Part 4:

An American Brotherhood

We just saw how Bank Al-Taqwa in the Bahamas, and the larger al-Taqwa network of financial institutions, were founded and directed by an even more interesting network of Muslim Brotherhood and far-Rightist figures. In this essay we’re going to take a look at the Brotherhood’s presence in the United States because the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi wealth are the dominant forces shaping Islam across the globe Islam, including in America. With their network of mosques, institutes, foundations, and plenty of Saudi financial support, the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudis have successfully gained influence over the dominant Islamic institutions within the United States, even though their all-encompassing fundamentalist visions of Islam are practiced by only a minority of the American Muslim population. Not only that, but they’ve done it quietly, largely hiding from mainstream American Muslims the profound influence the groups wield over US Islamic religious institutions and thought. So let’s take start our look at that infrastructure, with an excerpt from this excellent September 2004 piece in the Washington Post on the Muslim Brotherhood in America:

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In the 1950s, Brotherhood activists -- reeling from their suppression in Egypt, Iraq and Syria -- found a refuge in Saudi Arabia, newly awash in oil money. Thousands of Ikhwanis became teachers, lawyers and engineers there, staffing government agencies, establishing Saudi universities and banks, and rewriting curricula.

With royal family approval, Brotherhood activists also launched the largest Saudi charities, including the Muslim World League in 1963 and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in 1973. Funded by petro dollars, they became global missionaries spreading the Saudis' austere and rigid Wahhabi school of Islam, whose adherents at times describe all non-Wahhabis as infidels.

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The Muslim World League (MWL) is an important component of the Saudis global network of religious institutions and foundations seeking to promote fundamentalist Islamic practices in Muslim Communities across the globe as a counter to Nasser’s Arab Nationalism. Founded in Mecca and set up by the Saudi Monarchy and Muslim Brotherhood activists around 1962-63, the Muslim World League (also known as the “World Islamic League” or “Rabita”) is always directed by a Saudi (who enjoys diplomatic status), meets once a year, and chooses the executive council of 53 members representing the different countries it operates in. The council assigns annual objectives for the representatives that are focused on both spreading Islam in general and increasing control over the Islamic institutions in the individual countries, especially in non-Muslim countries(1).

Interestingly, the President and Treasurer of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) is Abdullah bin Laden, Osama’s brother. Another brother, Omar bin Laden, is also tied to WAMY. Both brothers were reportedly investigated by the FBI in the mid 90’s, an exception to a general policy of not actively keeping tabs on Saudi activities inside the US. Both brothers were also allowed to leave the country with a minimal investigation on the infamous Saudi flights in the wake of the 9/11 attacks(2).

Continuing…

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The missionary work morphed into armed struggle in Afghanistan, where in the 1980s Saudi-financed Brotherhood activists helped repel the Soviet invasion, with support from the CIA and Pakistan. As Islamic radicalism spread with the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan in 1989, many Ikhwanis laboring for the Saudis embraced worldwide jihad and were at al Qaeda's inception.

The Brotherhood began to fall out of favor with the Saudis in 1990, when the Ikhwan backed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait. The Saudis slowly cut off funding.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Saudi leaders began describing the transnational Brotherhood as the germ of al Qaeda while playing down the role of its government-backed clergy. Recently, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef repeatedly denounced the Brotherhood, saying it is guilty of "betrayal of pledges and ingratitude" and is "the source of all problems in the Islamic world."

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Oh my, so the Saudis slowly started to distance themselves from the Muslim Brotherhood in 1990, after the Saudi-financed Muslim Brotherhood Mujaheddeen helped repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And now the Saudis publicly declare the Muslim Brotherhood as “the source of all problems in the Islamic world”. Hmm…one has to wonder if is this actually the case or merely a public relations ploy? Well, as we’re going to see in Parts 8, 9, 12, and 13, yeah, it’s pretty much a PR ploy.

Continuing…

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Coming to America

In the 1960s, Brotherhood activists started arriving in the United States. Most embraced modernism and American culture, people who sympathize with them said. Many also ended a formal tie to the Cairo-based Ikhwan headquarters even as they hewed to Ikhwan principles. Among their main goals were carving out havens for Muslims, propagating Islam in America and backing Israel's destruction, said Ali Ahmed, a Saudi activist in Washington close to many Ikhwanis.

"In this country the Ikhwan is mostly not a formal membership organization but a set of ideas people subscribe to," Ahmed said. "A lot of Brotherhood people who came here became more moderate and interested in democracy, while others became more radical."

A U.S. official familiar with federal investigations of former Brotherhood members said some developed "a disciplined strategy, specific goals" to act on their plan to convert Americans, starting with U.S. military personnel, prison inmates and black people.

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So the Brotherhood wanted to infiltrate the military and prison systems, eh? As we’re going to see when we look at Abdurahman Alamoudi they can declare Mission Accomplished on both of those goals. Seriously.

Continuing…

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Many Brotherhood leaders advocate patience in promoting their goals. In a 1995 speech to an Islamic conference in Ohio, a top Brotherhood official, Youssef Qaradawi, said victory will come through dawah -- Islamic renewal and outreach -- according to a transcript provided by the Investigative Project, a Washington terrorism research group. "Conquest through dawah, that is what we hope for," said Qaradawi, an influential Qatari imam who pens some of the religious edicts justifying Hamas suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. "We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America, not through the sword but through dawah," said the imam, who has condemned the Sept. 11 attacks but is now barred from the United States.

In his speech, Qaradawi said the dawah would work through Islamic groups set up by Brotherhood supporters in this country. He praised supporters who were jailed by Arab governments in 1950s and then came to the United States to "fight the seculars and the Westernized" by founding this country's leading Islamic groups.

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Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, you’ll recall, was a shareholder in Bank Al-Taqwa. He also endorses suicide bombings, the killing of US civilians in Iraq, and recently issued a fatwa against statues depicting living things.

Continuing…

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He named the Muslim Students Association (MSA), which was founded in 1963. Twenty years later, the MSA -- using $21 million raised in part from Qaradawi, banker Nada and the emir of Qatar -- opened a headquarters complex built on former farmland in suburban Indianapolis. With 150 chapters, the MSA is one of the nation's largest college groups.

