6-18-09 Daily Intel Report
The Selective Outrage of American Islamists
Islamist groups silent over slaughter of peaceful anti-government protesters in Iran
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1071/the-selective-outrage-of-americ...
When the Tunisian government moved to outlaw headscarves worn by Muslim women in 2006, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sprang into action to condemn the foreign government's policy. In a release, CAIR announced it was "urging all people of conscience to contact the government of Tunisia" to protest the restrictions. The stakes are quite a bit higher on the streets of Tehran this week. Yet, CAIR thus far has been unable to muster so much as a call for calm on both sides. Meanwhile, anti-government protesters are being beaten and even shot for the sin of peaceful demonstration. At least eight people have been killed thus far. IPT News, June 17, 2009
Related Topics: Muslim American Society (MAS), The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
9/11 Families: Obama Favors Saudi Terror Financiers Over Victims
Government brief argues it would be "unwarranted" for the Supreme Court to hear cases brought by the families against the Saudi royal family for financing the attacks
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1059/9-11-families-obama-favors-saud...
Families who lost loved ones on September 11 are angry over the news that the Obama Administration has intervened to prevent alleged Saudi terror financiers from lawsuits. On May 29 - just five days before President Obama made his first state visit to Saudi Arabia - Solicitor General Elena Kagan filed a brief arguing that it would be "unwarranted" for the Supreme Court to hear cases brought by the families against five of Saudi King Abdullah's closest relatives for financing the attacks. The group, named the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, charges that "five Saudi princes knowingly and intentionally provided financial support to al Qaeda waging war on America." IPT News, June 9, 2009
A Muslim Woman's Stand in the "War of Ideas"
Asra Nomani and "The Mosque in Morgantown"
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1063/a-muslim-womans-stand-in-the-wa...
She grew up in the college town, traveled the globe as a journalist and returned home seeking comfort in the familiar to raise her newborn son. But when former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani tried to pray in the main hall of Morgantown, West Virginia's new mosque, she was forcefully told she couldn't. Women had a separate prayer section. They also had their own entrance. Then she started hearing disturbing messages being preached during prayer services. "The West is on a dark path." "To love the Prophet is to hate those who hate him." Had this happened at a different point in her life, Nomani may have reacted with indifference. But two seminal - yet overlapping - moments in her life prompted her to take a stand. The first was the kidnapping and murder in Pakistan of her friend and Wall Street Journal colleague Daniel Pearl. IPT News, June 11, 2009
Disclosure Proves MAS Paid for Ellison's Hajj Trip
Muslim Brotherhood front group had earlier denied sponsoring the trip
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/disclosure-proves-mas-p...
The conflicting, changing stories about who paid for Congressman Keith Ellison's pilgrimage to Mecca for the Hajj last year seems to have been sorted out by the folks at Powerline. Despite denials from the organization, Ellison's required travel disclosures show the Muslim American Society (MAS) financed the two-week trip last November/December. Federal prosecutors say MAS was created "as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America." MAS had issued a firm denial that it, a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt charity, paid for a politician's global travel. IPT News, June 16, 2009
Wolf Takes to House Floor to Rebut CAIR
Details CAIR's ties to terrorists and its habit of attacking critics as Islamophobes
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/wolf-takes-to-house-flo...
