 From CAN: The Illinois State Police’s first Muslim chaplain, Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation and a member of the radical Muslim Brotherhood organization by the federal government, reports The Investigative Project on Terrorism. The list that was drawn up as a result of the trial says that Mustapha is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a group set up to secretly support the Hamas terrorist group in the United States.
He also worked as a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation until 2001 when the government shut the non-profit group down for financing Hamas. Prior to that, he worked for the Islamic Association of Palestine, another Hamas front that was shut down.
“It’s not clear whether the Illinois State Police knew about these connections and didn’t care, or whether it failed to adequately research Mustapha’s background. Either raises serious concerns about who will counsel the state’s Muslim troopers,” IPT says. The IPT report says that Mustapha has also helped raise money for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another group tied to the Muslim Brotherhood that was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, and the Muslim-American Society. CAIR is currently the subject of a book by Dave Gaubatz and Paul Sperry titled “Muslim Mafia” that alleges the group supports extremism and engages in criminal activity including fraud in order to support Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. World Threats
 Andy McCarthy, in a disturbing reports, tells us that, according to his sources, the Defense Department has brought a top official of the Islamic Society of America (ISNA) to Fort Hood to lecture our troops about Islam before they deploy to Afghanistan. The ISNA official, Louay Safi, has also served as research director at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). According to McCarthy, ISNA is the Muslim Brotherhood's umbrella entity for Islamist organizations in the United States.
It was established in 1981 to enable Muslims in North America "to adopt Islam as a complete way of life" -- i.e., to further the Brotherhood's strategy of establishing enclaves in the West that are governed by sharia. During the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financial conspiracy trial, ISNA was identified by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator. The defendants were convicted of funding Hamas to the tune of millions of dollars. For its part, again according to McCarthy, the IIIT is a Saudi funded think-tank dedicated to the "Islamicization of knowledge." Years ago, the Saudis convinced the United States that the IIIT should be the military's go-to authority on Islam. One result was the placement of Abdurrahman Alamoudi to select Muslim chaplains for the armed forces. Alamoudi has since been convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 23 years in federal prison. Safi's background suggests that history could repeat itself. In 1995, Safi was caught on a FBI wiretap of Sami al-Arian, a former leader in the murderous Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
McCarthy says that the topic of the discussion between Safi and al-Arian was Safi's concern that President Clinton's executive order prohibiting financial transactions with terrorist organizations would negatively affect al-Arian. More recently, al-Arian has been convicted of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism. In a 2003 publication, Safi advocated a case-by-case approach to deciding whether Muslims should wage jihad through violence or through more peaceful means: "It is up to the Muslim leadership to assess the situation and weigh the circumstances as well as the capacity of the Muslim community before deciding the appropriate type of jihad. At one stage, Muslims may find that jihad, through persuasion or peaceful resistance, is the best and most effective method to achieve just peace." Safi apparently has assessed that in this country, where the leaders are fools and a bizarre culture of political correctness allows a suspected jihadist to provide psychological counseling to its soldiers, jihad is best pursued by accepting invitations from the military to indoctrinate the troops. I'd say he's made a good call. Power Line 
 by Stephen Suleyman SchwartzExecutive Director, Center for Islamic Pluralism After the recent slaughter at Fort Hood , Texas , commentators and politicians have asked whether political correctness or fear of being criticized as Islamophobic discouraged his colleagues in the military from thoroughly examining the extremist beliefs of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused killer in the military-base massacre.
Some of the non-Muslims who knew him have said, probably correctly – and unfortunately – that they did not know enough about Islam, especially in its radical forms, to assess Hasan’s views. But the weak outcome of a 2003 Senatorial appeal for an inquiry into Islamist financing in America – along with other curious lapses of attention – show that the military is not alone in cringing at the task of investigating Muslim radicals. At the end of 2003, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, signed by the committee’s then-chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and its then-ranking Democrat, Senator Max Baucus of Montana. (Baucus is now the committee’s chairman.)
The Senate Committee called on the IRS to collect financial information on 24 Islamist groups operating in the U.S.: Al-Haramain Foundation
Alavi Foundation
Benevolence International Foundation
Global Relief Foundation
Help the Needy
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development
Human Appeal International
Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America
International Islamic Relief Organization or Internal Relief Organization
Islamic African Relief Society and/or Islamic American Relief Agency
Islamic Assembly of North America
Islamic Association for Palestine
Islamic Circle of North America
Islamic Foundation of America
Islamic Society of North America
Kind Hearts
Muslim Arab Youth Association
Muslim Student Association
Muslim World League
Rabita Trust
SAAR Foundation and all members and related entities
Solidarity International and/or Solidarity USA
United Association for Studies and Research
World Assembly of Muslim Youth Most of these organizations are obscure for ordinary, non-Muslim Americans even today. But with the exception of the Iran-directed Alavi Foundation, which was the object of an assets seizure proceeding this month, and leaving aside the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and a few other absent players, the list provides a map of the “Wahhabi lobby” of radical Muslim proponents in American.
