Some important background info on the GOP's ties to terror-financing

[ftr23532]

This is just a reminder that GOP terror donor scandal is a great opportunity to remind folks about a much larger scandal involving Grover Norquist and Jack Abramoff’s colleague David Safavian directing a Saudi-financed GOP Get out the Vote effort for the American Muslim in the 2000 election with members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the grand-daddy of all Sunni Islamist militant groups, the Muslim Brotherhood. This scandal doesn’t simply highlight the duplicitous nature of the people running GWOT, but it’s also reflective of a real split within the GOP between the hard-right Likudnik-types (bomb! bomb! bomb!), and those that want us to ally with the Muslim Brotherhood and other hard-Right Islamists across the Middle East. Bringing this older scandal up within the context of this new, unfolding GOP terror-financier scandal might help further that schism and weaken the warmongers.

To get acquainted with what we’re talking about here, let’s take a look at an http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/11/news_pf/Floridian/Friends_in_high_place.shtml">excellent 2003 St. Petersburg Times article:

Friends in high places
Sami Al-Arian isn't the only prominent Muslim leader who posed for chummy pictures with President Bush. Many conservative Republicans are uneasy at the way GOP power broker Grover Norquist curries support from the Muslim community.
By MARY JACOBY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 11, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The rumpled, balding figure was spotted darting into the offices of Republican power broker Grover Norquist last July. When Sami Al-Arian emerged more than two hours later, someone was waiting for him.
Conservative activist Frank Gaffney, whose think tank on national security issues has offices on the same floor, was eager to confirm a tip that the suspected Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative was next door.
…
As part of Norquist's well publicized strategy to mine the Muslim community for GOP votes, Al-Arian had campaigned for Bush in 2000, posed for a photo with the candidate at Plant City's Strawberry Festival and boasted publicly that Muslims in Florida may have tipped the close presidential election to Bush.
Now, Al-Arian was visiting the Islamic Institute, a Muslim outreach group co-founded by Norquist and housed within his office suite.
…

Norquist and Saffuri founded the Islamic Institute in 1999 with seed money from Qatar, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern sources. Among the contributors, records show, was Saffuri's former boss, a Muslim charity director and founder of the American Muslim Council, Abdurahman Alamoudi.
The records show Alamoudi gave at least $35,000 to the institute, although Alamoudi said in a written statement he did "not recollect having been quite that generous."
The Safa Trust donated at least $35,000, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought gave $11,000, the records show.
Last March, federal authorities raided those groups and others in Operation Greenquest, a major assault on suspected terrorist financial networks.
…

Being a Norquist outfit, it’s not surprising that the full name of the Islamic Institute is the http://www.islamicinstitute.org/">Islamic Free Market Institute (the Muslim Brotherhood is generally pro-free markets, making it that much more attractive to Western interests). And given Norquist’s old ties to Jack Abramoff, it’s not surprising that Abramoff’s buddy, David Safavian, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501406.html] was also a co-founder] of the Islamic Institute (he’s was later http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1006/102706m1.htm">sentenced to prison over his behavior as the Federal government’s procurement chief). And while the Islamic Institute may have received some money from the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Safa Trust (formerly known as the SAAR network), their ties go far deeper than a some donations, and are, in fact, beachheads for the far-Right Islamist/Wahhabist Muslim Brotherhood and its Saudi and Gulf monarchy backers. In addition to being long-time US allies, the Muslim Brotherhood and the House of Saud are aggressive promoters Wahhabism and have long-standing and ongoing ties to terror financing. [br />
Sami Al-Arian was later sentenced to 18 months in prison in a http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060417/BREAKING/60417007]plea bargain where he confessed to being a PIJ operative. Somewhat reminiscent to a day of testimony where he http://uttm.com/stories/2000/08/29/national/main229044.shtml">plead the Fifth Amendment ninety-nine times regarding his involvement with the PIJ in a related trial, al-Arian recently http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301205.html">has refused to testify against the International Institute of Islamic Thought, arguing both that it would go against his plea bargain, and that his life would be in danger if he did testify. He appears to be http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070217/NEWS/702170359/-1/State">carrying out a hunger strike at the moment. [br />
Interestingly, the IIIT was co-founded by a fellow named Jamal Barzinji. Barzinji also set up Nada International, named for Youssef Nada, a key figure in the http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/12/MN192483.DTL">far-Right-infested al-Taqwa network. And the al-Taqwa network is a major component of the Muslim Brotherhood’s http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.102/pub_detail.asp">international financial network. Another major component, the Saudi-royalty-backed DMI, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x107555">recently came under investigation.