A war of words between U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) escalated June 12 when Wolf took to the House floor and spent more than 40 minutes detailing CAIR's ties to terrorists and its habit of attacking critics as Islamophobes. It started after Wolf wrote to the FBI Feb. 2 seeking more details about the Bureau's decision to cut off contact with CAIR based upon evidence brought forth in the terror-support trial against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Wolf wanted confirmation that the policy was, in fact, in place, and whether it was subject to change. He also asked about the depth of financial support CAIR received from foreign sources. IPT News. June 15, 2009
The Need to Confront Muslim Anti-Semitism at Home and Abroad
Holocaust Museum shooter's racist and anti-Semitic views shared by Islamists in America and the Middle East
Last week's shooting attack at the Holocaust Museum by a white supremacist prompted an insightful column from Washington Post writer Richard Cohen Tuesday. Alleged shooter James W. von Brunn's racist and anti-Semitic views thankfully are considered the rantings of a crackpot to most Americans, Cohen writes. But as President Obama seeks new dialogue with Muslims throughout the world, Cohen argues it's necessary to call out bigotry that runs rampant through the culture. He notes it is in textbooks and popular media outlets: "There is, in fact, nothing that von Brunn professed that is not commonly heard or published in the Middle East. Do Jews control world finance, media, international organizations and the United States itself? Of course. Are they capable of the most foul deeds, including the infamous 'blood libel,' which means using the blood of non-Jewish children in the preparation of traditional foods? Again, of course." IPT News, June 17, 2009
CAIR Losing Support from North to South
People catching on to CAIR and its duplicitous dealings
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/cair-losing-support-fro...
Separate events in Florida and Minnesota could indicate that more people are catching on to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its duplicitous dealings. In Tampa, Mayor Pam Iorio announced that she was breaking a pattern of designating "CAIR Day" in the city, as she had done since 2005. The decision followed protests from activist Joe Kaufman at Americans Against Hate, but Iorio insisted the decision resulted from her own research. More significantly, dozens of people in Minneapolis protested outside a CAIR ice cream social for discouraging local Somalis from cooperating with the FBI. The protesters were friends and family of a local teenager believed to have been killed by terrorists in Somalia. IPT News, June 12, 2009
Omeish Campaign Crashes in VA Primary
Omeish wins 16 percent of the vote and is placed a distant third in the four-candidate race
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/omeish-campaign-crashes...
Esam Omeish's bid to become the first Muslim elected to Virginia's House of Delegates fell far short June 9. Omeish placed a distant third in the four-candidate field to primary winner Mark Keam, a former chief counsel for Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and attorney John Carroll. Keam won with 55 percent of the vote and faces Republican attorney Jim Hyland in the general election to represent Northern Virginia's District 35. Omeish won 16 percent while Carroll won 18 percent. IPT News, June 9, 2009
Clinton Call on Obama's Speech Includes Jihad Advocate
Islamist candidate praised Palestinians for choosing "the jihad way" to liberation
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1055/clinton-call-on-obamas-speech-i...
On the eve of a Democratic primary election in Virginia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has handed a public relations bonanza to an Islamist candidate who has praised Palestinians for choosing "the jihad way" to liberation. On June 4, Clinton invited Omeish to participate in a national conference call to discuss President Obama's Cairo speech aimed at repairing America's image with Muslims. In that speech, Obama made clear demands for Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist: "Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed." IPT News, June 4, 2009
Developments in the War on Terror: Docket Watch
Homegrown Terrorist Convicted In Atlanta Trial
Prosecutors say defendant proposed attacking military bases, oil storage facilities and refineries
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/homegrown-terrorist-con...
U.S. District Judge William Duffey this morning convicted Syed Haris Ahmed of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist organizations. Evidence introduced at Ahmed's trial last week showed he went to Canada to meet with members of the "Toronto 18," an accused Canadian terror cell, in 2005. They discussed possible targets for a terrorist attack on the United States. Ahmed and an alleged co-conspirator, Ehsan Islam Sadequee, went to Washington in 2005 and shot crude surveillance video of targets including the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. His attorney, Jack Martin, tried to dismiss his Ahmed's actions as "childish" and unlikely to cause any genuine harm. But the government countered by pointing to Ahmed's detailed confession, in which he proposed attacking military bases, oil storage facilities and refineries. (Syed Haris Ahmed—Pentagon Surveillance Video) IPT News, June 10, 2009
Arkansas Shooter Studied Under Yemeni Radicals
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad said "he was mad at the U.S. Military because of what they had done to Muslims in the past"
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1050/arkansas-shooter-studied-under-...