The MSA Web site said the group's essential task "was always dawah." Nowadays, Muslim activists say, its members represent all schools of Islam and political leanings -- many are moderates, while others express anti-U.S. views or support violence against Israelis.

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Note that it was al-Taqwa director Youssef Nada that helped financer the MSA headquarters. It’s all one big happy family, isn’t it?

And finishing our look at the Washington Post article…

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Some of the same Brotherhood people who started the MSA also launched the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) in 1971. The trust is a financing arm that holds title to hundreds of U.S. mosques and manages bank accounts for Muslim groups using Islamic principles.

In 1981, some of the same people launched the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which was also cited in Qaradawi's speech. It is an umbrella organization for Islamic groups that holds annual conventions drawing more than 25,000 people. Some U.S. officials praise its moderation, and its Islamic Horizons magazine covers such topics as Muslim Boy Scouts and Islamic investing principles.

People who helped set up the MSA, NAIT, ISNA and related groups say they are in no way anti-American -- they say they embrace American values while trying to strengthen their Muslim identities. They say their goal is not converting all Americans to Islam but constructing a vibrant Muslim community here.

The MSA, NAIT and ISNA did not respond to requests for comment. Officials from those organizations have said elsewhere they are not connected to foreign groups, such as the Brotherhood. But because the Brotherhood is a secret society, its precise links around the world are hard to determine, U.S. officials said.

In addition to the first generation of groups aimed at consolidating the U.S. Islamic community, a second generation arose to wield political and business clout.

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A Political Brotherhood…

Ok, we’re going to move on now and look at just how much of political clout the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi institutions have acquired. You just may be unpleasantly not surprised. Let’s turn, now, to an excellent March 2003 in the St. Petersburg Times:

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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.

Best known for his high-profile campaign for a "Star Wars" national missile defense system, Gaffney for months had been quietly pursuing another project: trying to convince the Bush administration to more closely scrutinize the Muslim activists whom Norquist was bringing into the president's orbit.

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 cofounded by Norquist and housed within his office suite.

And so Gaffney found a reason to be in the hallway when Islamic Institute chairman Khaled Saffuri walked a man Gaffney recognized as Al-Arian to the elevator. Saffuri said goodbye, then headed for the bathroom.

Gaffney followed. Taking a place at the next urinal, he said, "So, Khaled, was that Sami Al-Arian getting on the elevator?"

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A brief overview of the Sami Al-Arian trial:

Sami Al-Arian, a University of South Florida (USF) Computer Science professor, was at the center of one of the highest profile post-9/11 terrorist investigations. High profile and controversial. The charges against Al-Arian essentially come down to the assertion that he was secretly using his thinktank, World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), along with USF facilities to run a terrorist cell inside the United States that both funneled charitable contributions to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and sought to work with Hamas. Both the PIJ and Hamas are Muslim Brotherhood offshoots, and hold the Muslim Brotherhood’s long-terms goals of creating an Islamic State comprising the territories of Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian occupied territories. Hamas comprises of militant, charitable, and political wings (with the political wing sweeping Palestinian elections in early 2006), while the smaller and more radical PIJ is solely focused on military attacks, most notably large-scale waves of suicide bombings.

Much of the controversy over Al-Arian’s indictment came down to the notions that it is based on his activities in the early 90s, that it lacks evidence, and that it was was part of a post-9/11 witch hunt designed to demonize the Arab American community. The case also took on a free-speech aspect, with his defenders saying Al-Arian’s trackrecord of incendiary comments regarding Israel (and boy are they ever incendiary) were taken out of context.

In the end, the case didn’t simply come down to whether Al-Arian and his co-defendents knew they were raising money for an organization that claimed responsibility for terrorist acts. Instead the prosecutors had to demonstrate that Al-Arian raised that money with the specific intent of it being used for terrorist acts.

In December of 2005 Al-Arian was acquitted on eight of 17 counts against him, based heavily on a lack of evidence (which may have had something to do with the accidently shredded evidence), and was deadlocked on the remaining charges and the trial continued. On April 14, 2006 Al-Arian pled guilty on the single count of conspiring to assist the PIJ in a plea bargain that will allow him to be deported after finishing a 4 ½ year jail sentence.

While the case of Sami Al-Arian is a politically charged one, and the web of evidence against him demonstrating specific laying out the terrorist network is not readily available to the public (although some of it was Al-Arian’s own websites), what is available is the evidence illustrating the much larger network of thinktanks, charities, and political and religious institutions working in the United States that are headed by close associates of Sami Al-Arian with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi largess….and some shockingly high-up political connections. It’s a small world at the top.

Continuing…

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Saffuri made a gagging sound, Gaffney said, then fell into a long silence. "No, I don't think so," Saffuri finally answered, according to Gaffney.

Saffuri was not available for comment. But in a written statement, he called Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy, "bitter for his lack of access to some important 'political circles,' particularly the White House."

Saffuri added: "I believe that Mr. Gaffney is very irritated by the fact that a Muslim group has better access than he does. However, I truly believe that he dislikes Muslims and Islam because of religious bigotry."

Norquist, chairman of the GOP interest group, Americans for Tax Reform, declined to comment.

Squat, bearded and famous for his temper, Norquist's power derives from his partnership in the early 1990s with then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

In 1994, Norquist helped his friend become Speaker of the House by assembling a coalition of libertarians, gun rights activists, business groups and religious conservatives who helped provide the votes and money for the GOP's historic takeover of Congress.

Once the leader of a cranky cabal of out-of-power Republicans, Norquist after 1994 became a political gatekeeper. Candidates sought his advice, and dark-suited lobbyists clamored to attend weekly strategy meetings Norquist held for Capitol Hill aides and GOP activists in his offices each Wednesday.