These organizations are financed by, and in some cases act as direct agencies of, powerful institutions in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, in tandem with their allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. Late in 2005, however, Senator Grassley first announced that investigation of the 24 groups had ended inconclusively, with no evidence of anything “alarming” beyond the capacity for ordinary response by law enforcement; he then reversed his posture and said that his committee would continue collecting information on them. But the Senate Finance Committee produced nothing new after that. More at Hudson New York
 Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization. On Nov. 19, Holder is scheduled to speak in Detroit to the first annual awards banquet of Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust, a coalition of several dozen law enforcement and community groups. An online registration form for the event includes the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan on a list of “official & participating organizations.” A spokeswoman for ALPACT confirmed that CAIR is a member of the coalition.
“CAIR has been involved for a while,” said Chandra McMillion, community development facilitator for ALPACT. “CAIR is listed as an official member.”
The executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter, Dawud Walid, also confirmed its involvement with ALPACT. “It’s really nothing controversial. We’ve been part of this organization for years,” he said. “We meet every month and included with us is the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI.”
Walid said he is a regular at ALPACT meetings—including one held Friday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit. “A lot of people are there: the NAACP, the ACLU, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee…the National Lawyers’ Guild,” he said.
The FBI claims it cut “formal contacts” with CAIR after federal prosecutors in the 2007 criminal trial of officers of a Texas-based Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, introduced documents the government said showed links between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, which gave rise to Hamas. Read more here ...
Source: Politicio Eric Holder
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 By Art Moore Coverage of lawmakers' charges ignores terror ties
Is the Council on American-Islamic Relations merely a civil rights organization exercising its constitutional right to lobby on Capitol Hill like hundreds of other non-profit organizations? That's the way Politico and other mainstream news outlets have portrayed CAIR – despite the FBI's decision this year to cut off ties to the Muslim group after its designation by the Department of Justice as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the largest terrorist-finance case in U.S. history. In its coverage of a press conference on Capitol Hill in which four Republican House members presented an internal CAIR document revealed in the new WND Books release "Muslim Mafia" that shows the group sought to place interns in the intelligence, homeland security and judiciary committees, Politico characterized the document as a "fairly straightforward public relations and lobbying strategy." There was no mention of the undisputed fact that along with CAIR's designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, many of its leaders and prominent supporters have been convicted in terrorism-related cases. FBI officials have testified CAIR's parent group, the Islamic Association for Palestine, was founded as a front group for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. And evidence from the FBI presented at the Holy Land trial showed CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad and founder Omar Awad participated in a three-day summit in 1993 of U.S.-based Hamas members and supporters. Wiretaps revealed Ahmad argued for using Muslims as an "entry point" to "pressure Congress and the decision makers in America" to change U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York – who has described CAIR as an organization "which we know has ties to terrorism" – formally supported the FBI's divorce with CAIR in a letter to the agency's director signed with Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla. In 2007, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California withdrew an award to the head of CAIR's Sacramento chapter, citing "concerns" about the group's associations. She explained her office had not thoroughly researched CAIR. Internal e-mails, according to "Muslim Mafia," show CAIR debated going "all out against" Boxer in a smear campaign but decided against it because she's a popular Democrat, and CAIR didn't think it could make an attack "hurt her enough." Read more here,,,, Source: WND
 By Robert Spencer And he and CAIR cofounder Omar Ahmad are being investigated by the FBI. Which is better than, say, their being consulted by the FBI, which went on long enough. More from the explosive and important book Muslim Mafia. "Hill terror front group investigated by FBI," from WorldNetDaily, October 16.
The Washington field office of the FBI is actively investigating the founding chairman and acting executive director of the nation's premier Islamic-rights group in Washington, based on evidence that emerged from the largest terror-financing case in U.S. history, a blockbuster new book alleges. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, along with its founding chairman Omar M. Ahmad, were named by the U.S. Justice Department as unindicted co-conspirators in a criminal conspiracy led by the Holy Land Foundation charity to underwrite Palestinian terrorism. "CAIR has been identified by the government at trial as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization - a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew," federal prosecutors wrote in September 2007, according to court documents. Following the blacklisting, the FBI severed ties with CAIR, a move that sent shock waves throughout the American Muslim establishment. "Until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas," explained assistant FBI director Richard C. Powers, "the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner." The 15-year-old nonprofit organization's top executives for years had enjoyed virtually unfettered access to the corridors of power in the capital, even meeting with presidents and rubbing elbows with congressional leaders. Now Ahmad and CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad have come under active investigation for their roles in the criminal conspiracy to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas terrorists, according to "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America."... Like Ahmad, Awad, who has turned down congressional invitations to answer questions under oath, remains under FBI scrutiny.
