Removing Norquist's burkha (Grover Norquist Alert)

Everybody knows that the issue of patriotism belongs to the right – right? And everybody knows that all those Americans who consort with those hostile to America are all left – right? You know, "Hanoi" Jane Fonda and Alger Hiss and the rest of those liberals – right?

Well, here's a newsflash, folks – in this new millennium, it's not just my friends on the left playing footsie with the unfriendlies, they're also the right – right here in old (Potomac) River City, as "The Music Man" sang it. It's a Bushie, in fact – a man who has the president's ear on the subject of presenting the worst forces of Islam in the best possible light, War on Terrorism be damned.

Today's Music Man is someone I respect: Grover Norquist. Most of my right-leaning readers may remember Mr. Norquist as president of Americans for Tax Reform, a group dedicated to reducing income and other taxes. Now I've never agreed with Norquist – if anything, Americans are undertaxed, especially the rich – but there was no denying his effectiveness and sincerity at making his arguments.

Times have changed, however, and Norquist has added new ventures. His new project – one that should concern all Americans – is his efforts to bring Islamic fundamentalists into the Republican Party … without regard to how they feel about terrorism or Americans, let alone Republicans.

Remember Bush's photo-op in the mosque where the president stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a line-up of Arab-Americans and spouted the, "Islam is a religion of peace" slogan? That meeting was set up by Norquist. In fact, Islam is a religion of peace – but not the way it is practiced by those brought in by Mr. Norquist. Of the various Islamic leaders present, virtually every one is on record praising Hamas ("freedom fighters"), claiming the Israelis were behind 9-11 or threatening the United States with "the wrath of God" for defending our interests abroad.

In bringing these types to President Bush, Norquist wasn't just being a good citizen. He was the man behind the Bush-push into Michigan's Arab neighborhoods, and, in fact, claimed credit for "delivering" the Arab vote to the Republicans – even though Bush lost Michigan. Portraying himself as a front man for the "Arab vote" enhances the Beltway's perception of Norquist as a man with a constituency – a strong card to play for a man who makes his living lobbying the government.

In fact, Norquist has represented at least one Arab satrapy – Qatar – in its dealings with Washington. Several years ago, Norquist and Khaled Saffuri – an Arab American who had been employed by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – set up something called The Islamic Institute – which for a time just happened to have the same address as the Americans for Tax Reform.

Is it fair to ask any of my valued right-wing readers who might have contributed money to Norquist's tax-reform effort to ask him if any bucks migrated to the Islamic Institute? If any money did go in that direction, I'll bet it doesn't anymore. The reason is today the Institute is probably rolling in dough, starting with the $150,000 received from the government of Qatar.

And what, pray tell, were the Qataris (a state that is the home of al-Jazeera Television) getting for all that moolah? For starters, a very expensive op-ed piece in the Washington Times in which Norquist touted his Qatari clients as enshrining "values of universal suffrage, a free press and human rights." He wrote this about a country that, according to international watchdogs, is rated near the bottom of a whole list of human rights and economic freedoms. I doubt that he'd ever say such a thing about Israel, the Middle East's only real democracy. But, of course, the Israelis probably haven't paid him $150,000.

And if anybody thinks this is some Jewish liberal's attempt to play "Gotcha" with Mr. Norquist, think again. Grover Norquist's own pals on the right are reportedly unhappy with him. His Arabian elbow rubbing has garnered criticism from such respected righties as Paul Weyrich and William Murray, head of the Religious Freedom Coalition.

Look, when Fonda and Hiss supposedly made their contributions to our enemy's welfare, at least they believed in what they were doing. The sound of "ka-ching" nary was heard. But I suppose that when free market right-wingers do it, it's driven by their own ideological passions – ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

I've known Grover Norquist for years, and he is a man of talent and conviction. But he's lost me on this one.

From the article…

In fact, Norquist has represented at least one Arab satrapy – Qatar – in its dealings with Washington. Several years ago, Norquist and Khaled Saffuri – an Arab American who had been employed by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – set up something called The Islamic Institute – which for a time just happened to have the same address as the Americans for Tax Reform.

Is it fair to ask any of my valued right-wing readers who might have contributed money to Norquist's tax-reform effort to ask him if any bucks migrated to the Islamic Institute? If any money did go in that direction, I'll bet it doesn't anymore. The reason is today the Institute is probably rolling in dough, starting with the $150,000 received from the government of Qatar.

Ouch! But there's more...

The documents come in many flavors. They include Saudi-government accounting schedules showing the amount of money paid to individual Palestinians and their families, with the names of suicide bombers and others who carried out armed attacks against Israelis highlighted in yellow, blue and pink. They include correspondence between Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Saudi government that discusses the payments. They also include a damning letter from the Saudis complaining that the Palestinians had exposed the secret financial ties by allowing the publication of a Feb. 19 report in the PA publication al-Hayat al-Jedida thanking Saudi Arabia for assisting the families of terrorists killed in attacks on Israelis. < -snip- >
Other foreign donors included the largest Muslim charity in the United States, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) in Richardson, Texas, whose assets were frozen in December 2001 on presidential order because of its alleged ties to terrorist groups.

