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Wahhabis in the Old Dominion
The Weekly Standard, Wahhabism ^ | 04/08/2002 | Stephen Schwartz

Posted on 04/05/2002 4:42:35 PM PST by Aaron_A

Wahhabis in the Old Dominion
What the federal raids in Northern Virginia uncovered.
by Stephen Schwartz
04/08/2002, Volume 007, Issue 29

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT has kicked over quite an anthill in Northern Virginia. A U.S. Treasury task force, Operation Green Quest, has been investigating the funding of Islamic terror. Raids on March 20 struck an extraordinary array of financial, charitable, and ostensibly religious entities identified with Muslim and Arab concerns in this country, most of them headquartered in Northern Virginia.

Reaction to the raids suggests the Feds inflicted serious injury on the Wahhabi lobby, the Saudi-backed extremist network that largely controls Islam in America. Officials of the targeted groups as well as their non-Muslim apologists--notably GOP operative Grover Norquist, the chief enabler of Islamic extremists seeking access to the White House--have condemned the raids as civil rights violations.

The convoluted system of interlocking directorates, global banking transactions, and ideological activities exposed in Northern Virginia will take time to sort out. Operation Green Quest has drawn attention to a previously overlooked aspect of support for extremism in this country: The principal threat comes not from the thousands of working-class Arab immigrants in places like New Jersey and Michigan who contribute modest sums to the so-called Islamic charities, but from the Arab elite.

The Saudis stand behind all of it. The kingdom pledged $400 million last year for the support of "martyrs' families," according to the Saudi Embassy website. At $5,300 per "martyr," that works out to about 75,000 martyrs, suggesting the Saudi princes anticipate a lot more suicide bombings than Israel has yet suffered. The Saudis offered a fraudulent "peace" plan this year intended to divert attention from their involvement in the horrors of September 11.

The keystone of the Saudi-sponsored Northern Virginia network is the Saar Foundation, created by Suleiman Abdul Al-Aziz al-Rajhi, a scion of one of the richest Saudi families. The Saar Foundation is connected to Al-Taqwa, a shell company formerly based in Switzerland, where its leading figures included a notorious neo-Nazi and Islamist, Ahmed Huber. Subsequently moved to the United States, Al-Taqwa was shut down after September 11 and its assets frozen by U.S. presidential order. But operations continued, as the Wahhabi lobby shifted to its backup institutions here.

Saar has also been linked to Khalid bin Mahfouz, former lead financial adviser to the Saudi royal family and ex-head of the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia. Mahfouz has been named by French intelligence as a backer of Osama bin Laden; Mahfouz endowed the Muwafaq Foundation, which U.S. authorities confirm was an arm of bin Laden's terror organization. Muwafaq's former chief, Yassin al-Qadi, oversaw the financial penetration of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania by Wahhabi terrorists in the late 1990s.

Men like al-Rajhi, Mahfouz, and al-Qadi are the big players in the financing of Islamic extremism. And their paths repeatedly lead back to Northern Virginia. They don't play for small stakes: Saar received $1.7 billion in donations in 1998, although this was left out of the foundation's tax filings until 2000. No explanation has been offered for this bit of accounting sorcery.

A major personality on the ground in Virginia is an individual named Jamal Barzinji, whose office in Herndon was a major target of the raids. In 1980, he was listed in local public records as a representative of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), an arm of the Saudi regime with offices in Virginia. WAMY has been deeply involved in providing cover for Wahhabi terrorism. The 2002 entry in the U.S. Business Directory lists the president of the WAMY office in Annandale, Va., as Abdula bin Laden--the terrorist's younger brother.

Barzinji serves as a trustee and officer of the Amana Mutual Funds Trust, a growth and income mutual fund headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., conveniently near the Canadian border. Amana's board also includes Yaqub Mirza, a Pakistani physicist who shares Barzinji's Herndon office address and who is widely described as a financial genius. Another board member and tenant in the Herndon office is Samir Salah. He formerly ran a branch of Al-Taqwa in the Caribbean, heads a financial firm linked to Saar, and directs Dar al-Hijra, a mosque in Falls Church, Va., notable for hardline Wahhabi preaching. Salah is also deeply involved with Taibah International Aid Association, a Virginia charity with a Bosnian branch that is being investigated by authorities in Sarajevo.

