posted on March 25, 2002 02:24:44 PM new
The target of an anti-terrorist raid in the United States last week
provided funds for an Islamic group with close ties to the
Republican party and the White House.
The Safa trust, a Saudi-backed charity, has provided funds for a
political group called the Islamic Institute, which was set up to
mobilise support for the Republican party. It shares an office in
Washington with the Republican activist Grover Norquist.
The institute, founded in 1999 to win influence in the Republican
party, has helped to arrange meetings between senior Bush
officials and Islamic leaders, according to the report in
Newsweek magazine. Its s chairman, Khaled Saffuri, and Mr
Norquist cooperated to arrange the meetings.
The trust gave $20,000 (£14,000) to the institute, which also
received $20,000 from a board member of the Success
Foundation, according to the report. The institute has also
received money from abroad, including$200,000 from Qatar and
$55,000 from Kuwait. The institute says that none of the money
came with strings attached.
posted on March 25, 2002 04:20:31 PM new"The target of an anti-terrorist raid in the United States last week provided funds for an Islamic group with close ties to the Republican party and the White House."
Yes, yes, we know that the Republican Party and the White House have become the biggest terrorists in America today ... but does that make all of those Islamic groups culpable? Just because they want to cosey-up to Bush & Co. does not necessarily make that Islamic group a terrorist group itself. Guilt by association is all that's about!
posted on March 25, 2002 04:49:52 PM new
There may be more to this than meets the eye. Several days ago, journalist-turned-author Steven Emerson appeared on C-Span to speak in depth about his book, American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us. While Emerson may have several ulterior motives up his sleeve (like promoting The Investigative Project, a research group that he heads) some of the fact-based (as opposed to the speculative) aspects of his book have been accorded some attention:
From a review by K. Daniel Glover
"Groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Arab Youth Association Inc., which Emerson describes as "a venue for radical ideology to be disseminated in the American terrorist infrastructure," may not like to hear that they exist largely "to establish a zone of legitimacy" for terrorism. But to the extent that Emerson's characterizations are true—and he does provide plenty of supporting evidence—the nation's policy makers need to pay attention.
"American Jihad says that three terrorist groups have the most significant U.S. presence: Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. One of the appendices, arguably the book's greatest asset, provides snapshots of Islamic groups in the United States and the suspected roles they have played in "sponsoring martyrs" and providing a forum for incendiary speech against Jews and against America, among other targets.
"Both the main text and a second appendix, a map of the United States, illustrate the breadth of the terrorist threat within the country. Emerson pinpoints terrorist links not only in such major cities as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, and Boston, but also in the heartland—places such as Oklahoma City, Columbia, Mo., and Plainfield, Ind. The author also debunks the notion, which he once supported, that militancy attracts only poor, ill-educated people who lack opportunity, and is shunned by the privileged and educated."
Perhaps the FBI has begun to employ people who read, or at least watch educational tv...