The investigation into the man accused of killing an Army recruiter and wounding a second soldier June 1 in Little Rock, Ark. may lead to a Salafi preacher in Yemen's tribal area, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a convert to Islam, is accused of killing William Long and wounding Quinton Ezeagwula outside an Army recruiting center. He is charged with one count of murder and 15 counts of committing terrorist acts. Police found several types of guns in Muhammad's black Ford Sport Trac, including what is believed to be the murder weapon. "Mr. Muhammad stated that he was mad at the U.S. Military because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," the police report said. IPT News, June 2, 2009
HLF Founders Sentenced to Long Prison Terms
Sentencing Hearings End the Largest Terror Financing Case in the United States
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1046/hlf-founders-sentenced-to-long-...
A federal judge imposed what could amount to life sentences on three former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on Wednesday for illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," said U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis. He sentenced former HLF Chief Executive Officer Shukri Abu Baker and co-founder Ghassan Elashi to 65 years in prison. Longtime HLF chairman Mohamed El-Mezain, who was convicted only on one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, received the maximum 15-year sentence. Another defendant, Mufid Abdelqader, 49, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. HLF's New Jersey Office Director, Abdelrahman Odeh, received a 15-year sentence. IPT News, May 27, 2009
(Read more: HLF Case in Their Own Words)
Al-Moayad and Zayed Face Previously Reversed Charges in US
US government decided to retry the Yemeni nationals after terrorism convictions were overturned for the two in October 2008
Sheikh Mohammed Hassan al-Mayad and his personal aide Mohammed Zayed appeared in the US Court of Appeals in New York June 16. Last month, the lawyer of the two Yemenis said a retrial was set for the two in June. Lawyer Robert Boyle said the US had decided to retry the two Yemeni nationals, in a move which comes after terrorism convictions were overturned for the two in October 2008. Early last month, al-Moayad and Zayed were transferred from Colorado where they had spent about six years together in jail. The Yemeni cleric and his personal assistant faces the previous charges which were reversed when a US court found out last year they did not receive a fair trial. Yemen News Agency (SABA), June 16, 2009
Feds Must Bring Abdelrazik Home, Federal Court Rules
Judge concludes that ministers and bureaucrats have treated Canadian shabbily and trampled on his rights
The Harper government is violating Abousfian Abdelrazik's constitutional rights and must fly him home immediately, a Federal Court judge ruled June 4 in a landmark decision. Mr. Justice Russel Zinn ordered the government to bring Mr. Abdelrazik home even though the United Nations has listed him as an al-Qaeda operative, finding that ministers and bureaucrats have treated him shabbily and trampled on his rights. Mr. Abdelrazik, who has been marooned in Sudan for nearly six years, "is as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists," Judge Zinn said. The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2009
Jeopardy Doubled? Think Twice...
The rule of law mandates the judicial process go forward in Megahed case
Youssef Megahed, an Egyptian former engineering student at the University of South Florida in Tampa, was acquitted in April of Federal terrorism-related felony charges. Days after his acquittal, Special Agents from DHS' Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Megahed for removal (deportation) violations, reportedly based on evidence that is essentially the same as that presented in his criminal trial. Predictably, there has been an outcry from various individuals and groups protesting the immigration arrest and detention as unfair and tantamount to double jeopardy. Counterterrorism Blog, June 4, 2009
Romanian-American Sentenced to 3 Years in Iran Jet Parts Plot
Second Defendant, a naturalized US Citizen from Iran, was sentenced in May to 17 months
The Romanian-born owner of a U.S. aviation company was sentenced June 11 to nearly three years in prison for conspiring to ship parts for fighter jets and other military aircraft to Iran, prosecutors said. Traian Bujduveanu pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to export goods in violation of the U.S. embargo against Iran. Bujduveanu and his company, Plantation, Florida-based Orion Aviation, were charged last year along with another aviation company owner, Hassan Keshari and his Kesh Air International, in a plot to help Iran build up its military. Prosecutors said Bujduveanu received e-mailed orders from Keshari requesting specific aircraft parts for buyers in Iran. The parts were shipped through a company in Dubai to the buyers using false shipping documents, they said. Reuters, June 11, 2009
International Developments
After Election Defeat, Hizballah Refuses to Disarm
Christian voters reluctant to vote for Hizballah, who they blame for dragging them into war with Israel
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/06/after-election-defeat-h...