Front groups interfacing between the Wahhabi-Saudi money movers under federal suspicion and the broader American public include two institutions active in the religious field: the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS). The involvement of GSISS with the financing of extremism is especially startling in that it alone is credentialed by the Department of Defense to certify Muslim chaplains for the U.S. armed forces. Barzinji has appeared on the boards of both.

The day of the raids, Barzinji appeared on U.S. television news insisting he knew of no questionable behavior by the groups under scrutiny, and promising full cooperation with the authorities. But in a familiar pattern of duplicity, he expressed himself quite differently in the Islamic media. Barzinji told the Internet news service Islam Online (www.islam-online.net) he believed the investigations fulfilled the will not of the Bush administration, but of "elements within the government, media, and [academia] who were unhappy with the positive attention being given to Muslims." This tortured formulation, repeated in several variations, embodies the Islamist fantasy that every doubt cast on the activities of the Wahhabi lobby is the product of Jewish influence.

Speaking to Islam Online, Barzinji spelled out his anxieties. He alleged that the real powers behind the raids were "self-styled Middle East 'experts,'" individuals "who do not want to see Muslims develop such excellent relations with the government, assuming political rights." This line simply dumbs down one peddled by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which condemns any challenge to the Wahhabi lobby as a product of "right-wing commentators."

Barzinji, CAIR, and their cohort give the impression of living in their own conspiratorial world, divorced from reality. For them to imagine that the aftermath of September 11 has been anything but disastrous for the image and credibility of American Muslims is absurd. The presumption that anybody outside government dictates policy to the Treasury, however, is only the classic supposition about alleged Israeli influence that infests the Arab mind.

Perhaps it's to be expected that the Wahhabi lobby would react to a federal investigation with its usual combination of pseudopatriotic protest, claims of innocence, and paranoia. But perhaps the White House might suggest to friends like Norquist that they should stop trying to protect enablers of terrorism.

Otherwise, more and more people will wonder whether the administration really understands the problems afflicting Islam in the United States, and whether it really is united in resisting the influence of the extremists.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: islamicterrorism; jihadinamerica; saarfoundation; terrorwar; wahhabilobby
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1 posted on 04/05/2002 4:42:35 PM PST by Aaron_A
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To: Sawdring, ATC, Spar, shermy, rebdov, milestogo, boston_liberty, mikeIII, AM2000
bump
2 posted on 04/05/2002 4:44:32 PM PST by Aaron_A
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To: Aaron_A
So why wasn't this Huge Report broadcast on the nightly news on CNN, CBS, NBC or ABC ? DUH!
3 posted on 04/05/2002 4:47:52 PM PST by ex-Texan
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To: veronica; dennisw; college repub; a_Turk; Turk2; knighthawk; Centurion2000; larrylied; Sjackson...
Bump
4 posted on 04/05/2002 4:47:54 PM PST by weikel
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To: dennisw; Sabertooth; Victoria Delsoul; Miss Marple
BUMP
5 posted on 04/05/2002 4:52:52 PM PST by father_elijah
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To: ex-Texan
Probably best that it wasn't. If it did, our mohammedan President would have to put a stop to it ;)
6 posted on 04/05/2002 4:54:33 PM PST by GuillermoX
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To: Aaron_A; ex-Texan
Because some of these groups are heavy campaign contributors. Liberal Rep. James Moron (who represents this district) got caught a few weeks ago accepting contributions from Abdurahan Alamoudi, who publicly supported Hamas and Hexbollah, and praised suicide bombers. He returned the contribution. Curious, I went on the FEC website and found a who's-who of Pakistani/Arab contributors, and most of the places raided were among his campaign financiers. Moron provides valuable protection for them, including some startling anti-Israeli statements (like referring to Israel as the Zionist state and excusing suicide bombings).
7 posted on 04/05/2002 5:00:06 PM PST by RecallJeffords
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To: *TerrorWar;*Jihad in America;Black Jade
index bump and fyi
8 posted on 04/05/2002 5:02:21 PM PST by Fish out of Water
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To: RecallJeffords
Rep. James Moro[a]n isn't alone. IMO Freepers should try to compile as much public domain info as possible to highlight who is getting this blood money.
9 posted on 04/05/2002 5:02:30 PM PST by Aaron_A
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To: father_elijah
This is how they use the money they get from us to buy Saudi oil.
10 posted on 04/05/2002 5:09:17 PM PST by dennisw
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To: Aaron_A
I think it is time for us (U.S.) to stop treating the arabs as spoiled children ("They don't really mean that...they're just having a temper tantrum") and start taking them at their word. They danced in the street when Americans were murdered. They chant "Death to America". Their "clerics" call for "holy" war on US and Israel. I think I've gotten their message... They want to kill and destroy me and my countrymen; and destroy our Free Republic :-) so they can impose their wacked-out sicko society on us. Let them eat pork!
11 posted on 04/05/2002 5:14:36 PM PST by captain_dave
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To: captain_dave; Aaron_A
Let them eat pork!