In addition to running the Islamic Free-market Institute, Grover and David Safavian http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Beyond_Abramoff_Gambling_lobbyist_joined_forces_with_antigambling_congressman_derailed_gambling_0901.html ">co-founded the Janus-Merritt lobbying firm. One of their clients was Abdurahman Alamoudi, who http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1023/p02s01-woam.htm ">used to run the military’s muslim chaplain program, before he was http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36718-2004Oct15.html?nav=rss_nation"> sentenced to 23 years for plotting to assassinated the then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah King of Saudi Arabia in a bizarre plot with Libya that was http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28178-2005Mar11?language=printer ">designed to look like an al-Qaeda attack (Alamoudi apparently bites the hand that feeds him). In 2001, Janus-Merritt http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/21/MNGRSER31B1.DTL">changed their records to indicate that their lobbying client was not Alamoudi, but instead Jamal Barzinji. This was a year before Barzinji was named in a search warrant for the Operation Greenquest terror-financing investigation.

While we've seen some of these figures go to prison, the Operation Greenquest investigation http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3068377/">died a bureaucratic death after getting folded in the Department of Homeland Security, leaving much of this stuff largely unresolved. These unresolved questions include http://wbztv.com/iteam/local_story_343145212.html">questions about the investigation into P-tech, a software firm with
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1579595,00.asp">hired to conduct "risk assessment" for government agencies included the FBI, the Department of Energy, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Navy, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. House of Representatives, the White House, and that's just where the list beings. P-tech was heavily financed by accused al-Qaeda financier Yassin al-Qadi (who was also subject to an investigation in the 90's http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/a-vulgar-betrayal/1402/">that led to an FBI whistle blower coming forward), and Yaqcub Mirza, one of the figures http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A52054-2002Oct6¬Found=true">that set up many of the SAAR network entities targeted in the Operation Greenquest raids. Yacqub Mirza is also a figure http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x136099">that may still have business ties to a company involved in developing US weapons systems.

And this is all just the tip of the iceberg of a Muslim Brotherhood network that has quite close to both key point-men in the GOP’s own far-Right agenda and terror-financing. So while the GOP/Alishtari terror-financing story is quite interesting, we have to keep in mind that this story is an opportunity to bring up the much bigger story of the the GOP’s profoundly disturbing ties to the financiers of terror.

[nam78_two]

1. ...

:kick:
Hi ftr :hi:

[ftr23532]

2. hi nam :-)

how ya doing? :bounce:

[nam78_two]

3. Glad to see you posting in GD

You have a lot of interesting stuff to share :bounce: :bounce:.

[ftr23532]

5. If by "interesting stuff" you mean typos, I agree :-)

Just found another one after the editing period. The sentence:
"Sami Al-Arian was later sentenced to 18 months in prison in a plead the Fifth Amendment ninety-nine times regarding his involvement with the PIJ in a related trial,"
should say:
"Sami Al-Arian was later sentenced to 18 months in prison in a http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060417/BREAKING/60417007">plea bargain where he confessed to being a PIJ operative. Somewhat reminiscent to a day of testimony where he http://uttm.com/stories/2000/08/29/national/main229044.shtml">plead the Fifth Amendment ninety-nine times regarding his involvement with the PIJ in a related trial,..."
:dunce:

[Richard Steele]

4. recommended.