"He's a bad guy - one of Hamas's senior guys in the United States," the book quotes a veteran special agent with the FBI's Washington field office saying. Ahmad, for his part, abruptly resigned from CAIR's board after his unindicted terrorist co-conspirator designation.
The longtime CAIR chairman, 49, is on record telling a Muslim audience in California that the Quran should supersede the U.S. Constitution as the highest authority in the land. FBI agents and federal prosecutors "are very actively working to indict" CAIR's national leaders, confirms a U.S. official familiar with the ongoing investigation in connection with the Holy Land case. He says "fresh evidence" emerged from the case, triggering a closer look at both of CAIR's founders and their connections to Hamas.... There is much more. Read it all. Source: JihadWatch
 Dallas Central MosqueAs a result of the government naming the Council on American-Islamic Relations an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorism case, the Muslim community is withholding contributions and distancing itself from the group, a new report reveals. Washington-based CAIR, which claims to be the largest Muslim advocacy group in the nation, has been identified by the Justice Department as a participant in an ongoing criminal conspiracy to support Hamas, a designated terrorist organization – "a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew," federal prosecutors charge. The blacklisting has scared off many of CAIR's contributors and hurt the organization's recruiting efforts and overall operations. What's more, some Muslims have avoided events organized by CAIR and asked the group to remove their name from its mailing list. The president of CAIR's Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, for example, complains that his office has suffered a drop in contributions since the naming of CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator. "Contributions to CAIR have gone down, so we can hire fewer people, can run fewer activities," chapter president Moufa Nahhas said. "People are afraid to come to events" sponsored by CAIR, he added. "Mosques are also hesitant to open the doors to us, to the organization." Even the Dallas Central Mosque in Richardson, Texas – the erstwhile headquarters of the Holy Land Foundation – has pulled up the welcome mat to CAIR since a federal jury convicted the Muslim charity and five of its leaders for funneling more than $12 million to Hamas terrorists. Holy Land's top leaders – including a founding director of CAIR's Texas chapter – were recently sentenced to in effect life terms in prison. The Dallas Central Mosque formerly supported the defendants. "The mosque doesn't even want the administration of CAIR to come and pray there, because of fear," Nahhas complained. CAIR also is having a hard time recruiting new leaders. "People don't want to serve on the board," Nahhas said. "They say they support us and want to help, but they don¹t want to be named as a member of the board." The case has had a chilling effect even on CAIR's communications with members. "People don't want a letter or newsletter from CAIR coming to their house – they don't want their name on the mailings," the CAIR official remarked. Nahhas' comments were quoted in a 165-page report released last week by the ACLU entitled, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity: Chilling Muslim Charitable Giving in the War on Terrorism Financing." The nakedly sympathetic report says CAIR was "smeared" in the Holy Land case and recommends the government expunge its name from the list of co-conspirators. In a desperate appeal to nervous members, CAIR's Dallas office has posted the following on its website: "Take advantage of CAIR-TX, DFW Chapter's legal, civil rights, workplace and immigration rights workshops to be empowered to act positively and wisely protect your rights. Please remember, your innocence does not make you less vulnerable from entrapment, and/or abuse of power by governmental agencies." The chapter's executive director is listed as Mustafaa Carroll. Last year, the FBI cut off formal outreach ties to CAIR, citing evidence the group continues to support terrorists. CAIR's founding chairman Omar Ahmad recently resigned from the board, and CAIR installed at its helm North Carolina state Sen. Larry Shaw, a black convert to Islam. Source: WorldNetDaily
 By Steven Emerson Is repeatedly badmouthing the United States and fabricating an environment of a war against Muslims by the U.S. government a qualification for being sent on overseas travel at the taxpayers’ expense? The State Department and a U.S. university seem to think so. Consider the case of Christina Abraham, Civil Rights Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago chapter. It is an affiliate of the national CAIR group that was described by an FBI agent in trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development as a front for Hamas. CAIR had also been declared an unindicted co-conspirator in that same trial, that resulted in sweeping terrorist convictions for all defendants last year. For the past 14 years, CAIR has defended Islamic terrorism, sponsored anti-Semitic conferences and has consistently attacked nearly all U.S. prosecutions of Islamic terrorists and asset forfeitures of Islamic terrorist charitable front groups as racist. Late last year, the FBI severed its relationship with CAIR because of its ties to Hamas. In early 2008, CAIR’s Abraham participated in a program on “Building the National Identity and Civic Participation in the Philippines” conducted at Northern Illinois University (NIU) -- an event funded by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Citizen Exchanges in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She served as what the program’s training manual described as a “resource person” who “provided…materials for the program,” which ran from May 31 to June 28 under the auspices of NIU’s International Training Office & Center for Southeast Asian Studies. But that wasn’t the end of Abraham’s involvement in the government-funded program. This past January -- again with the State Department picking up the tab -- she traveled to the Philippines to join in a follow-on week-long seminar at the Vistamar Resort in Mactan, Cebu. CAIR was so proud that it issued a press release on February 11, 2009 entitled “Civil Rights Director Participates in State Dept. Delegation to Philippines.”