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Absolutely right -- There is no moral equivalency here. Is there any credibility to the view that the terrorism would stop (or even abate) if the demands were met? The PA seeks nothing short of the destruction of Israel and a knife in the belly of the infidel (that means us). What Sharon is doing is unfortunate but necessary. He will clean out as many of the terrorist enclaves as he can, keeping Arafat isolated so he cannot coordiante the cover-up. Already there is evidence that the PA was financing and arming terrorism, and now that Arafat is helpless more will surface. This will be dicey for a few more weeks, and then it will end, likely to resume when Arafat regroups.

12 posted on 04/05/2002 5:26:49 PM PST by RecallJeffords
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To: Aaron_A
This line simply dumbs down one peddled by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which condemns any challenge to the Wahhabi lobby as a product of "right-wing commentators."

Or Iranians.

13 posted on 04/05/2002 5:43:09 PM PST by FITZ
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To: Aaron_A
Readers should be aware that just about all this information about Herndon, Falls Church and the D.C. area was known and reported to the FBI by 1996. Most of it was known as early as 1993. So, if you want an investigation, why not ask the Justice Department to investigate why the Clinton Administration called off the FBI investigation of Muslim charities. You will soon find that Al Gore was named as White House liaison to the Muslim community.

In the middle 90s Gore attended a couple of monster fundraisers, one in Northern Virginia, the other in New York in which the Pakistanis were very big players. The Saudis were more circumspect, preferring to fund Muslim outreach in the USA. Regarding an investigation, I know, I know. Fat chance.

14 posted on 04/05/2002 5:45:03 PM PST by gaspar
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To: gaspar
It seemed during the Clinton years, we were worried more about the bribes the Chinese made to the Clintons and we weren't paying attention to the Muslim bribes made.
15 posted on 04/05/2002 6:05:45 PM PST by FITZ
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To: FITZ
It comes to mind that if a Freeper wants to do a little homework on Clinton/Gore and the Muslims you can do a Google search combining their names with Mansoor Ijaz. There was a two or three part story on the Pakistani connection published in the Arkansas Gazette in 1996? You can take it from there. No one else has.
16 posted on 04/05/2002 6:16:50 PM PST by gaspar
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To: Aaron_A
Are we sure that by "martyrs" they mean "suicide bombers"?

We consider every fallen soldier of the Turkish army a "shehid", which I suppose, you would translate as "martyr". We certainly do not mean "suicide bomber" when we say "martyr".. In fact some of our "shehid" died fighting "suicide bombers"

We have foundations who help the families of fallen Turkish soldiers.. So, If one were to translate their pages and present them here, we could have a ghastly misunderstanding. Are we sure that these martyrs mentioned here are not, for example, Kuwaiti soldiers fallen fighting Saddam?
17 posted on 04/05/2002 6:49:01 PM PST by a_Turk
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: Aaron_A
"Saar received $1.7 billion in donations in 1998, although this was left out of the foundation's tax filings
until 2000. No explanation has been offered for this bit of accounting sorcery. "

"donations" to mr n mrs bill klinton...lots of "sorcery" during the klinton years...

19 posted on 04/05/2002 7:00:24 PM PST by hoot2
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To: RecallJeffords
"Liberal Rep. James Moron "

but...but...c-span n the media love him?

20 posted on 04/05/2002 7:02:35 PM PST by hoot2
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