[ftr23532]

6. Much appreciated

:hi:

[Richard Steele]

7. Howzabout a KICK for the mid-morning crowd?

[w8liftinglady]

8. Damn...great post..just fuels my anger more

[ftr23532]

13. Here's some more info that should throw some fuel on the fire

This is a story from http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/12.17C.Saudi.Friends.htm">the Boston Globe in Dec 2001:

The White House connection: Saudi 'agents' close Bush friends
by Maggie Mulvihill, Jonathan Wells and Jack Meyers

Boston Globe

Tuesday, December 11, 2001

A powerful Washington, D.C., law firm with unusually close ties to the White House has earned hefty fees representing controversial Saudi billionaires as well as a Texas-based Islamic charity fingered last week as a terrorist front.

The influential law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld has represented three wealthy Saudi businessmen - Khalid bin Mahfouz, Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi and Salah Idris - who have been scrutinized by U.S. authorities for possible involvement in financing Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.

In addition, Akin, Gump currently represents the largest Islamic charity in the United States, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richmond, Texas.

Holy Land's assets were frozen by the Treasury Department last week as government investigators probe its ties to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group blamed for suicide attacks against Israelis.

Partners at Akin, Gump include one of President Bush's closest Texas friends, James C. Langdon, and George R. Salem, a Bush fund-raiser who chaired his 2000 campaign's outreach to Arab-Americans.
...

Salem was the fellow in charge of Bush's Muslim outreach campaign in 2000 that involved all this network (that Craig Unger article in Salon http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/03/15/unger_3/index.html?pn=2">has more on that)

Khalid bin Mahfouz is also tied in with the BCCI criminal bank, as well as Harken Energy.
Bin Mahfouz's agents in the US was Bush's buddy from the Texas Air National Guard, James R. Bath (who was also an agent for the bin Ladens). There's more on him in this http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath/index_np.html">other Salon article by Craig Unger.

Enjoy! :-)

[ftr23532]

9. Here's a Craig Unger article in Salon on how this network tied into the 2000 election

The Bush campaign's use of these guys was important for both the Michigan and Florida vote. And in light of all the secrecy we've seen from these guys, it's noteworthy that his big campaigning angle in the American Muslim community was to be strongly against the use of secret evidence. Here's the http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/03/15/unger_3/index.html?pn=1">article.

[blm]

12. It pre-dates 2000. BCCI was all about the financial networks of terrorists and the

armsdealing and drugrunning that supported their activities that was protected by official governments.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x252817

[ftr23532]

14. excellent point!

No history this network is complete without a thorough look at the BCCI milieu!

[Morgana LaFey]

10. Most excellent research -- and welcome to DU!

Belatedly, but wholeheartedly.

[ftr23532]

11. Thanks!

That means a lot to hear :bounce:

[nam78_two]

15. ...

:kick:

[ftr23532]

17. Thanks Nam!

:pals:

[Reterr]

16. Interesting..I knew the GOP was the pro-terror/terrorist part

But, I didn't reaalise the ties were this direct :wow:

Thanks for posting..Thats some food for thought there...

[ftr23532]

18. yeah, back in the 90's it would have been amazing to see this stuff ignore, but today...

...it's just surreal. In many respects, the Muslim Brotherhood is the GOP of Sunni Islamists: They're a Janus-faced group that generally puts forth a happy, pro-democratic, fairly moderate, sensible front to the world at large. It's an agenda that many of its political supporters likely support, especially because they don't have many genuinely moderate political options in their countries. And the Muslim Brotherhood has very real charitable wings that provide vital aide to impoverished regions, which is part of what complicates the whole situation.

But like our own political power-structure, that moderate front hides a very far-Right, fundamentalist reactionary ideology, and a hierarchy supported by machiavellian oligarchs (ie. Gulf royalty, et al). And while it has sworn off violence for decades, Muslim Brotherhood members show up all over the place on the terror money and logistical trail, often side by side the more violent spinter groups that they supposedly renounced, including al-Qaeda. And combined with its long-standing relationship with intelligence agencies (they were a huge component of the foreign fighters in the Afghan support effort in the 80's), and their increasing political fortunes across the Middle East (including in http://robertdreyfuss.com/blog/2006/01/the_neocon_brotherhood.html">Iraq) the the Muslim Brotherhood is an incredibly important group to look at when attempting to make sense of the madness that's going on in our world these days.

Once again, this whole mess is just surreal.