The HLF frequently has been singled out by the Israelis as a major source of funding for Hamas. Last year, it raised an estimated $13 million, which it boasted of donating to charities in the West Bank and Gaza. HLF supporters, which include groups such as the American Muslim Council and the Islamic Association for Palestine, claim they merely are providing humanitarian aid for Palestinian families, much as the Saudis are doing today.

Khaled Saffuri, a former legislative director of the American Muslim Council who now heads the Islamic Institute in Washington, has met with top Justice Department officials several times since the HLF was shut down — including a private dinner with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft — questioning the breadth and manner of the FBI crackdown on Muslim charities in America. Saffuri openly boasts of his ties to the Bush White House and to top Republican strategist Grover Norquist, who cofounded the Islamic Institute four years ago.
In a meeting with Insight editors last week, Saffuri firmly denounced Hamas, Hezbollah and all other terrorist groups. He called for Arafat's ouster. Norquist, also present at the meeting, heatedly dismissed critics of his efforts on behalf of Saffuri and other Muslim leaders, some of whom have been tied to Hamas fund-raising efforts in the United States, as "bigots" and "racists spreading lies."
< -snip- >
Documents seized by the Israelis suggest that the substantial payments distributed to the families were a key element in recruiting suicide bombers. The one-time grants amounted to $25,000 per family from the government of Iraq, $5,300 from Saudi Arabia, $2,000 from the PA and $500 each from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Kenneth R. Timmerman - Insight Magazine

Well, that should cover it, right? However…

Under Saffuri's leadership, the Islamic Institute has attacked the Bush Administration's investigations of radical Muslim groups and closures of organizations suspected of funding terrorists. The Institute has been funded by groups raided in the above-mentioned terrorist financing investigations. It lobbied intensively against portions of the USA Patriot Act. And Saffuri has personally denounced the President's listing of the Holy Land Foundation as a charity that supported terrorist organizations. He has acknowledged sponsoring the children of suicide bombers through the Foundation, even after its closure by the government.
Frank Gaffney Jr. - Townhall.com

So, Saffuri denounces Hamas, yet defends the Holy Land Foundation, which supports Hamas. More on the HLF…

Helping fund-raise for terrorism: The Holy Land Foundation is one of the main American conduits of money to Hamas; not surprisingly, AMC has lavished praise on it, bestowing an award on it for a "strong global vision." When President Bush closed Holy Land after 9/11 for collecting money "used to support the Hamas terror organization," AMC responded by condemning the president's act as "particularly disturbing . . . unjust and counterproductive."
Daniel Pipes - DanielPipes.org

BTW, the American Muslim Council has also had plenty of White House access…

On the Republican side, activist Grover Norquist and Rep. Tom Davis have been loyal advocates of Muslim causes. Davis's role has been more conventional, marked most notably by his shepherding through Congress the bill to require the Postal Service to issue an Islamic religious stamp, inconveniently issued last September. Norquist, on the other hand, has been much more pro-active, claiming last year in The American Spectator that Muslims were responsible for President Bush's election victory. He is a founding director of the Islamic Institute, which received funds from the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim "charity" shut down by the FBI in December. Norquist has also ushered into the White House a collection of anti-Israel groups, including the Council on American Islamic Affairs, the American Muslim Council, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Mark Krikorian - National Review Online

Other names…

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.
Mr Norquist, who is a member of the institute's board, said that it existed "to promote democracy and free markets. Any effort to imply guilt by association is incompetent McCarthyism".
Duncan Campbell - Guardian Unlimited

Well then, I suppose the only course of action is to go to the top…

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks after his agents raided the offices of several Islamic charities and businesses suspected of financing terrorism, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill met with two politically connected Muslim activists, one a longtime Bush family associate, who each had a tie to the targeted groups.
The April 4 luncheon with Mr. O'Neill was convened to allow Muslim-Americans to voice complaints about the March 20 raid on the International Institute for Islamic Thought and 19 related entities that operate out of offices at 555 Grove St. in Herndon, Va., a Washington suburb.

Among the Muslim leaders attending was Talat Othman, a longtime associate and supporter of President Bush's family who gave a benediction at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in August 2000. Mr. Othman went to the Treasury representing the Arab-American Business and Professional Association. But he also serves on the board of Amana Mutual Funds Trust, an investment firm founded by M. Yacqub Mirza, the Northern Virginia businessman who set up most of the entities targeted by the Treasury and whose tax records were sought in the raid.

Also at the meeting was Khaled Saffuri, head of the Islamic Institute, a group he co-founded with GOP activist Grover Norquist to organize conservative Muslims. The institute has accepted $20,000 in contributions from another Grove Street entity suspected of terrorist connections, the Safa Trust, as earlier reported by Newsweek. Asked for comment, Mr. Norquist, a board member of the institute, confirmed the donation. Mr. Saffuri couldn't be reached.
Glenn R. Simpson - Wall Street Journal

Isn't this getting a little close to abusing political access to affect the course of an investigation?

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