[1] CAIR-Chicago reported that Abraham “headed to the Philippines this January as a part of a delegation to the International Visitor’s [sic] Program (IVP) Conference in Cebu, Philippines.” From January 2-13, the release reported, she gave presentations “on civil rights workshops based upon CAIR-Chicago’s work for victims of discrimination.” And the reported noted: “Each of the U.S. delegates was chosen for their respective expertise in methods for constructive civic engagement.” What was Abraham’s special expertise in “civil rights discrimination” and “constructive civic engagement” that merited her to be selected as an emissary of the United States to underdeveloped nations? Curiously, her record in the United States and that of her employer, CAIR, shows that she and CAIR have publicly issued fabricated allegations against the United States for its supposed massive and rampant racism against the majority of U.S. Muslims. Read the Rest....Steven Emerson is executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism (www.investigativeproject.org) and the author or co-author of 6 books on the terrorism and the Middle East.Source: Hudson New York
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 'There is an internal cultural jihad under way against our great nation'
December 15, 2008
A lawsuit has been filed against the Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. over Wall Street bailout money going to American International Group, which is funding Shariah-compliant insurance and products.
WND reported a week ago that AIG has benefited from two major bailout agreements with the U.S. government giving $152.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to the company. Then it confirmed it is stepping up its dealings with Islamic finance offering homeowners insurance that complies with Islam's religious Shariah laws.
According to an announcement at the time, Risk Specialists Companies, Inc., or RSC, a subsidiary of AIG Commercial Insurance, was introducing its Shariah-compliant Takaful Homeowners Policy to the U.S.
The Shariah-compliant policy is underwritten through RSC member company A.I. Risk Specialists Insurance, Inc., in conjunction with Lexington Insurance Co. and in association with AIG Takaful Enaya.
"Takaful" is based on Quranic principles of "Ta'awon" – or mutual assistance. The term originates from the Arabic word "Kafalah," meaning "joint guarantee." Similar to mutual insurance, where policyholders own a stake in the organization, members of a Takaful group pool their resources to help the neediest member, and losses are divided among them.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to stop AIG from using any taxpayer funds distributed as part of the Wall Street bailout, because of its Islamic-based businesses and activities.
"This lawsuit not only raises significant constitutional issues, it also shines a light on serious national security issues that our own government has created by direct financial support and ownership of a business that supports anti-American, radical Islamic activities," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, which is handling the case.
"Make no mistake, there is an internal cultural jihad under way against our great nation, and I fear that many of our political leaders are unwittingly complicit in it," he said today.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Michigan on behalf of Kevin J. Murray, a former Marine infantryman who served two tours of duty in Iraq.
It challenges the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008" as being unconstitutional, because of the $40 billion in taxpayer funds used to support the U.S. government's new majority ownership interest in AIG.
The company's "Islamic religious activities" are "anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-American," the lawsuit says, and violate the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause.
According to the lawsuit, through the use of taxpayer funds, the U.S. government acquired a majority (79.9 percent) ownership interest in AIG, and as part of the bailout, Congress provided money to fund and financially support AIG and its financial activities. AIG, which is now a government-owned company, engages in Shariah-compliant financing, which subjects certain financial activities, including investments, to the dictates of Islamic law and the Islamic religion. This specifically includes any profits or interest obtained through such financial activities.
The lawsuit said an important element of Shariah-compliant financing is a form of obligatory charitable contribution called zakat, which is a religious tax for assisting those that "struggle [jihad] for Allah." The amount of this tax is up to 20 percent, depending upon the source of the wealth. The zakat religious tax is used to support Islamic "charities," some of which have ties to terrorist organizations that are hostile to the United States and all other "infidels," which includes Christians and Jews.
"The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, recently convicted for providing material support to Islamic terrorist organizations, is an example of an Islamic "charity" that qualifies for receipt of the zakat," the lawsuit said.
