Muslim council takes complaints to Bush (Grover Norquist Alert)

Washington Times ^ | February 21, 2003 | Ralph Z. Hallow

[Sabertooth]

The Muslim council posted this call for action on its Internet site, together with praise for Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who has worked with Islamic groups in behalf of the Republican Party (see below - ST).

[Ligeia]

And if these folks were as bad as Gaffney claims, why did they pass Secret Service background checks? Particularly in the case of Mr. Kahn, who was WORKING in the White House every day, and presumably would get a very thorough screening?

This is a good point. I'd like to the the scrutiny is better today than it was during the Clinton years.

[justshe]

Excellent synopsis of the events...as we know them to this point.

I shall add my voice to the " show me the proof" column.

[Mo1]

One can only hope. Would you support such an investigation? Do you feel it's warranted?

On the evidence that Gaffney is charging???

I am no expert but I thinking you need a bit more then what he has presented so far .. Does Mr. Gaffney have anyone solid evidence ?

[RnMomof7]

Grover seems a bit naive, to me. I heard him on John Gibson's show a couple of weeks ago and he was overly defensive about his relationships with certain Muslim groups.

Grover is often suspect to me...follow the money ..see where it leads

[Mo1]

Does Mr. Gaffney have anyone solid evidence ?

Oh heck .. should be .. Does Mr. Gaffney have any solid evidence ?

[Sabertooth]

And there also is NO evidence that the meeting the aide arranged - and what he was thanked for in the press release - had an effect on the policy the administration is pursuing.

The very point of such meetings is to influence and propmote Administration policy.

Here's some more on the American Muslim Council, from Daniel Pipes:

[The AMC;] 'Mainstream' Muslims?
by Daniel Pipes
New York Post
June 18, 2002

FBI directors don't make a habit of breaking bread with organizations their agents may soon be investigating, perhaps even closing. Robert S. Mueller III, however, is about to make precisely this blunder: On June 28, he is scheduled to deliver a lunch talk to the American Muslim Council.

Mueller accepted this invitation, his spokesman Bill Carter explains, because the FBI regards the AMC as "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States."

The AMC does indeed seek to convey a message of moderation. Its event this month, for example, is reassuringly titled "American Muslims: Part of America." AMC also boasts of having initiated "many of the historic events marking the entrance of Muslims into mainstream American culture and life."

Public relations, however, is not reality. The FBI may have missed the AMC's true nature because until just days ago its guidelines prohibited it from collecting general information on an organization of this sort. To help it catch up, then, here are five compelling reasons why Director Mueller should break his lunch date:

Apologetics for terrorism: The U.S. government years ago formally certified Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist groups; AMC sings their praises.

In 2000, Abdurahman Alamoudi, the group's longtime executive director, exhorted a rally outside the White House with "We are ALL supporters of Hamas. Allahu Akhbar! . . . I am also a supporter of Hezbollah." In January, Alamoudi participated - alongside leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda - in a Beirut conference whose communique called for a boycott of American products.

The American Muslim Council also has ties to other terrorists. For example, Jamal Barzinji, whose Virginia house and business were raided by federal authorities in an anti-terrorism investigation three months ago, is on the AMC board and will be on the podium at the forthcoming AMC conference.

In December 2000, AMC's Dallas chapter gave an award to Ghassan Dahduli. Eleven months later, he was deported from the United States on account of his connections to al Qaeda and Hamas.

In addition, Alamoudi has vehemently defended Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind sheikh now imprisoned for his role in New York-area terrorism. And AMC has both held press conferences supporting Sudan's National Islamic Front (a Department of State-designated terrorist group) and, in 1992, hosted the NIS's leader on a visit to the United States.

Helping fund-raise for terrorism: The Holy Land Foundation is one of the main American conduits of money to Hamas; not surprisingly, AMC has lavished praise on it, bestowing an award on it for a "strong global vision." When President Bush closed Holy Land after 9/11 for collecting money "used to support the Hamas terror organization," AMC responded by condemning the president's act as "particularly disturbing . . . unjust and counterproductive."

Run-ins with the law: AMC leaders have a long and colorful history of legal problems. Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown), a one-time president of AMC's executive board, has the nearly unique distinction of having been listed not just once but twice as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Oh, and today he is sitting out a life sentence without parole for murdering a policeman.

Other employees have less horrible but still troubled resumes. For example, AMC's current director, Eric Vickers, has been admonished, sanctioned or suspended by courts over a 10-year period due to his faulty practice of law.

