CIA report reveals U.S. knew Saudi-backed charities tied to terrorism in 1996

Center for Security Policy ^ | July 31st, 2004

[Sabertooth]

The candidate Bush meets with Muslim leaders in Austin, Texas. Abdurahman Alamoudi (right of Bush) heads the sister organization of terror connected IIRO.

A CIA report from 1996, obtained by investigators for the lawyer suing a number of Islamic charities on behalf of victims of the 9/11 attacks, reveals that the U.S. government knew that over one-third of the Islamic charities operating throughout the world were aiding known terrorist groups.

Many of the charities detailed in the report are Saudi-sponsored and official Saudi government charities are implicated in supporting terrorism. These charities include the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and the Saudi High Commission, the official Saudi government organization for collecting and distributing aid, which the report accuses of ties with Hamas and Algerian extremists.

< -snip- >

In March 2001 Operation Green Quest, the interagency task force searching for terrorist financing, raided the U.S-based Success Foundation, which is alleged to be IIRO?s sister organization. Success is headed by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who has publicly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, and has been invited to White House briefings and met with the President (see picture).

[AzJohn]

the picture of President Bush with Saffuri and Alamoudi was taken at a meeting in July of 2002...

I think the 2002 date is probably a typo. I found this reference to a July, 2000 meeting. And if you look at the wording of the paragraph you cite, a 2002 date doesn't make sense.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

The pic in the article is from July of 2002.

The "candidate Bush" in 2002? Really?

[mylife]

USA vs alamuodi 9/17/03

[RedBloodedAmerican]

http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Defensewatch_100903_Wahhabi,00.html

[mylife]

Here is a july 12 2004 update on the situation from Daniel Pipes

[DianeDePoitiers]

Alamoudi was arrested a couple of months ago at an airport in London - he was carrying a very large sum of money from Quadafi, purportedly to finance a plot to assassinate Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He is now in U.S. custody and is providing information about terrorist activities to U.S. investigators. The charities he has been associated with in the U.S. have been shut down.

[mylife]

t took a while, but we finally got him. Now we need to turn our attention to the rest of his carefully structured terrorist engine. The bottom line must be: No more terrorist spies masquerading as spiritual counselors for our men and women under arms.

a wolf in sheeps clothes.. indeed

[Iam1ru1-2]

What a bunch of Horse Pucky. Read what you just wrote:

"Through a mix of civil-rights complaints, Old Left-style political coalitions and sheer persistence, Alamoudi helped inch the image of U.S.-based Islamists toward the political mainstream and induced politicians to embrace his organizations. He sought to secure the support first of the Clinton administration in seeking to repeal certain antiterrorist laws, but when Bill Clinton failed to deliver, Alamoudi defected to Bush, then governor of Texas. Alamoudi and other Muslim leaders met with Bush in Austin in July 2002, offering to support his bid for the White House in exchange for Bush's commitment to repeal certain antiterrorist laws."

Bush was Elected in Nov. of 2000, so how could Alamoudi switch to support Bush for "his bid for the White House in exchange for Bush's commitment to repeal certain antiterrorist laws in 2002?

[mylife]

oops that sept 29 2003

[mylife]

Arrggg... I refereced a running blog by pipes it covers the whole damned thing. refer to the dates as stated in his blog.

sheesh

[Jim_Curtis]

Bush was naive about the Muslims, even posing for pictures with them ( which absolves him, obviously), no doubt about it.

Hillary KNEW what the Muslims were up to which is why she changed Muslim to Museum on her donor list. Anyone else remember that?

[janetgreen]

Alamoudi and other Muslim leaders met with Bush in Austin in July 2002, offering to support his bid for the White House in exchange for Bush's commitment to repeal certain antiterrorist laws.

The site that mylife mentioned states that GWBush and Hillary returned the contributions that were made by these people. Why would GWBush agree to meet with them in 2002?

[mylife]

believe me, the present government is after these guys.

They may be smooth operaters, deception has been around since the beginning of time, but We will smoke them out

[aruanan]

CIA report reveals U.S. knew Saudi-backed charities tied to terrorism in 1996

Looks like that damn legacy-protecting wall was in place and doing its job.

[aruanan]

The candidate Bush meets with Muslim leaders in Austin, Texas. Abdurahman Alamoudi (right of Bush) heads the sister organization of terror connected IIRO.

You misunderstand, the picture of President Bush with Saffuri and Alamoudi was taken at a meeting in July of 2002...