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When Mr Saffuri speaks about “important ‘political circles’”, he isn’t kidding. On top of his access to Grover Norquist (a top GOP power-broker) and Al-Arian’s photo with President Bush in March 2000, Al-Arian met with Karl Rove in June of 2001. But really, it’s those close ties to Norquist that are the most meaningful. Grover Norquist, who been called the most powerful man in Washington not to hold a public office, is a field marshall of the Bush agenda. He’s also notorious for expressing a desire to shrink the government “down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub” and such catchy lines as “bipartisanship is another name for date rape…We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals – and turn them towards bitter nastiness and partisanship” (which he later attributed to former House Majority leader Dick Army).

Norquist’s weekly “Wednesday Meetings”, which were started to wage political war on the Clinton Administration, is like a “who’s who” right-wing weekly get together. These weekly meeting bring together prominent figures from conservative advocacy groups, GOP congressional leadership, right-leaning think tanks, and the big money of K-Street. As an informal umbrella group and organizational force that fuses the big-money of K-Street lobbyists with the ideological warriors of the American Right, Norquist’s “Wednesday Meetings” have been an invaluable tool in keeping the GOP’s campaign coffers full.

More recently, Norquist’s close connections with criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff, brought scrutiny to Norquist’s well-oiled political machine.

Continuing…

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Those in Norquist's favor sit at the conference table in the middle of the room. The others stand, packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Among those with a regular seat at the table, participants say, is the Islamic Institute's Saffuri.

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."

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Abdurahman Alamoudi is a colorful character indeed. His American Muslim Council is an important institution in understanding both the evolution of the GOP’s Muslim-American ethnic outreach campaign strategy and the growth of the Saudi’s and Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the US politics and Islamic community. Back in the 80’s, when the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudis were working closely with the US on the Afghan Mujahedeen effort, the Saudis saw an opportunity to gain influence over a growing US Muslim community, and went about doing just that by creating what has been dubbed as the “Wahhabi Lobby”. Saudi money flowed in and Muslim Brotherhood leaders built up institutions and lobbying groups modeled after the Jewish community’s already established lobbying powerhouses: The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the American Muslim Council (AMC) emerging and mirroring the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the American Jewish Committee (AJC)(3).

The American Muslim Council, co-founded by Alamoudi and Mahmoud Abu Saud, was founded in 1990 and urged Muslims to get involved in politics and other civic activities. Mahmoud Abu Saud helped Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna expand the Brotherhood nearly 60 years ago. He also became a top financial advisor to the governments of Morocco and Kuwait, and also happens to be the father Imam Ahmed Elkad, leader of the US branch of the Muslim Brotherhood from 1984-1994. While the AMC was closed in 2003 and replaced with a more moderate group, in 2002 FBI Director Robert Mueller called the AMC the “most mainstream Muslim group in America” and this Saudi-built “Wahhabi-lobby” remains a dominant political force for a the Muslim community in the US.

Continuing…

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Also funding the institute were two Virginia-based nonprofit organizations. 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.

Among the more than 50 targets of the raid were people and organizations connected to Norquist and the Islamic Institute. They included Sami Al-Arian, a charity associated with Alamoudi, Safa Trust and the International Institute for Islamic Thought, or IIIT.

In addition to financially supporting Norquist's institute, the IIIT also had funded Al-Arian's think tank at USF, which the FBI shut down in a 1995 raid, and the school Al-Arian founded, the Islamic Academy of Florida.

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Ah yes, it’s worth mentioning that the whole kerfuffle between Gaffney and Norquist took place about a year following the massive raid of the Safa Trust (aka SAAR network) and International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). They’re central parts of an overlapping network of over 100 Saudi-funded Islamic institutions and charities operating in the US. As we’re going to see repeatedly throughout the essay, the figures behind the SAAR network are closely aligned with the al-Taqwa network, and are apparently politically untouchable here in the US. It’s pretty frightening.

Continuing

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The American Muslim Council had long been viewed with suspicion by federal investigators, terrorism experts and Jewish groups.

Although it preached tolerance, its co-founder, Alamoudi, had been videotaped at a pro-Palestinian rally outside the White House in 2000 exhorting the crowd: "We are all supporters of Hamas ... I am also a supporter of Hezbollah."

In his written response, Alamoudi said: "I regret that I made an emotional statement in the heat of the moment and I retract it."

Still, a few months after the rally in Washington, Alamoudi was photographed in Beirut at a conference attended by representatives of the terror groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and al-Qaida.

Today, Alamoudi is under investigation for his role in another Virginia charity, the International Relief Organization, suspected of being part of a Saudi-connected terror money laundering operation.

Alamoudi said he is cooperating fully with investigators. "I expect the investigation will end favorably," he said.

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Alas, things did not end so favorably for Abdurahman Alamoudi. In October of 2003 he was charged with terrorist financing and illegally accepting money from Libya to influence US policy and also came under scrutiny for his deep involvement in helping establish both the Pentagon’s Muslim chaplain program and the US Bureau of Prisons, having met dozens of times with senior government officials in the decade leading up to his arrest. A year later Alamoudi was sentenced to 23 years for his involvement in orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot with the Libyan government to assassinate then-Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (and now King Abdullah) and make it look like an al-Qaeda operation. It’s one of those interesting examples that demonstrates the risk of the Saudis’ long-standing strategy of funding Islamist groups in part with the hope that those groups won’t turn around and bite the oily-hand that feeds them.

Continuing…

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After Norquist's Islamic Institute began trying to woo Muslims to the GOP in 1999, then-candidate Bush began popping up in photographs with various politically connected Muslims.

The only problem was, many of these same prominent Muslims were also under scrutiny by federal investigators for links to terrorism.

"In some ways he's very naive about people," conservative activist Paul Weyrich said of his friend and some-time political rival, Norquist. "I don't blame him for pushing whomever he thinks is going to help him with his political objectives. But somebody on the inside (of the administration) has to say no."

In 2000, then-candidate Bush was photographed at the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas, with Alamoudi, Saffuri, and American Muslim Alliance founder Agha Saeed.

Saeed appeared often on panels with Al-Arian at conferences of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a group Al-Arian cofounded that federal investigators have linked to Hamas.