Despite polls predicting a Hizballah victory, Lebanese voters rejected the Shi'ite radical group and its political allies at the ballot box June 7. In the new Lebanese Parliament, the moderate March 14 movement, which governs Lebanon today, will likely have 71 seats compared to 57 for the Hizballah-led March 8 organization. This is nearly identical to the breakdown in the current Parliament, where the March 14 bloc headed by Sunni Muslim businessman Sa'ad Hariri holds 70 seats. With Druze and Sunni Muslims breaking decisively for the March 14 movement, and Shi'ite voters supporting candidates from Hizballah and the pro-Syrian Amal movement, both sides courted Christian voters. Many of these Christians proved reluctant to vote for candidates aligned with Hizballah, who they blame for dragging them into war with Israel. IPT News, June 9, 2009
Hamas Thwarts Attack on Carter
Group affiliated with al Qaeda planned the attack
Palestinian security officials in Gaza said Tuesday they thwarted an attempt to target former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's convoy. At noon, Palestinian security personnel said they discovered two bombs at the Erez border crossing used by Carter's convoy to access the Gaza Strip, officials told the daily newspaper Maariv. The security officials told Maariv the bombs were found after Carter entered Gaza, indicating the perpetrators intended to detonate them when his convoy left the area. The officials said a group affiliated with al-Qaeda planned the attack, and said members of the Hamas security forces were dispatched to the site to defuse the bombs, Maariv said.
United Press International, June 16, 2009
RCMP Outreach Follies?
CAIR-CAN, a chapter of the US indicted co-conspirator outfit, CAIR, invited to participate in RCMP's national security outreach efforts
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1067/rcmp-outreach-follies
They say the Mounties always get their man. But do they sometimes get the wrong imam? This is one of many questions coming out of the second annual "Muslims of Tomorrow 2009" conference sponsored in part by Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police on June 13. A product of efforts by the RCMP National Security Program in British Columbia, and something called the "RCMP National Security Youth Advisory Council (BC)," the initiative reflects the shaky history of the Force's involvement in Islamic outreach. Mounties rushed into outreach following 9/11, and the results were not always pretty. IPT News, June 12, 2009
Geert Wilders Calls for Criminal Muslims to be Deported
Dutch politician also calls to ban all Muslim immigration to Europe
In an interview with Geert Wilders on Danish DR2 Wilders calls to ban all Muslim immigration. As for the Muslims already in Europe, if they commit crimes, call for Sharia or Jihad, Wilders says they should be deported. Islam in Europe, June 15, 2009
Al-Qaeda linked Terrorist Network in Gaza behind Failed Terrorist Attack on Nahal Oz Fuel Terminal
Terrorist network website serviced by several companies, including one based in the US
On June 8, IDF forces thwarted an attempt to perpetrate a combined showcase terrorist attack near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. The terrorist attack took place when an IDF force operating near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal in north Gaza Strip noticed several terrorists setting IEDs along the border fence. Assisted by IDF helicopters, the force shot at the terrorists. It appears that five terrorists were killed and several others were injured in the clash. The Israeli forces sustained no casualties. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a network referring to itself as Jund Ansar Allah, which announced its establishment in the Gaza Strip in November 2008 and identifies itself as ideologically affiliated with global jihad. Intelligence Terrorism Information Center, June 14, 2009
SPOTLIGHT on...
The Muslim Brotherhood
Ramifications of a Possibly Armed Muslim Brotherhood
By IPT News
An Egyptian newspaper claims the Muslim Brotherhood may have constituted a large, well-armed wing, with perhaps thousands of operatives, and its purpose is to engage in terrorist operations.