"Thus, as a direct consequence of the taxpayer funds appropriated and expended to purchase and financially support AIG, the U.S. government is now the owner of a corporation engaged in the business of collecting religious taxes to fund interests adverse to the United States, Christians, Jews, and all other 'infidels' under Islamic law," the lawsuit said.
"This lawsuit is as much about protecting constitutional principles as it is about protecting our national security and preventing another 9/11 – whether it be overt through flying planes into buildings or covert through appropriating taxpayer money to fund an Islamic cultural jihad," Thompson said.
AIG's Shariah program was set up with the help of a three-person Shariah Advisory Board, with members from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Pakistan. According to AIG, the role of its Shariah authority "is to review [its] operations, supervise its development of Islamic products, and determine Shariah compliance of these products and [its] investments," the lawsuit said.
But of particular interest Pakistani Board member, Muhammed Imran Ashraf Usmani, the case said.
"Usmani is the son and devoted disciple of Sheik Mufti Taqi Usmani, the leading authority on Shariah financing who, in 1999, authored a book dedicating an entire chapter on why a Western Muslim must engage in violent jihad against his own country – even if Muslims are given equality and freedom to practice their religion and to proselytize," the lawsuit said.
Murray was one of those who "answered the call" when Islamic terrorists, "guided by principles of Shariah-mandated jihad against 'infidels,' attacked and killed thousands of innocent American civilians,'" the case said.
"Yet today, Murray's federal tax dollars are being used to advance the very cause of global jihad he and his fellow servicemen were placed in harm's way to overcome," the lawsuit said.
"Shariah explicitly demands the murder of infidels like Kevin Murray and the destruction of the United States, which Murray took an oath to defend. Shariah is the same law that is used to justify beheadings, stonings, and amputation for petty crimes in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan, which Americans deplore," the complaint said.
WND also reported earlier that the U.S. Treasury was teaching a course called "Islamic Finance 101."
"It is clear," said Thompson, "oil money is purchasing the sovereignty of the United States and whatever loyalty to America these greedy financial institutions, corporations, and universities have left. It's up to the American people to take back their country from those who so easily betray its interests."
Jeffrey Imm of Family Security Matters and the Anti-Jihad League of America has written extensively on the subject, warning that AIG would expand its Shariah products in the U.S. He has even created a petition demanding the Federal Reserve, Securities Exchange Commission and Department of the Treasury require AIG to divest itself of its Shariah businesses.
"The Sharia legal codification is intended to enforce discriminatory and segregationist practices against women and non-Muslims and to suppress the liberties of those living in Islamic theocracies," Imm writes."... Sharia is incompatible with democratic values and the inalienable right that 'all men are created equal.'"
A part of AIG's government bailout includes its Takaful Sharia-based insurance business, its divisions promoting Sharia finance and Sharia mutual trusts.
"You own it," Imm declares. "That's where your tax dollars are going today."
Imm warns investing in Shariah-compliant businesses is dangerous for the U.S. When the government first considered providing a bailout to AIG it should have first required the company to divest itself of Shariah-based businesses, he wrote. Source: WorldNetDaily H/T: LGF2
By Joe Kaufman  Starting December 21st, Rosemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, will play host to two organizations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the inspiration for so many of the world’s worst terror groups. The organizations, the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), have an extremist history of their own. Soon Chicago, December 2007, will become a part of that history, as the Hyatt Regency O’Hare packs in thousands of Muslims that refuse to speak out against those that use their religion as a means to commit violence. Most people in America are unaware of the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is not just an overseas group – that it’s here in America, as well. Indeed the group has had a presence in the United States starting in the 1950s. MAS was established in 1992, because MB leaders thought that previously created American MB groups were becoming too assimilated into Western society. ICNA was founded in 1971 as an embodiment of MB Pakistan or Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Both MAS and ICNA use the internet to spread violent forms of bigotry. MAS is currently propagating material via the internet calling for the murder of Jews and the waging of war against non-Muslims, while ICNA runs a website, Why Islam (WI), where WI leaders and members target Jews and discuss the merits of Hamas and Hezbollah. Also, both MAS and ICNA have had individuals involved in their organizations that are serving prison sentences after having been charged with terrorist activity. Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, the former Communications Director for MAS, was convicted of conspiring with Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Al-Qaeda related group, to attack Americans and Indians overseas. And four members of the ICNA-related ‘Houston Taliban’ were charged with jihad training with firearms for the purpose of joining the Taliban to, as well, attack Americans overseas; so far, three of the four have been found guilty. Furthermore, ICNA has been involved in terror financing. When the Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF), a Pakistani “charity” run by JI, gave $99 thousand to the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, in August of 2006, ICNA was the group’s top donor. As well, shortly before and shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the Southeast division of ICNA (ICNA-SE) was soliciting funds for Al-Qaeda related groups via the web. None of the above has raised any eyebrows in Chicago, as the city will be opening its arms to MAS and ICNA for their 6th Annual Convention, commencing on December 21st and ending December 25th. Included in the gathering, much like all of the groups’ past conventions, will be a large list of the country’s most outspoken Islamic radicals. This year’s event features: • Jamal Badawi. Badawi was named by the U.S. government as an “Unindicted Co-conspirator” for the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial that began in July, which dealt with millions of dollars in fundraising for Hamas. Badawi has authored a book entitled Gender Equity in Islam, in which he justifies the beating of women by their husbands. • Jamal Said. Said is the imam of the Mosque Foundation, located in Bridgeview, Illinois, an Islamic center with ties to Hamas. Said served as the Treasurer of the Al Aqsa Educational Fund, an entity identified by the FBI as a Hamas “charitable” front. Said, like Badawi, was also named as an “Unindicted Co-conspirator” for the HLF trial. • Raed Tayeh. Tayeh is a former Executive Board Member of the Chicago chapter of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), the now defunct American propaganda wing of Hamas. In November 2001, Tayeh was fired from his job as a Congressional aide to then-U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney, when a letter of his was published by a newspaper accusing Jewish lawmakers of exhibiting inappropriate loyalty to the State of Israel. • Zulfiqar Ali Shah. Shah is the former South Asia Director of KindHearts, an Islamic “charity” that was shut down by the U.S. government in February 2006 for raising millions of dollars for Hamas. In a June 2001 article in Islam Online, Shah is quoted as saying, “If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib (The Prophet's city of Medina), where the Jews used to live until their expulsion by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). That’s the pinnacle of their motives.” While MAS and ICNA are portrayed in the media as “mainstream” and “moderate,” their involvement in extremist activity makes them anything but. They are groups that openly promote violent organizations and propagate hate towards non-Muslims. This is evidenced in the type of speakers they invite to their events; in the way they use the internet to spread radical Islam; and in their members’ direct involvement with terrorist groups. Yet, regardless of this, MAS and ICNA have built up a tremendous following. When the American public asks why Muslims haven't mobilized against the radicals in their community, one only has to look upon the MAS ICNA convention, where thousands of Muslims in attendance will be turning a blind eye to violence in the name of their religion. The theme they are using for this year's event is “Islam Universal Message & Universal Values.” If the Islam that is portrayed by MAS and ICNA - one that is violent and intolerant of others - truly is the religion's universal message and values, then there can be no place for it in our society or anywhere else. However, if the religion of MAS, ICNA and the Muslim Brotherhood is a false expression of Islam, then Muslims of good conscious need to come out from hiding, stand up and say so - loud and clear - so that all in their community, radical and otherwise, hear their voices. “Chicago beware!” Source: FrontPage MagazineH/T: The Intelligence Summit
Reader Donna D. describes herself as "HLF trial watcher" and has previously forwarded her observations of the HLF jury as it deliberated in Dallas. The jury ultimately proved to be hung on charges submitted to it against all but one of the defendants, who was acquitted of all charges but one. Over the weekend she drew our attention to the Dallas Morning News article by Jason Trahan on a possible retrial. Trahan's. Only one juror -- William Neal -- has publicly spoken out regarding the government's case and the jury's deliberations. Neal has ardently attacked the government case as well as certain of his fellow jurors, whose education and insight he finds lacking. He sounds like he imbibes his news and attitude from National Public Radio. Donna dubs Neal "the bully juror." The Dallas Morning News article quotes Neal's interview (audio accessible at the link) with a local Dallas radio station. Donna writes: The Dallas Morning News article cut out some Neal's most revealing statements -- see comparison excerpts below. If anyone doubts this case should be tried again, they just need to listen to this bully juror's interviews. As Jason Trahan noted in his article, "Mr. Neal admitted he ran roughshod over most other panelists, whose intellectual abilities he has criticized." Among other things, Neal has gone on record to say that he didn’t even think the defense needed to stand up and present a case; that the prosecution case was “a waste of time;” that the case was only about George Bush. “George Bush shut them down and he's just trying to make sure that he gets that case closed." He said the reason for the loss of the first juror after a week was the juror thought they were guilty and just did not want to argue about it any more. He is taking credit for having turned the jury away from their own opinions that the defendants were