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In the 1996 presidential race US muslim groups were split between Clinton and Dole and the roughly 7 million-strong US Muslims voted two-to-one for Clinton over Dole. Norquist’s logic behind starting the Islamic Institute and mining the Muslim population for votes was based on the simple notion that Muslims could easily be won over to the GOP. According to pollster John Zogby, In 1999, then-candidate George W. Bush’s was positively received by playing up his close ties to the oil lobby and his father’s relatively tough stance with regard to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories (4).

It’s also worth noting that Paul Weyrich, a co-founder of the immensely influential Heritage Foundation and its sister Free Congress Foundation, is one of the primary architects of the rise of the New Right. While Norquist comes from much more of the business libertarian/small government (although it’s closer to “no government”) wing of the GOP and Weyrich represents much more the Religious Right strain of US politics, Norquist and Weyrich have played similar roles in many respects. Weyrich own “Conservative Working Group”, started back in 1974, was a kind of predecessor to Norquist’s “Wednesday Morning Meetings”, bringing together business interests, social conservatives, and other members the New Right conservative coalition that came to power with the Reagan Revolution and continues to dominate the GOP to this day.

Continuing…

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At an IAP conference in Chicago on Dec. 29, 1996, Alamoudi said: "I think if we were outside this country, we can say, 'Oh, Allah, destroy America,' but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it ... You can be violent anywhere else but in America."

In June 2001, Al-Arian was among members of the American Muslim Council invited to the White House complex for a briefing by Bush political adviser Karl Rove.

The next month, the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom -- a civil liberties group headed by Al-Arian -- gave Norquist an award for his work to abolish the use of secret intelligence evidence in terrorism cases, a position Bush had adopted in the 2000 campaign.

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The story of Bush’s position on the use of secret intelligence in terrorism cases is both ironic and important in understanding how he clinched the critical votes in Florida’s Arab-American community: During the second presidential debate in 2000 President Bush was asked a question about African Americans and racial profiling. Bush answered the question by voicing his opposition to the racial profiling Arab-Americans at airports and the use of secret evidence against alleged terrorists. This was a reverse of his earlier position on the issue of secret evidence, and just happened to be the answer which he had been told by advisors was a hot-button issue for Muslim voters in the crucial swing state of Florida. This was such an important issue to Florida’s Arab-American community at the time (and after the election) in large part because of the trial of Sami al-Arian’s brother-in-law, Mazen al-Najjar, over Mr al-Najjar’s ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

It was also a trial during which Mr Al-Arian took the 5^th Amendment 99 times in one sitting in relation to his association to alleged terrorists.

Continuing…

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For a time, the point person at the White House arranging the Muslim groups' access was Suhail Khan, a former director of the Islamic Institute.

Conservatives were suspicious of Khan because his late father had been imam at a mosque in Santa Clara, Calif., which once hosted Osama bin Laden's second in command, the Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Former White House speechwriter David Frum, in his best-selling book, The Right Man, said Norquist's aggressive courting of suspected radicals like Al-Arian was making many conservatives uneasy.

"That outreach campaign opened relationships between the Bush campaign and some very disturbing persons in the Muslim-American community. Many of those disturbing persons were invited to stand beside the president at post-9/11 events," Frum wrote.

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While these cozy ties to people like Al-Arian triggered outrage amongst some Bush staffers, Bush’s received little criticism from the Democrats, prompting Bush speechwriter David Frum to comment, “There is one way that we Republicans are very lucky -- we face political opponents too crippled by political correctness to make an issue of these kinds of security lapses.”

Continuing…

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One example of the White House's poor judgment, conservatives say, was inviting an imam named Muzammil Siddiqi to preside over an interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington, three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Twelve days after the service, Bush was photographed in the White House with Siddiqi, apparently unaware that the imam is a key figure in Saudi-funded organizations that have spread the harsh fundamentalist brand of Saudi Islam known as Wahhabism.

Agha Jafri, a Shia Muslim leader in New York, called Siddiqi part of a Saudi-backed "mafia" intent on crushing moderate Sufi and Shiite Muslims in the United States. "They hate us," Jafri said of Siddiqi's ideological compatriots.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

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One of the Saudi-funded organizations that Mr. Saddiqi helps lead is the Muslim World League (MWL). He also the chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, that evolved out of the Muslim Students Association and included Mr Alamoudi on its board.

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And finishing off the St. Petersburgh Times article…

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At a meeting of the Conservative Action Political Conference last month, Gaffney gave his view that radical Islamists were trying to penetrate Washington political circles.

Norquist responded on Feb. 6 by dropping a letter in Gaffney's office formally barring him from Norquist's prestigious Wednesday meetings. "The conservative movement cannot be associated with racism or bigotry," the letter said.

Gaffney and American Conservative Union President David Keene, the conference organizer, accused Norquist of employing "Stalinist tactics."

Writing in the congressional newspaper The Hill, Keene said: "The problem is that moderate Muslims control few organizations and have virtually no voice. Most of them, in fact, know better than to challenge the Wahhabis."

Conservative leader Weyrich agreed.

"I do think the White House needs to be more sensitive to who gets invited there, because these people turn around and use that access to boast that they have influence. Their ability to collect money is greater if George Bush has his arm around them," Weyrich said.

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The SAAR Network…

Remember that reference in the above article to the Operation Greenquest raids in March of 2002 on the Safa Trust (aka SAAR Foundation) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought? And recall how al-Taqwa director Youssef Nada helped set up some of these early Saudi-backed institutions like the Muslim Student Association (MSA)? What we’re going to take a look at now is who’s running these foundations, which are central components of the Saudi influence over Islam in America, and how much overlap there there really is between the the folks and the Al-Taqwa. So let’s begin this confusing flood of names and connection with a look at this excellent Washington Post article from October 2002:

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U.S. Trails Va. Muslim Money, Ties

Clues Raise Questions About Terror Funding

By Douglas Farah and John Mintz

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 7, 2002; Page A01

Six months after they raided the Northern Virginia headquarters of some of the nation's most respected Muslim leaders, federal agents say they are pursuing a trail of intriguing clues in a top-priority search for evidence of tax evasion and financial ties to terrorists.

