitness accounts, pinpoint the location of training camps used by Colombian rebels, a top rebel leader, and Venezuelan armed groups.
Cubans are working inside Venezuela's paramilitary and intelligence apparatus. The coordination between Cuba and Venezuela is the latest sign that Venezuelan President Chavez is modeling his government on Castro's Cuba.
The Venezuelan government denies supporting Middle Eastern terrorist groups and says that no Cubans are operating inside its intelligence agencies. Venezuela has long denied providing aid to the Colombian guerrilla groups.
Venezuela is providing support--including identity documents--that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say U.S. officials. U.S. News has learned that Chavez's government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that play host to foreign terrorist organizations. An American official with firsthand knowledge of the ID scheme has seen computer spreadsheets with names of people organized by nationality. "The list easily totaled several thousand," the official says. "Colombians were the largest group; there were more than a thousand of them. It also included many from Middle Eastern `countries of interest' like Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon." The official adds: "It was shocking to see how extensive the list was." U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them and that some of these cedulas were subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States. U.S. officials say that the cedulas are also being used by Colombian subversives and by some Venezuelan officials to travel surreptitiously.
The suspicious links between Venezuela and Islamic radicalism are multiplying. American law enforcement and intelligence officials are exploring whether there is an al Qaeda connection--specifically, they want to know if a Venezuelan of Arab descent named Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah had ties to any of the September 11 hijackers. The United States deported Diab Fatah to Venezuela for immigration violations in March 2002. A U.S. intelligence official says that Diab Fatah is still a "person of interest" and that his family in Venezuela is "a well-known clan associated with extremist and illicit activity" in northern Venezuela. But when U.S. officials sought Diab Fatah for further questioning, they were told by Venezuelan officials that he was not in the country. Diab Fatah may also be tied to the Caracas mosque of Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz, which has caught investigators' attention. One of the mosque's officials, also a Venezuelan of Arab descent, was recently arrested in London for carrying a grenade on a Caracas-London flight. ***
fyi
fyi
Okay, not I'm getting really curious -- can't congress hold McCarthy-syle hearings and start calling these Hollywood (Carpet Baggers) on the carpet for subversive activities in a time of war? (oh, forgot -- we can't declare war against a "movement.")
That would be so enjoyable. I am sorry to admit...
Donations to NION/IFCO are then mailed to the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which is located at 339 Lafayette Street in New York City. The address is the same as NIONs. The intimate nature of a financial partnership shows how closely aligned these two organizations are. And that's scary, because the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom has been associated with Communist causes since its inception.
self-ping, 2003 topic.
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