Hmmm, and Bush, as described in the photograph, was a candidate for what office in 2002?

[Sabertooth]

I think the 2002 date is probably a typo. I found this reference to a July, 2000 meeting. And if you look at the wording of the paragraph you cite, a 2002 date doesn't make sense.

Thanks, I stand corrected on the Insight Magazine quote.

However, the 2000 date of the meeting between Candidate Bush, Khaled Saffuri, and Abdurahman Alamoudi doesn't get those in charge of Bush's Muslim Outreach off the hook. You see, despite the headline here, it wasn't only the CIA that knew about the penetration of radical Islamist Fifth Columnists in 1996. For example, take a look at this excerpt from a 1996 article that terrorism expert Stephen Emerson ("Jihad in America") wrote for the Wall Street Journal:

At the same time, the Clinton administration has established close ties with groups like the American Muslim Council, which has supported Hamas and other radical groups. Hillary Clinton has worked particularly closely with the head of the AMC, Abdulrahman Al-Amoudi, who has openly collected funds for the legal defense of Mr Marzuk, the Hamas chieftain arrested at JFK Airport, and for Mr. Abdul-Rahman, who organized the World Trade Center bombing. Raising money for a criminal defense fund is perfectly legal, of course. But would Mrs. Clinton meet with the head of the defense committee for Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh? Earlier this year Mrs. Clinton met at the White House with Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations. CAIR, based in Washington, was founded in 1994 by Nihad Awad, the former public relations director of the Texas-based Islamic Association of Palestine, which Oliver Revell, the FBI's former head of counterterrorism and now a security consultant, calls a Hamas front. Both CAIR and IAP have disseminated Hamas communiqu?s and championed the policies of other radical Islamic groups. A recent CAIR report listed as a "hate crimes against Muslims" the conviction of Mr. Abdul-Rahman and the arrest of Mr. Marzuk. CAIR's Board of Advisors includes a number of radicals known for their virulent anti-Semitism and support of the World Trade Center defendants.
Stop Aid and Comfort for Patrons of Terror
Wall Street Journal | Steven Emerson | August 5, 1996

Buth it wasn't just Alamoudi. From the 1996 same article:

Radical Muslim groups dismiss such allegations as Zionist propaganda. A case study in Tampa, Fla., proves otherwise. In October 1995 Ramadan Abdullah Shallah took over as head of the Islamic Jihad, based in Damascus, Syria. From 1991 through early 1995, Mr. Shallah was a professor at Tampa's University of South Florida and director of the World Islamic Studies Enterprise, ostensibly an academic research center.

After the ex-professor assumed his Islamic Jihad post, the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service raided his former campus office, as well as the offices and home of his USF colleague Sami Al-Arian, the founder of WISE and an affiliated "religious charity" called the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Federal investigators uncovered overwhelming evidence that both organizations were arms of Islamic Jihad. Under the cover of legitimacy its university affiliation provided, WISE actually brought terrorists into the U.S. and raised funds for Islamic Jihad. Mr. Al-Arian, now under federal investigation, organized a series of conferences for "Islamic leaders and thinkers" in Chicago and St. Louis between 1988 and 1992, which featured a number of the world's top, terrorist leaders. The evidence found in his home and office constitute one of the largest collections of raw terrorist material ever seized in the U.S.

Keep on mind, that was from a 1996 article in a rather well known publication, the Wall Street Journal, four years before this picture was taken:

That's Candidate Bush with Sami Al-Arian, who was under federal investigation for extensive terror related activities at that very moment.

Now, while no one expects Presidents or Presidential candiate to personally screen everyone with whom they meet, it's fair to ask:

Who put Candidate Bush in contact with Alamoudi and Al-Arian during the 2000 campaign, and with other radical Islamists even after taking office and after September 11, 2001?

All of the evidence points to one G. Grover Norquist and several of his proteges, including Kahled Saffuri.

[Sabertooth]

See #36 for a clarification and more info that was public knowledge
about Alamoudi as far back as 1996.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hillary KNEW what the Muslims were up to which is why she changed Muslim to Museum on her donor list. Anyone else remember that?

Well, that's a whole heck of a lot easier than filing serial numbers off a handgun!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hey there Saber! I thought you were catching the last bit of sun.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Who put Candidate Bush in contact...

Or did we allow Al to come in contact?

Thats probably all that needs to be said about it, IMO.