Federal and European investigators say that several lines of inquiry have emerged from their review of documents and computer files they carted off in a dozen panel trucks from offices and homes affiliated with the Herndon-based SAAR Foundation, a tight-knit cluster of prominent Muslim groups funded by wealthy Saudis.

One avenue of investigation is the alleged transfer of millions of dollars from the SAAR network to two overseas bankers who have been designated by the U.S. government as terrorist financiers. Another is the network officials' history of ties to the militant Muslim Brotherhood.

A third part of the investigation concerns a key mystery: whether an astonishing $1.8 billion in gifts passed through the SAAR Foundation in a single year, 1998. SAAR leaders reported that sum on a tax form, but later said it was a clerical error.

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Oh my! A $1.8 billion clerical error! The stars really aligned against these guys.

Continuing…

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Agents are struggling to sort through and translate rooms full of documents -- many in Arabic -- and chasing leads in 17 countries. U.S. officials call the investigation one of the highest priorities of Operation Green Quest, the U.S. Customs Service task force formed after the Sept. 11 attacks to wage a financial war on terror.

The probe is part of a global crackdown the U.S. government has launched to stem the funding of terror groups since Sept. 11, 2001. That crackdown has targeted a number of large Muslim charities here and abroad.

The investigation of the SAAR officials, most of whom live and work around Herndon, infuriates some members of the Muslim community, who insist that the men are among the most moderate and progressive figures in American Islam. One of the raided institutions, for example, was denounced by Islamic radicals for issuing a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, that allowed Muslims in the U.S. military to fight in Afghanistan. Several people whose homes were raided advise the Defense and State departments on Islamic matters.

"My clients are absolutely not involved in any way in supporting terrorism," said Washington attorney Nancy Luque, who represents most of the individuals and groups raided. "It's a smearing."

Taha Jabir Alalwani, a stocky man in a flowing brown robe who has been part of the Herndon groups for years, said the searches of his home and the Leesburg-based Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences that he runs reminded him of the tactics of the secret police in his native Iraq.

"I'm moderate, I'm serving this country and I'm innocent of these suspicions," said Alalwani, whose institute trained 10 of the U.S. military's 14 Muslim chaplains. "I'm trying to convince Muslims in the U.S. this is our home, we must defend this country."

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Keep in mind that it was Mr Alamoudi that also involved the military’s Muslim chaplain program along with Taha Jabir Alalwani. Both Alamoudi and Alalwani also served on the board of the Fiqh Council of North American. Alawani also helped set up the International Islamic Institute of Thought. It’s pretty amazing how a relatively how much influence a relatively small number of people can wield when well financed.

Continuing…

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The SAAR network consists of more than 100 Muslim think tanks, charities and companies, many of which are linked by overlapping boards of directors, shared offices and the circular movement of money, according to tax forms and federal investigators. The network, named for Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Rajhi, the patriarch of the Saudi family that funded it, gives to charities, invests in companies and sponsors research, all with a goal of fostering the growth of Islam.

The SAAR Foundation officially dissolved in December 2000, and many of its functions were taken over by another group, Safa Trust, run by many of the same people.

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The Al-Rajhi family is a Saudi banking dynasty, and a name we’re going to see pop up elsewhere in terms of terror financing, and in particular as an early (circa 1988-89) funder of Osama bin Laden’s organizations.

Continuing…

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Government officials say the investigation of the SAAR groups, which began with a probe of anti-Israel activists in Florida in 1996 and intensified after the Sept. 11 attacks, has not traced money from the SAAR entities to the al Qaeda terrorist network. But U.S. and European investigators say they have uncovered information in the Bahamas and Europe that in recent years some SAAR entities' funds have moved to two men, Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, designated by the United States as terrorist financiers. The funds moved through two offshore banks in the Bahamas that the pair controlled, officials said.

The institutions, Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank Private Ltd., have been designated conduits for terrorist funds by the U.S. Treasury Department. In recent months they were shut down by Bahamian authorities under U.S. pressure. In an August report, Treasury said that the banks "have been involved in financing radical groups" including Hamas and al Qaeda, both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank were described by the Treasury Department on Aug. 29 as "shell companies" that were "not functional banking institutions."

Nada and Nasreddin said they have done nothing wrong and pointed out that thousands of businesses use offshore havens like the Bahamas. In March, Nada told reporters he is a legitimate businessman and has never funded terror. Nasreddin could not be reached for comment, but his Geneva-based lawyer, P.F. Barchi, said in May that his client has no links to terror and abhors violence.

SAAR representatives say they have had no transactions with the banks and that the SAAR network's financial ties to Nada are limited to a single loan to him. Early last year, an individual connected to SAAR arranged for funds to be moved from a joint account of several SAAR executives to Nada as a loan, they said.

U.S. officials say they believe that the SAAR network moved a total of about $20 million to offshore accounts, much of it through Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank to Nada and Nasreddin firms.

But because of the complex nature of the wire transfers, which sent money through myriad accounts, officials say they have had difficulty tracking SAAR entities' money around the world. In 1998, for example, SAAR moved $9 million to the Humana Charitable Trust, which a SAAR tax form said was based in the tax haven of the Isle of Man. U.S. investigators said they found no evidence the trust existed. Panama, another tax haven, was also the destination of millions of dollars.

"Looking at their finances," one U.S. official involved in the probe said, "is like looking into a black hole."

…

“

When Nada and Nasreddin pointed out that thousands of businesses use offshore havens like the Bahamas they were quite right. Thousands do, and it’s obscenely easy for them to move move through them untraceably, whether its for terror financing or tax avoidance. That’s the topic we’re going to be looking in depth in Part 10. It’s a pretty horrific situation.

Continuing…

“

…

Much about the SAAR entities remains in dispute, including the reported $1.8 billion in gifts in 1998.

For years, the foundation operated on annual budgets of about $1.5 million. Then it reported on its 2000 tax form that it had taken in $1.8 billion in contributions two years earlier.

SAAR representatives said that nothing like $1.8 billion has passed through the foundation over its 16-year life. They assert that investigators are chasing a simple clerical error on a tax form. They have filed an amended document stating that SAAR received no contributions in 1998.

