Saudi Tendrils

The Bush Administration has been diligent in conveying its friendliness toward Muslims and for this the president is to be commended. It would be both morally and strategically wrong to suggest that the war on terror is a war against all Muslims. But in seeking out American Muslims to praise and embrace, the president has been led into a hornet's nest because the most conspicuous Muslim American organizations - though not necessarily the most representative -- have intimate ties to Saudi money and are often only one step away from terrorists and their supporters.

Questionable groups have obtained access to the White House, the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons, and other government agencies. They've had their pictures taken with George Bush have in turn been able to parlay these into enhanced stature within the Muslim community. Some of these groups have enjoyed the patronage of a key conservative activist with strong ties to the White House. Grover Norquist has facilitated meetings with the President, cabinet secretaries, and agency heads.

A few days after 9/11, President Bush visited Washington DC's Islamic Center to meet with 15 "leaders" of the American Muslim community. The National Journal cited Norquist as the facilitator of the event. Days later it was learned that many of those who shared the stage with the president that day and attended White House meetings were actually closely allied with radical Islam. As The New Republic's Franklin Foer reported, the president of the American Muslim Council, who sat to President Bush's left, had called members of Hamas "freedom fighters." Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, pointed the finger of blame for the September 11 attacks on Israel. Another attendee had declared before a crowd chanting pro-Hezbollah slogans that "America has to learn if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come."

These groups are part of an interlocking network of Saudi-financed and directed agitation and religious proselytizing. Starting in the 1960s and accelerating as petrodollars swelled their wallets in the 1970s, the Saudis have been financing the expansion of their brand of radical Islam, Wahhabism, throughout the world. They now spend an estimated $2.7 billion annually on what has come to be called the Wahhabi lobby. An estimated 70 percent of the 1200 mosques in the United States were built with Saudi money and are led by Saudi-influenced clerics. The same is true with fraternal organizations, student groups, and political entities. Norquist's Islamic Institute received its seed money from the Saudis.

Ok, what about Sharia'h? Sharia'h requires Muslims to abide by Sharia'h. Sharia'h now contains the international Fatwah declaring Jihad against the United States. The mosques preach and support the same war and hate talk:

Shaykh Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays delivers the sermon. ...

Concluding, he prays to God: "O God, give power to Islam and
Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels, destroy Islam's enemies, and protect the Islamic countries." He goes on: "O God, support our mujahidin bothers in Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya and destroy the aggressor Jews and the tyrannical Zionists, for they are within your power."

Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi delivers the sermon...

Turning to politics, the imam says: "The sons of monkeys and the grandsons of pigs are committing aggression against the Palestinian people....

Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, support those supporting Islam. O God, support the mujahidin in Palestine and elsewhere. O God, help them score victory over their enemy. O God, destroy the Zionist aggressors and the unjust Americans and their supporters."

Saykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi delivers the sermon. ...

The imam then urges Qataris to abide by the law issued by the State of Qatar banning smoking at public places, schools, universities, and elsewhere. He also calls on Muslims to send the price they pay for cigarettes to the Palestinians and "to boycott Zionist and US goods,"
because "the battle is becoming fiercer."
...
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, give us victory over your enemies, the enemies of Islam. O God, protect us from their evils, weaken them, wipe them out, destroy their power, and prevent them from committing aggression against your servants. O God, destroy the aggressor,
treacherous Jews. O God, destroy the aggressor Americans. O God, destroy the fanatic pagans. O God, destroy the tyrannical Crusaders."

If there is really a difference between an extreme and non extreme Muslim, I would like to know. AND, how does one know for sure? It seems very obvious to me that the USA is a recognized enemy of the Islamic Faith. I personally have read 3 translations of the Qur'an. The hate I see preached in mosques and the sharia'hs that are written are consistant with each translation I've read.

So please, is there a difference I'm not aware of?

The names of the Saudi fronts are benign but a cursory examination of the leaders reveals their radicalism. Eric Vickers, executive director of the American Muslim Council, has refused to denounce any terror group practicing suicide bombing in the Middle East and has even declined to denounce Al Qaeda, calling it a "resistance movement." The AMC has vigorously opposed both Clinton and Bush Administration anti-terror policies, and encouraged visitors to its website "Don't Talk to the FBI." Yet FBI Director Robert Mueller gave a luncheon address to the AMC last June. And in January 2003 Vickers was invited to attend a White House briefing on Immigration and Naturalization Service policies.

Seems like a real obvious point for Bush to make: we have obstacles right here in the US.

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