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.

Muslim council takes complaints to Bush

Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published February 21, 2003

The Muslim Public Affairs Council is organizing a campaign to complain to the White House about David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union and Frank J. Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, who have criticized access to President Bush by groups they regard as radical Islamists.
     The Muslim council posted this call for action on its Internet site, together with praise for Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who has worked with Islamic groups in behalf of the Republican Party.
     Mr. Norquist has accused Mr. Gaffney of "racism" and religious bigotry, but he said he has had nothing to do with the criticism of Mr. Keene and Mr. Gaffney by the Muslim council, which he described as a "Democrat" group with which he has little contact.
     The National Journal reported that Mr. Norquist once arranged a meeting between the Muslim Public Affairs Council, other Muslim groups and George W. Bush, when he was a candidate for president. Mr. Norquist said he didn't do that.
     Several national security experts have expressed concern about the support they say the Muslim council extended to Hamas and other organizations that the Bush administration has designated as terrorist groups. Salam Al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim council, said his organization has condemned Hamas and other organizations that support Palestinian suicide bombers.
     "We are the only Muslim organization that has an official counter-terrorism policy position paper, and we accept no money from foreign groups," Mr. Al-Marayati said.
     Mr. Gaffney, a critic of radical Muslim groups, said that the Muslim council and the Council on American Islamic Relations "have done nothing to help the nation fight the war on terror." Mr. Keene, once a vice presidential aide to the late Spiro T. Agnew, has long had a behind-the-scenes relationship with top officials in Republican administrations, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney.
     Mr. Gaffney, who was an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration, maintains ties with the Bush administration. Douglas J. Feith, a former chairman of his Center for Security Policy, is an undersecretary of defense for policy. Twenty-three members of Mr. Gaffney's advisory council hold top positions in the Bush administration.
     Mr. Keene and the American Conservative Union have on occasion worked with liberal organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, to oppose Bush administration anti-terrorism measures that they argue infringe on the civil liberties of Americans.

From American Jihad, by Steven Emerson:

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) was founded in 1988 as a nonprofit social welfare organization with a 501(c)(4) tax status. MPAC calls itself a "public service agency working for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship between American Muslims and their representatives." While these objectives reflect magnanimous intentions, MPAC's many rallies and sponsored events reveal implicit support of terrorist activities.

On October 28, 2000, MPAC was a cosponsor of a rally in Washington, D.C. in support of the recent spate of violence known as the Al-Aqsa intifada between the Palestinians and the Israelis. (This was the rally at which the American Muslim Council's Abdulrahman Almoudi exhorted the crowd to voice their support for the Hamas and Hizballah terrorist organizations.)

During these exhortations, MPAC's Political Advisor, Mahdi Bray, stood directly behind Alamoudi and was seen jubilantly exclaiming his support for these two deadly terrorist organizations. Dr. Maher Hathout, MPAC's Senior Advisor, also participated in this rally. Later, in an article in The American Muslim, rather than condemning the rally for its extremist and militant views, Hathout heralded the rally as a marker of a "new era:" "The rally in Washington, D.C. was the embodiment of this new phase of activism in the United States. . . [T]he speakers and the slogans were relevant and pertinent to the American seen [sic] . . . It was then not a normal rally . . . it transcended the barriers and limitations of a specific local struggle. . . .It is a new era. . ."

On December 22, 2000, MPAC's Mahdi Bray organized a rally in Lafayette Park outside the White House to celebrate a "Worldwide Day for Jerusalem." In Arabic, the crowd reponsively chanted with the emcee, "Khaybar, Khaybar oh Jews, the Army of Muhammad is coming for you!" Posters calling for "Death in Israel" and equating the Star of David with the Nazi swastika were openly displayed and anti-Semitic literature calling for the destruction of the Jews and Israel were distributed. Members of the crowd burned the Israeli flag while marching from the White House to the State Department.

Bray also spoke at this rally, along with Imam Mohammed al-Asi, former director of the Islamic Education Center in Potomac, Maryland, who exhorted the crowd to violence in the name of Islam. Al-Asi said: Now, all our khatibs (speakers), our imams, our public speakers, should be concentrating on militarizing the Muslim public. This is not a time to make a speaking issue out of this. . . .Muslims have to familiarize themselves with every means possible. . . .Rhetoric is not going to liberate Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa. Only carrying guns will do this task. And it's not going to be someone else who is going to carry arms for you and for me. It is you and me who are going to carry these arms."

MPAC's response to a bombing in Jerusalem that killed fifteen, including six children, was telling. On August 9, 2001, a suicide bomber entered a pizza parlor and detonated a bomb that was strapped to his body. A press release by MPAC responded: "[The Jerusalem bombing] is the expected bitter result of the reckless policy of Israeli assassination that did not spare children and political figures. . . .MPAC holds Israel responsible for this pattern of violence."

MPAC also justified Hizballah's 1983 bombing of the American Marine barracks in Beirut as a "military operation" rather than a terrorist attack. "Hezbollah organized the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 killing 241 marines, the largest number of American troops killed in a single operation since the end of the Vietnam war. Yet this attack, for all the pain it caused, was not in a strict sense, a terrorist operation. It was a military operation, producing no civilian casualties -- exactly the kind of attack that Americans might have lauded had it been directed against Washington's enemies."

In November 1999 Salaam al-Marayati (quoted in the Washington Times, above), Executive Director and one of the Founders of MPAC, appeared on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." He responded to accusations that he supports Hizballah. Rather than condemning the terrorist organization, he explained: "If the Lebanese people are resisting Israeli intransigence on Lebanese soil, that is the right or resistance and they have the right to target Israeli soldiers in this conflict. That is not terrorism. That is legitimate resistance. That could be called liberation movement, that could be called anything, but it's not terrorism."

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It's important to understand the nature of these groups whose access to the White House -- and presumably to policy -- is being strenuously opposed by Gaffney, Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson and a host of other terrorism experts. It's also interesting to note, in light of the Al-Arian indictment, how these groups are now defending Al-Arian's actions as "fighting for the liberation of the Palestinians," with claims that his "Death to Israel" rants did not actually incite to violence, but were simply rhetoric -- in this light, note the words of Mahdi Bray at the MPAC rally: "Rhetoric is not going to liberate Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa. Only carrying guns will do this task. And it's not going to be someone else who is going to carry arms for you and for me. It is you and me who are going to carry these arms."

Also note how the car-bomb murder of 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut is also seen by this group as a justifiable "military operation." Their hate is not limited to Israel -- it is very much directed to the very country that shelters them, and gives them the freedom to spew their venom in front of "the people's house" -- and now gives them the privilege of entering the very house that may have been demolished, had 9/11 been entirely successful

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