U.S. officials say that they believe the reference to $1.8 billion was no mistake. "We are still looking at it as a real transaction," a U.S. official said. But investigators acknowledge that they haven't found evidence that sums of that size coursed through the network.

…

“

While the question of the $1.8 billion is a tricky one indeed, especially given the ease with which one can quietly move vast sums of money through the international financial system these days, including in the US, maybe this little fun-fact from regarding the clerical error will help: In Douglas Farah’s “Blood from Stones” (Farah the author of this article and many of the most revealing articles written by the Washington Post), he points out that the ten-digit number, $1,783,545,883, was repeated at least seven times on the tax form SAAR’s Treasurer, Charif Sedky, said that he ‘did not recall’ that amount flowing through the foundation (5).

Continuing…

“

…

Another focus of the probe is the SAAR leaders' links to the Muslim Brotherhood, a 74-year-old group which is under investigation by European and Middle Eastern governments for its alleged support of radical Islamic and terrorist groups. For decades the brotherhood has been a wellspring of radical Islamic activity; Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, is an offshoot of it. European officials are particularly interested in the brotherhood's ties to leading neo- Nazis, including the Swiss Holocaust denier Ahmed Huber.

A number of central figures in the SAAR network, including Rajhi, were for decades involved in the brotherhood, where they befriended Nada, said representatives and friends of the SAAR officials. The one-time radicalism of SAAR network members has mellowed since they moved to the United States, SAAR associates said.

Nada, 73, a native of Egypt, has been one of the brotherhood's leading figures for years, and European officials say his network of banks and companies, including Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank, are intimately tied to the brotherhood. European officials say the two banks handled tens of millions of dollars for the brotherhood over the years.

A wealthy construction magnate, Nada controls firms across Europe and the Arab world. Nasreddin, of Ethiopian descent, operates a business empire intertwined with Nada's out of Milan.

Founded in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has over the decades helped stir a revival in Islamic pride and militant opposition to secular Arab regimes. Governments in Egypt, Syria and Iraq have harshly cracked down on the group since the 1950s. The organization, viewed as heroic in much of the Arab world, has recently moderated some of its radical stances. The brotherhood has not been deemed a terrorist group by U.S. officials.

SAAR's defenders say it is guilt by association to accuse SAAR leaders of terrorist ties because they have connections to people like Nada.

"It's alarming that the government criticizes people for old associations that pre-date by years any questions being raised about those people," said SAAR attorney Luque. "They're being investigated for friendships formed 30 years ago."

…

“

It’s worth repeating here that rare is the extremist or radical that admits to being anything but a moderate, at least in public. This is not to say that all members of the Muslim Brotherhood are radicals, but their moderation appears to have been a relatively recent shift, based heavily on the testimony of their fellow Brothers and associates, and is quite often in conflict with their own less-public statements. In the end, they are somewhat correct in that it is guilty by association…an incredibly close association with a number of characters like Nada that are high up in the international terrorist-funding structure.

As far as the US government not designating them a terrorist organization, well…let’s just say it partly goes back deeper than the now-obvious modern-day political ties. We’ll get to that part of the story later (and it ain’t pretty either).

Continuing…

“

…

Investigators said they have also uncovered numerous ties between SAAR entities and Bank al Taqwa. Samir Salah -- a founder of the Safa Trust, SAAR's successor, and an officer of other SAAR companies -- helped establish Bank al Taqwa in the Bahamas in the mid-1980s, according to a Treasury document. In a letter to The Washington Post, Salah said he had no role with the bank.

Ibrahim Hassaballa, another officer of some SAAR-related companies, also helped set up Bank al Taqwa in the Bahamas, according to the document. Hassaballa did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Terrorism specialists say the significance of the SAAR network is that it could offer wealthy Persian Gulf financiers a circuitous route for money they don't want traced.

"A rich Saudi who wants to fund radical ideas or terrorists like Hamas and al Qaeda knows he can't send the money directly, so he filters it through companies and charities, often in the U.S. or Europe," said Rita Katz, a terrorism expert at the private SITE Institute in Washington.

…

“

Actually, according to Rita Katz’s book “Terrorist Hunter”, The web of connections between Bank Al-Taqwa, the SAAR, IIIT, and the larger Saudi global network are even more confusing. Now who’s Rita Katz? Basically, she’s Iraqi Jew that went undercover, infiltrated this network, and helped unravel this web of connections. One of the many interesting connections she found was that, back in 1976, one of the IIIT leaders and SAAR co-founders, Jamal Barzinji, helped found a bank in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. They named it Nada International, and Youssef Nada became its director. Nada, who also directed the aformentioned Akida bank, also employed one of the Al-Rajhi brothers, Sulaiman Adbul Aziz al-Rajhi. So Nada worked for Barzinji at Nada International, and Barzinji, in turn, worked for Al-Rajhi at the SAAR network, and Al-Rajhi worked for Nada at Akida Bank. As Katz points out, you’re supposed to be confused by this (6). It’s like that by design and it’s just part of the world of clandestine financing where overlap of ownership, interlocked directorship, and the myriad of front groups used to obscure the root sources of funding.

Continuing…

“

…

The SAAR organizations are run by approximately 15 Middle Eastern and Pakistani men, a number of whom live in two-story homes on adjoining lots in Herndon that were developed by one of their affiliated firms in 1987. SAAR representatives say most were born into devout Muslim families and some fell under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the 1960s and 1970s, funded largely by Persian Gulf and particularly Saudi money, the men who would later form the SAAR network fled their homelands amid crackdowns on the brotherhood. In Saudi Arabia and the United States, they helped launch groups that would evolve into some of the nation's and the world's leading Islamic organizations, including the Muslim Students Association, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Islamic Society of North America.

…

“

So the guys that set up SAAR are the same guys that set up the MSA, ISNA, and WAMY. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Interestingly, Rita Katz characterized WAMY as the youth wing of the IIIT: once someone involved in WAMY’s programs get old enough they move on into the IIIT. Also of note, not only did WAMY publish Bin Laden’s biography ‘river of Jihad’, but the head of WAMY in the early 90’s, Abdel Batterjee, was named one of Osama bin Laden financiers (we’ll have much more to say about Abdel Batterjee, and his role in financing the Jihadist groups that emerged from the Afghan Mujaheddin, in in Part 8) (7).