Hostility to law enforcement: Even after 9/11, AMC's Web site linked to a document, "Know Your Rights" that advises "Don't Talk to the FBI." Indeed, AMC has fervently opposed successive administrations' efforts to stave off terrorism.

And Vickers personally has, to put it delicately, a strained relationship with law enforcement. In his youth, he admits, he was "against the cops." He remains hostile but expresses himself more elegantly today, for example, accusing Attorney General John Ashcroft of "using national security as a pretext" to engage in a pattern of ethnic and religious discrimination.

Hostility to the United States: Its apparent patriotism aside, AMC harbors an intense anti-Americanism. "Let us damn America," Sami Al-Arian, a featured speaker at recent AMC events, has declaimed.

Alamoudi, the longtime executive director, has dilated on the agony of living in a country he loathes: "I think if we are outside this country, we can say oh, Allah, destroy America, but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it. There is no way for Muslims to be violent in America, no way. We have other means to do it. You can be violent anywhere else but in America."

Far from being "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States," the AMC is among their most extreme. That explains why George W. Bush in 2000 returned a $1,000 donation from Alamoudi to his campaign.

Rather than endorse AMC by his presence, Robert Mueller should find other lunch companions next Friday. Then he should put the organization under surveillance, ascertain its funding sources, look over its books, and check its staff's visa status.
LINK

Again and again, the evidence points to an inevitable conclusion:

Grover Norquist and his Islamic Institute protege, Suhail Khan, are providing White House access to sympathizers and supporters of terrorism, such as the American Muslim Council.

[Howlin]

Good grief. How many different ways can this be posted?

[William McKinley]

I hadn't seen this, thanks.

What the heck is this guy playing the race card for?

[lucysmom]

Grover seems a bit naive, to me. I heard him on John Gibson's show a couple of weeks ago and he was overly defensive about his relationships with certain Muslim groups.

Norquist seems anything but naive to me. IMHO it would be wise to pay special attention to what he doesn't say.

[Torie]

If Norquist has not written a piece that responds to all this stuff out there from soup to nuts, then he is close to being an inert object. He certainly should. Perhaps he has, and it just hasn't hit FR. At the moment I will withhold judgment because to me Norquist is something of an riddle within a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He needs to put his cards on the table soon.

[Sabertooth]

If Norquist has not written a piece that responds to all this stuff out there from soup to nuts, then he is close to being an inert object. He certainly should. Perhaps he has, and it just hasn't hit FR. At the moment I will withhold judgment because to me Norquist is something of an riddle within a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He needs to put his cards on the table soon.

Agreed. However, I tend to think Norquist has already played his (r)Ace card.

[Jael]

bump

[GirlShortstop]

 

Eye-opening.

Thanks TLB & Saber for the informative posts.

[Luis Gonzalez]

If these groups are as bad as you paint them to be, why are they still operating freely in the US?

Could it be that regardless of how distasteful the opinion, this is still a country where people are free to support, and speak out in favor of misguided causes?

You are conducting a trail based on association when the groups that Norquist associated with have been charged with no crimes (thus far), and the one individual who HAS been charged, was charged yesterday.

Yet, at the time of the meeting between Bush and Al Arian, he was charged with nothing.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"The Islamic Institute, which Norquist co-founded and houses in his Americans for Tax Reform office, received seed money from an avowed supporter of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that killed 241 US Marines in a 1983 suicide bomb attack."

I love crap like this.

Go over the donor's list with a fine-tooth comb until you find one entry with a bit of scandal, real or imagined.

[Luis Gonzalez]

There are posters in this forum whose agenda is becoming quite clear.

Thay call themselves "conservatives" and continually work at chipping away at the level of support for the current administration.

They do this by finding complicated issues, such as immigration, and continually hammering away at the issue, and the president.

I asked myself why they would do this, surely weakening the base of support for the GOP will not lead to a resolution of the issues they all seem to hold near and dear to their hearts, but rather have the exact and perfect effect by easing the way for a Democratic candidate to take the White House.

That's when I finally understood them, and their agenda.

[Pokey78]

They need to settle it like men. Tire irons at 10 paces and let Tancredo oversee it.

[bonfire]

howlin has been suspended along with Jael. I don't understand what's happening here.... I wish someone would explain.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Jael likes to come on to threads and start flame wars...no problem there, I do it myself once in a while, but she likes to push the abuse button once the war is in full bloom.

[justshe]

"...and start flame wars...snip..... but she likes to push the abuse button once the war is in full bloom."

Bingo. And brags about it to boot.