guilty. WHAT THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS PUBLISHED: Neal: "A lot of the jurors couldn't even say words that had four syllables," Mr. Neal said. "A lot of these people were blue collar. You had people of secluded lifestyles. They have no idea of worldly affairs....What the prosecution was showing us was fear." WHAT JUROR WILLIAM NEAL ACTUALLY SAID un-CUT EXCERPT FROM RADIO INTERVIEW: Neal: "A lot of the jurors couldn't even say words that had four syllables," Mr. Neal said. “They just picked a jury based on socio-economical reasons.” "A lot of these people were blue collar—working UPS, working cafeteria, uh, cashier. You had people of secluded lifestyles." “They had no idea of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They have no idea about worldly affairs and to get them and show them bombs and show them the kids, ‘Well, that’s not our lifestyle so we got to vote them guilty because of that.’ That’s the whole reason. Honestly if I had not been on that jury this would have been a different case.” More illuminating William Neal comments from the radio interview: KRLD: Do you think [the large number of charges] was by design? Neal: Oh course it was by design. KRLD: The reason I ask is that the more confusing it is the harder it is going to be to get a verdict and you have to wonder, “Well is it by design because we realized after we started this thing, we’re Mike Nifong here? We can’t make the case? They didn’t say the stripper is a nappy headed ho? Or is it a case of, we will just throw so much out there they’ll be so confused, they’ll have to go with us because they don’t want to take a chance. Neal: That’s exactly right. KRLD: So it’s the latter then? Neal: "A lot of the jurors couldn't even say words that had four syllables," Mr. Neal said. “They just picked a jury based on socio-economical reasons.” "A lot of these people were blue collar—working UPS, working cafeteria, uh, cashier. You had people of secluded lifestyles. “They had no idea of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They have no idea about worldly affairs and to get them and show them bombs and show them the kids, ‘Well, that’s not our lifestyle so we got to vote them guilty because of that.’ That’s the whole reason. Honestly if I had not been on that jury this would have been a different case.” KRLD: But on a jury don’t you want to go in with no preconceived notions?....Maybe the best thing in this case was to have people who don’t know about the background, so they can hear both sides equally? Neal: Well, yes and no. I think what the prosecution was showing us was fear. The fear of being blown up, a fear of bombing to sway that ignorance. Okay we’re going to show them the bomb belt and the kids running around with little guns and emulating Hamas heroes—whatever—that was the fear coming into it. That was a huge part of the prosecution’s attempt to get these guys guilty. *** KRLD: Just looking at this in a legal sense, you have both sides playing on emotion. Here’s needy kids, they need to eat. Here’s that same kid with a bomb belt on, he’s going to blow you up. So you have both sides playing on emotional levels here and in all of that you have to hope and pray that the people in the jury can see beyond all that and see what the real live, touching facts are. Neal: For the most part a lot of the jury did believe that. Like I said earlier, a lot of people felt that way, they just didn’t vote that way. But the last hold out, she was so wishy washy. If verdicts were closed, we’d be in by nine and out by five. She was that wishy washy. Thursday she’d change her mind and Monday she’d change her mind again. In fact, she even tried to change her mind again when the judge came back to greet us after the case was over. KRLD: It seems like with someone like that the idea would be to excuse yourself from the jury, and say, I just don’t think I’m qualified to make decisions. Neal: She was just after the check. She lost her job during this case. She was there for vacation and checks. She was flim flaming all over the place. Donna refers to another interview with Neal (video at the link) and comments: In the post trial interview with Rebecca Lopez of WFAA, Neal made mention of “an awkward moment” when the judge came back to greet the jurors after the trial, saying she said, "I don’t understand." Now he is saying she was trying to change her mind again at that time. Really painting the hold out juror as ignorant, devious, lazy, just out for the check. This guy is a complete jerk. That lady may have only be a cafeteria cashier but she at least paid attention during the trial, continually took notes and didn’t fold to his bullying as all the other jurors did. Donna also cites this Texas Lawyer article on the jury deliberations and comments: Was the holdout juror as “ignorant” as HLF juror William Neal has been feeding a too-willing to listen and just accept press? [Paul D. Stickney, the assigned U.S. magistrate judge on the case] Stickney recalls that earlier on Oct. 18, one juror seemed upset and concerned about the jury's decisions. Stickney says she asked if the individual jurors would be polled. On Oct. 22, before the 10 a.m. scheduled proceeding, juror No. 7 wrote a note to the judge asking: "1. Are we going to be polled? 2. Does undecided mean (not guilty). If we are not going to be polled I would like to give my statement with the court reporter there on some of charges with the defendants will you please let me know...." Source: PowerLine BlogH/T: Nice Deb