And finishing our look at the Washington Post article…

“

…

In 1984, Yaqub Mirza, a Pakistani native who received a PhD in physics from the University of Texas in Dallas, used money from the Rajhis to start SAAR in Virginia, with the goal of spreading Islam and doing charitable work.

Mirza also sought out business ventures for SAAR. By investing the Rajhis' money with Washington real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, he made SAAR one of the region's biggest landlords in the 1980s. The SAAR network also became one of South America's biggest apple growers and the owner of one of America's top poultry firms, Mar-Jac Poultry in Georgia.

"The funds came very easily," said a businessman who dealt with SAAR. "If they wanted a few million dollars, they called the al- Rajhis, who would send it along."

But while SAAR enjoyed the largess of some of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families, it didn't hew to the Saudis' austere fundamentalism. Instead it promoted a more progressive Islam.

Ali Ahmed, a Saudi activist in Washington who denounces the Saudi regime as repressive, said he admires the Herndon group for its moderation. He said the officials engaged in a decades-long act of opportunism by taking Saudi cash and using it to promote their more tolerant agenda -- for example, allowing women to work.

"They got private Saudi money, but they weren't Saudi agents," Ahmed said.

In the mid-1990s, the Saudi government, upset with its inability to control the SAAR network, pressed contributors to stop giving money, several informed sources said.

…

“

So the Saudis apparently tried to pull the plug on the SAAR network’s financing in the mid-90’s. And how about after 9/11, have the Saudis cracked down on the use of Saudi charities for terrorist financing? Well, according to this excellent December 2002 Fox news article:

“

Saudi Split Personality Leaves Diplomacy Wanting

Thursday , December 05, 2002

Fox News

WASHINGTON — Some key senators have expressed skepticism about Saudi Arabia's claim it is redoubling its effort to prevent charity funds from ending up in the hands of terrorists, and suggest that the Saudis' latest public relations campaign belies their true feelings about the United States and the war on terror.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., told Fox News on Wednesday that he doubts comments made by Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel Al-Jubeir about Saudi cooperation in the war against terror financing would stand up to the congressional sniff test.

"Ask Jubeir if he'd be willing to testify before the Judiciary Committee, which is investigating funds going to terrorists," Specter said.

Al-Jubeir said he would not be willing to speak before a committee.

"We will not submit to questioning in terms of hearings because of diplomatic privilege we don't do that," he said.

…

He added that the Saudi government is beginning audits on domestic charities and that charities that donate to international causes will be required to register with the foreign ministry. He said a newly-organized commission will track donations to and from charities.

Money laundering experts say these steps are important, but will be exposed as a public relations sham unless the Saudi royal family enforces them.

"What's critical in a money laundering regime is enforcement mechanisms; you can write all the law you want but if you don't enforce those laws, then you have done nothing but write law," said former Justice Department official Michael Zeldin.

The Saudis are concerned that the whole terror financing issue has driven a wedge between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which have other issues on the agenda, including a possible war with Iraq and stable oil supplies. They say that destabilizing the relationship plays right into the hands of the Al Qaeda terror network.

…

“

Ok, that doesn’t sound too cooperative. Perhaps they just needed some time to get warmed up, which appears to be the case based on a March 2004 testimony by our ambassador to Saudi Arabia:

“

…

The Saudis are a strong ally and are taking unprecedented steps to address an al-Qaida menace that threatens us both. We believe that they are headed in the right direction, are committed to countering the threat of al-Qaida, and are giving us extremely strong cooperation in the War On Terrorism. There remains, of course, much work still to be done, both singly and jointly, but we are optimistic that our efforts are paying off.

…

”

Well that certainly sounds like improvement. So let’s see how they built upon these rerform with the a 2005 report, “International Affairs: Information on U.S. Agencies' Efforts to Address Islamic Extremism” by the Government Account Office (GAO):

“

…

A number of sources have reported that Saudi private entities and individuals, as well as sources from other countries, are allegedly financing or supporting Islamic extremism. However, U.S. agencies are still examining Saudi Arabia’s relationship, and that of other sources in other countries, to Islamic extremism. For example, in July 2005, a Treasury official testified before Congress that Saudi Arabia-based and - funded organizations remain a key source for the promotion of ideologies used by terrorists and violent extremists around the world to justify their agenda. In addition, according to State’s 2005 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years … The government of Saudi Arabia has announced and, in some cases, undertaken domestic educational and religious reforms; legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms with the assistance of State and Treasury; and political reforms. However, U.S. agencies do not know the extent of the Saudi government's efforts to limit the activities of Saudi individuals and entities that have allegedly propagated Islamic extremism outside of Saudi Arabia.

…

”

Oh. Ok, so it appears the answer is that we don’t know too much about what the Saudis have done since 9/11, and what we do know isn’t particularly exciting.

So what triggered this whole raid on SAAR/Safa network in the first place? Well, to answer that, we’re going to take a look at the concluding segment of a Washington Post March 24, 2002 article on the Operation Green Quest raids:

“

…

Huge sums of money zip among these firms and foundations, and some of the transactions can be traced on tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

For example, in 2000, a charity called the York Foundation -- whose president is Mirza and which is based in the same building on Grove Street in Herndon as SAAR and Safa Trust -- received $400,000 from Safa, tax forms showed. The same year, York dispatched $400,000 to a related entity called the York International Trust on the Isle of Man, where tax records are kept private.

In the two years before SAAR went defunct in December 2000, it sent two sums to an entity on the Isle of Man, the Humana Charitable Trust -- one for $168,000 and another for $9 million. Much of SAAR's work has been continued by its affiliate, Safa.

U.S. officials suspect that the ultimate recipients of the funds were linked to terrorists, but they are not sure. And the officials acknowledge that the participants could have engaged in subterfuge to avoid paying taxes.