The report, published May 27 in Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm, carried the headline, "Why is Security Silent About the Secret Armed Organization of the Brotherhood?" A potential mission for this Muslim Brotherhood armed division would be to send 10,000 trained fighters to south Lebanon (Hezbollah territory) and to Gaza to attack Israel. Author Hussaneyn Kuroum notes there are some Muslim Brotherhood leaders who refute the existence of an armed wing, but the current Secretary General (Guide) Mahdi Akef, has made statements clearly indicating that the organization has such an armed element. The article questions what the Egyptian security services may or may not know about this unit.
Kuroum cites an interview in a separate Egyptian publication with Brotherhood opponent Wahid Hamid, who argues Akef's brash talk has meaning:
"He said that he is prepared to send to South Lebanon tens of thousands of fighters. Will he send them with clubs and swords? Or will they be armed in a modern fashion, besides there being trained to fight? Mahdi Akef also said, 'I am prepared to send fighters to Gaza.' Good. He'll send them with what and how? Sure, armed and trained. The matter is clear. It can be easily concluded."
The public suggestion in a respected, privately-owned Egyptian media source that the Muslim Brotherhood has a significant armed branch should be of keen interest to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies. If this is true, it should put to rest any consideration by U.S. officialdom to engage the Muslim Brotherhood in substantial dialogue. It would seemingly weigh in favor of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist organization based in Egypt. It was founded in 1928 with the goal of establishing an Islamic Caliphate under Shari'ah (Islamic law). The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has extensively documented the background and development of the Muslim Brotherhood here. The Muslim Brotherhood is an outlawed organization in Egypt; however, it wields significant political power and holds a number of seats in the country's parliament. Elements within the U.S. government, particularly some officials in the State Department, have supported dialogue with the Brotherhood, while other U.S. officials have proposed designating the Brotherhood as an FTO.
Advocates of dialogue argue that the Brotherhood in recent times has "moderated" and, at least in part, embraced democracy. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has documented repeated instances in which Muslim Brotherhood leaders have publicly espoused support for violence committed by various Islamic terrorist groups when that violence is focused against Jews, "Zionists" and "occupiers," including U.S. military personnel in Iraq. The Brotherhood postures that jihad, including armed struggle, is the duty of every Muslim who is capable of performing it. For the Muslim Brotherhood, the ultimate goal of jihad is the subjugation of the entire world under Islam and Shari'ah law.
Several Islamist organizations in the United States derive from the Muslim Brotherhood. These include the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), the American Muslim Council (AMC), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). A number of the officials and members of some of these U.S. based organizations have been convicted or deported based on their involvement with, or support of, terrorism. Several of the organizations, themselves, have been under investigation for suspected links to terrorism support or have been named as unindicted coconspirators in the recently concluded Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial in Dallas, Texas wherein all the defendants and HLF itself were convicted on all charges, including counts directly related to supporting Hamas.
Last summer, the Brotherhood's Deputy Supreme Guide acknowledged there remains an active wing of the organization in the U.S. which "are part of the American society and they want to an active positive role in it." In response to an interviewer's question, Mohammed Habib acknowledged a "relationship" between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The existence of an armed Muslim Brotherhood should refocus the way the U.S. government engages the various U.S.-based organizations that are rooted in the Brotherhood. Surely, such organizations that have supportive or operational links to a foreign, armed militant group that is dedicated, through violence if necessary, to the establishment of an Islamic new world order should be high on the investigative target list of U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and security agencies.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires persons or organizations that act on behalf of a foreign government or a "foreign principal" to register with the Attorney General of the United States. Failure to register when one is a foreign agent may result in criminal and/or civil sanctions. A "foreign principal" can include a foreign political party or, "a partnership, association, corporation, organization, or other combination of persons organized under the laws of or having its principal place of business in a foreign country." It would appear the Muslim Brotherhood meets the definition of a foreign principal for purposes of FARA. If the Muslim Brotherhood has an armed branch devoted to conducting terrorist operations, investigating organizations within the U.S. that have supportive or operational ties to the MB becomes even more urgent.