 By Steven EmersonOctober 29, 2007 -- THE trial of four key figures with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development ended last week with a hung jury. Holy Land's defenders and allies are trumpeting the mistrial as a huge victory. Yet the defendants remain in legal jeopardy, with a new trial almost assured - and the prosecution has, at a minimum, closed a lucrative funding channel for the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas deserve praise for bringing this case in the first place. The trial record conclusively demonstrated that Holy Land and several of its unindicted co-conspirators - including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - grew out of Hamas. Moreover, it showed that they spent the better part of 15 years deceiving government agencies and the media, hiding their true goals under a mask of work for charity and civil rights. To be sure, the mistrial was portrayed as another in a series of setbacks for the government's anti-terror prosecution strategy. Notably, several jurors seemed to discount the testimony of an Israeli security expert, testifying under an assumed name, apparently on the belief that Israelis cannot be trusted on Palestinian matters. Some jurors may even have bought the defense argument that anti-Israel terror isn't truly terrorism, but merely "resisting the occupation." One juror told the Dallas Morning News of his difficulty in describing Hamas as a terrorist group, stating, "Part of it does terrorist acts, but it's a political movement. It's an uprising." The highly technical nature of some evidence likely also played a role. Whatever the reasons, prosecutors failed to persuade the jury, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, that Holy Land and its officials deliberately routed money to Hamas through a set of Palestinian charities. But the jury was also unable to fully exonerate the defendants, and the government has announced its intent to retry the case. Moreover, the trial uncovered numerous ugly secrets of Holy Land and its leaders. For starters, it exposed as lies their oft-made claims to not be supporting Hamas. The evidence clearly linked Holy Land and CAIR to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the hard-line Egyptian Islamist umbrella group and godfather of every Sunni terrorist group from Hamas to al Qaeda. Former Holy Land CEO Shukri Abu Baker, for example, told a Dallas Morning News reporter in 1996, "We were never associated with Hamas." Yet Baker's own credit-card bills show he and other Holy Land defendants repeatedly covered travel expenses for Hamas leaders - including Mohammed Siyam and Mahmud Zahar - in the early 1990s. Siyam, a Hamas sheikh who has stated that jihad is the only way to liberate Palestine and that "America is the sworn enemy and it is from her that the Jews take the weapons and soldiers," and Zahar, the Hamas foreign minister recently deposed as a result of the factional infighting in Gaza, spoke at Holy Land fund-raisers in the United States and South America that generated tens of thousands of dollars. (True, transactions with and support for Hamas had not yet been banned - but those facts still stand in direct contrast with Baker's public denials.) But the trial's biggest revelations was the full transcript of a secret 1993 meeting in Philadelphia of "The Palestine Committee" - a group of Hamas members and supporters. Baker and co-defendant Ghassan Elashi (who's already been sentenced in a different trial to six-plus years for, in part, laundering money for Hamas) participated. At no time during it did either man reject Hamas' ideology or call for it to temper its violence. Overall, the transcript shows that Holy Land was an active player in a larger Muslim Brotherhood network aimed at organizing support in America for Hamas. Also at the meeting were two men who would later be founders of CAIR - Omar Ahmad, the group's first chairman, and Nihad Awad, who is now its executive director. Ahmad convened the Philadelphia gathering: "This meeting was called for by the Palestine Committee," he said, "in order to have a seminar or a meeting to the brothers present here today in order to study the situation in light of the latest developments on the Palestinian arena, its effects and impact on our work here in America." The transcripts (from an FBI recording) make it clear that all present opposed any peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in fact, wanted a Palestinian state on the '48 borders, Palestinian code for the destruction of Israel: Omar Ahmad: We've always demanded the 1948 territories. I mean, we demanded . . . Unidentified speaker: Yes, but we don't say that publicly. You cannot say it publicly. In front of the Americans . . . Ahmad: No, we didn't say that to the Americans. CAIR seems to hope that, by trumpeting the mistrial as an exoneration, it can bury these disclosures. It has a lot to lose: Numerous people in government and the media, overly eager to find a "moderate" Muslim voice, have long accepted CAIR's denials of its radicalism and its ties to terrorism. The first trial produced copious amounts of evidence to the contrary; if people actually pay attention, CAIR might lose its "moderate" label even in the pages of The New York Times. Source: New York PostH/T: Investigative Project on Terrorism
Terrorism is a military problem; civilian laws do not apply. Time and time again, civilian law enforcement system proved impotent when it comes to fighting terrorism. Sami Omar al-Hussayen, Sami al-Arian, and now Holy Land Foundation. Time and time again, facilitators of murderous acts of terrorism are fully or partially acquitted because it is next to impossible to prove terrorist intent beyond the reasonable doubt. War is the key word in the War on Terror, which means that military must deal with this issue. The sooner American government starts utilizing military in dealing with military problems, instead of dumping those problems on law enforcement, the sooner we can reverse the losing trend in the War on Terror.
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