…

“

Ok, so maybe it was all that money sloshing around between the foundations that triggered the raids. After all, it’s a classic sign of money-laundering and/or tax avoidance.

Continuing…

“

…

Government officials said that even if no crimes are proven, it might serve the counterterrorist cause to simply disrupt the flow of money.

Other federal officials said the probe is part of a much wider effort tracking funds flowing through Saudi charities and firms that end up being used by groups deemed by the United States to be terrorist, such as al Qaeda and Hamas. The U.S. government has seized the assets of several leading Saudi charities and asked Saudi authorities to keep tabs on others.

…

“

Hehe, yeah, good luck with the Saudis.

Continuing…

“

…

While the latest probe of these entities began years ago, U.S. officials say it heated up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But sources said they had to plan their raids in a hurry starting two weeks ago because of a telephone call from a lawyer in Florida.

John Loftus, a former Nazi hunter for the Justice Department and more recently a lawyer for U.S. intelligence agency whistleblowers, contacted government officials March 11, saying he was about to file a lawsuit in Florida against Al-Arian that would lay out the ties among him, the International Institute, various of its affiliates and Saudi interests.

…

“

One has to wonder if maybe it was Loftus’s March 11 warning to the government about his impending lawsuit that led to the March 12 report on the Swiss investigations into an alliance between militant Islamists and neo-Nazis that President Bush requested.

Continuing…

"

…

Customs and Treasury officials hustled to prepare their raids for March 20, the day that Loftus filed his lawsuit claiming various frauds by Al-Arian, Loftus and government officials said.

"There was no coincidence," Loftus said.

Staff writer Brooke A. Masters and research editor Margot Williams contributed to this report.

“

Here’s where things start getting extra complicated because there is much more to the Operation Greenquest raids. Much more extra complicated (See Parts 12 and 13). But to better appreciate the implication of those raids we need to first enter the twilight zone of the public record. That’s what happens when you stumble upon the life’s work of former Department of Justice Department Nazi hunter, John Loftus. You see, back in 1979, John Loftus was given above-top-secret access to the National Archives as part of the DOJ’s newly set up Office of Special Investigations (OSI), a Nazi-hunting team dedicated to learning what became of WWII war criminals involved in the holocaust that tried to settle in the US. Amongst the many disturbing facts he learned was that the National Archives review process – a process of looking over each and every document to determine what can and cannot be released to the public - hadn’t managed to make it past WWI. This meant that all the classified and potentially sensitive material about everything that happened during and after the War to End All Wars simply had not had a chance to go through the review process and be released to the public. This also meant that, as of 1979, our public history lacked large chunks of the classified side of the story.

That our National Archives review process was that far behind isn’t too surprising: Declassifying materially, especially exceptionally embarrassing material, has always been a sore subject, and these days are no exception. But what was surprising about what John Loftus found down in the archives, exceptionally surprising, was the extent to which the files documenting our use of the Nazi and Nazi collaborators had been mislabeled, misplace, and manipulated. This wasn’t a case a sensitive classified information being kept hidden from the public. It was an instance of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was up to…which in this case involved the right hand giving a big thumbs up and a helping hand to the secret use of “ex”-Nazis. This is what Loftus stumbled across: a paper trail maze left behind by a small, but highly influential, faction of the US intelligence community engaged in a secret policy of utilizing the vast capabilities of the former Third Reich. And we’re not just talking about rocket scientists here. Plenty of not so savory folks became our new anti-Communist “Freedom Fighter” friends. We’re talking about folks with a wide range of expertise in such areas as biological and chemical warfare, psychological warfare, propaganda, and most especially Eastern Front intelligence capabilities.

In yet another unsurprising twist, Loftus’s bosses on the DOJ had no intention of making such a discomforting disclosure to the public. Unable to get the government to release his findings, Loftus resigned from the Department of Justice in 1981. The following year he made a splash on CBS’s 60 Minutes with a segment on Nazis on the US government payroll won the Emmy, or as he puts it, "Congress opened investigative hearings. Mike Wallace won an Emmy award. My family got death threats…It was quite a deal."

So how on earth did a Nazi-hunter like Loftus end up as the lawyer crusading against Saudi-Charities? As we’ve seen, There are a lot of reasons. Because the roots of al-Qaeda flow through the very same hidden history, a hidden history involving the Saudis, Arab Nazis (yes, actual Arab Nazis, sound familiar yet?), Big Oil, and even the Bush family and it’s a hidden history that didn’t end with WWII. It’s a major part of the hidden history of 9/11.

And with the Operation Greenquest raids being triggered by a single lawyer willing to blow open a decades-long scandal, it’s an example of something we as a people seem to have forgotten these days: knowledge is power. Knowledge about whose shaping our world in dramatic ways, what they are doing, and why they are doing it. And to successfully navigate through this post-9/11 world, and lead ourselves as free people, it is vital that we empower ourselves.

And thus, in the spirit of empowering ourselves with knowledge (and triggering some good old fashioned head-spinning), let’s take a farther look back at the history of the Muslim Brotherhood, its early relationship with the CIA, and some of the historical roots of the Brotherhood and its founding ideology. Hopefully, by examining this history we’ll get a better idea of just what the Brotherhood and its Saudi backers are up to today, so keep reading!!!!

Offline References

(1) Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam; by Richard Labeviere; Copyright 2000 [SC]; Algora Publishing; ISBN 1-892941-06-6; p77-78

(2) “Saving the Saudis” by Craig Unger. Vanity Fair 2003

(3) House of Bush/House of Saud; by Craig Unger; Scribner [HC]; Copyright 2004 by Craig Unger; ISBN 0-7432-5337-X; p203

(4) ibid p202

(5) Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror; by Douglas Farah; Broadway Books [HC] {subsidiary of Random House}; Copyright 2004 by Douglas Farah; ISBN 0-7679-15262-3; p156

(6) Terrorist Hunter by “Anonymous” [Rita Katz]; CCC [imprint of Harper Collins]; Copyright 2003 by Harper Collins [HC]; ISBN 0-06-052819-2; p310-311

(7) ibid, p296