This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3135
August 28, 2007
Bush Administration's Coddling Of ISNA Continues Unabated
By William Mayer and Beila Rabinowitz
August 28, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It's been nearly two years since Bush confidante and State Dept. PR "expert" Karen Hughes visited the ISNA national convention held in Chicago, hat in hand, dripping dhimmitude [see Letters From The Home Front War On Terror - The Bush Administration's Serious Missteps Regarding ISNA].
At the time it was suggested that Ms. Hughes' purpose at the event was "engagement," a tired phrase which characterizes a mindset actively promoted by Muslim radicals, in which they are transformed into an aggrieved entitity, rather than being those in need of transformation [negating Hughes' claim of simple engagement, her office refused to disclose a transcript of her ISNA comments, believing it would prove that her presence there was anything but helpful].
This year the Justice Department is carrying on in Hughes' damaging tradition, spending an undisclosed amount in sponsorship fees to have a presence at the convention, ostensibly to provide information regarding Muslim civil rights, a contentious issue given the strategy employed by groups like ISNA and CAIR to brand any criticism of Islam or Muslims as Islamophobia, in an attempt to prevent the obvious link between a radical interpretation of the Quran and terrorism.
If anything, the decision by the Justice Department to sponsor a booth this year is all the more egregious, because now both ISNA and fellow travelers, CAIR have been named as unindicted co-conspirators in the largest terror prosecution in U.S. history, the Holy Land Foundation Hamas terror funding case, currently taking place in Dallas, TX.
As we noted in our above linked 2005 piece, ISNA is actively working with Saudi Wahhabists to control and radicalize U.S. mosques, the majority of which are part of the ISNA affiliated North American Islamic Trust, NAIT.
In hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism held October 14, 2003 J. Michael Waller an internationally renowned authority on terrorism declared that ISNA controls the ideological content of the majority [1,100 of 1,500] US mosques and that through its North American Islamic Trust [NAIT] owns or controls the physical assets of 75% of them.
That is a stranglehold; call it religious monopolism.
The control mechanism used against those not in the fold is simple and direct - the Wahhabis employ physical violence, storming into moderate Islamic congregations, assaulting and otherwise intimidating them.
"The dissidents tried to drive out the worshipers...knocking over a pregnant woman who later miscarried...the "scuffle" was one in a dramatic series of struggles at mosques throughout the country between fundamentalist and moderate Muslims...part of a Saudi-financed missionary project to spread the kingdom's harsh and highly political version of Islam, known as Wahhabism.[source Saudi form of Islam wars with moderates, http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/11/Worldandnation/Saudi_form_of_Islam_w.shtml, St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 2003]
ISNA has a myriad of associations which challenge its self-described moderation.
"...we found about a dozen charities, organizations or individuals under federal scrutiny for possible ties to terrorism that are linked in some way to ISNA - ties sources tell us have also placed ISNA under the federal microscope." [source Images In Conflict, http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=1518794&nav=DqSHJ2nO, WTHR Indianapolis]."ISNA is funded by the Saudis and is used by them - a tool to assert and maintain ideological control of the movement. While so engaged it spreads Wahhabism.
While the Bush administration has an exemplary record of dealing with direct foreign terror threats such as al-Qaeda, it has spoken with a querulous, inconsistent voice here at home regarding the purveyors of the "soft jihad," the stealth campaign led by groups such as ISNA, ICNA, CAIR and others which seek to steadily advance shari'a.
Because of this policy the administration's actions have provided increased legitimacy to individuals and organizations which constitute serious national security threats.
Fortunately as the Washington Times notes, not everyone at Justice has been browbeaten into conformity on this matter, "There is outrage among lawyers that the Department of Justice is funding a group named as a co-conspirator in a terrorist financing case," said a Justice lawyer who spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity" [source, U.S. sponsors Islamic convention, By Audrey Hudson, August 27, 2007, http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070827/NATION/108270070/1001]
Because these lapses constitute an ongoing pattern, the administration must be called to account for continually falling victim to the rhetoric of bad players - with the soon to transpire Justice Department's ill advised visit to the ISNA convention, being only the most recent example. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=isna82807%2Ehtm
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3135