Free Republic

Illustrating that the jihadist enterprise transcends all borders, American Islamist groups typically preoccupied with remaking the U.S. have been leaving their fingerprints on the campaign to exchange secular authoritarianism for religious authoritarianism in the Middle East. As these organizations labor stateside to nudge the governing class to embrace Arab Islamists at the expense of liberals — prompting Egyptian intellectual Essam Abdallah to lament that "the most dramatic oppression of the region's civil societies and the Arab Spring … is led by the powerful Islamist lobbies in Washington" — several of the groups' past and current officials have emerged as key...

Britain's love affair with the Saudi kingdom By Jemima Khan Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 04/11/2007 King Abdullah arrived at Heathrow last Wednesday morning for the first State Visit to the UK for 20 years – five planes, 13 family members, an entourage of several hundred. No women. I've been to Saudi Arabia a few times. It's not much fun being a woman there. I suspect it's worse being a Saudi woman. And worse still being her migrant maid. It's a mad place and the rules there have got nothing to do with Islam. advertisementI've had my feet beaten, not once...

WASHINGTON, January 11 (IslamOnline.net) – A US Jewish organization has criticized the State Department’s first annual report on anti-Semitism, saying it has taken a soft line with “anti-Semitic” Arab governments. The Philadelphia-based Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies said in a press release that the US report only concentrated on anti-Semitic practices in South America and Europe while it turned a blind eye to the “anti-Semitism sponsored by some Arab governments.” “It is encouraging that the report includes Israel-Nazi analogies in its definition of anti-Semitism, but it is disappointing that the report says so little about some Arab governments which promote...

In 2002, the spokesman for FBI director Robert Mueller memorably described the American Muslim Council (AMC) as the "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." A year later, the Catholic bishops called the AMC "the premier, mainstream Muslim group in Washington." Its founder and long-time chief, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was a Washington fixture. He had many meetings with both Clintons in the White House and once joined George W. Bush at a prayer service dedicated to victims of the 9/11 attacks. Alamoudi arranged a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner for congressional leaders. He six times lectured abroad for the State Department...

To those who worry about the extremism that Saudi influence can foster here in the United States, the joint Muslim community at Washington State University and the University of Idaho—just nine miles apart—might provide a classic case study. It also happened to be the home of detained National Guardsman Ryan Anderson, aka Amir Talhah, when he converted to Islam five years ago.Anderson, who was nabbed while allegedly trying to pass secret information on to al Qaeda through an Internet chat room, graduated from Washington State University in 2002.  Though the strength of his ties to the local Muslim community is...

Treasury Blocks Assets of U.S. Arm of Saudi Charity Suspected of Funding Al-Qaida Feb. 19, 2004 By Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has ordered banks to freeze the assets of the U.S. arm of a large Saudi charity that is accused of funneling contributions to help finance al-Qaida's terrorist activities. The action announced Thursday affects the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation's operations in Ashland, Ore., and Springfield, Mo., said Richard Newcomb, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC said the financial assets and property belonging to those branches "are blocked pending investigation"...

Rep. Bob Dornan says Rohrabacher's views on Israel and terrorism are the reason he's running to unseat him. Congressman's Disturbing Turn on the Middle EastBy Dena BunisOrange County Register | February 9, 2004 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher says he always knew that if ever he got involved in Middle East politics, his views would get him in trouble. He was right.Rohrabacher is facing a primary challenge next month from former Rep. Robert K. Dornan. These two Republicans were once comrades in arms in promoting conservative principles. But the Middle East is the one major issue on which Dornan stayed with mainstream...

ALEC “The Bloviator” Baldwin has a new bosom buddy: Beltway Republican strategist Grover Norquist. The Bush-bashing actor-turned-activist and the Muslim vote-courting political organizer joined together at a Washington, D.C.-area conference last weekend to perpetuate bald lies about the Patriot Act and to oppose the “repressive” War on Terror (repressing terrorist suspects apparently being a bad thing). Baldwin and Norquist’s panel, titled “Strange Bedfellows,” was sponsored by the ultraliberal group People For the American Way (PFAW). When PFAW head and panel participant Ralph Neas ranted about the lack of judicial and congressional oversight of the Justice Department’s terror investigations, the audience...

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful CAIR ACTION ALERT #335 OPPOSE SANCTIONS BILL THAT HARMS AMERICANS AND SYRIANS (WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/20/02) - CAIR is urging on Muslims and other people of conscience to take a few minutes and contact their elected representatives in opposition to a new counterproductive bill being considered by Congress, the "Syria Accountability Act of 2002." The House bill number is HR4483 and the Senate bill number is S2215. They are nearly identical in terms of imposing possible trade sanctions and downgrading of diplomatic relations. The proposed legislation is not in America's best interest....

September 10th, 2003 will forever be remembered as a grim day for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). On that day, the eve of the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, CAIR faced up to its own terrorist connections. It ran away from testifying before an influential Senate panel that heard a barrage of incriminating evidence about the group and its connections. It saw one of its former officials plead guilty to terrorist-related crimes in Federal Court. And, it was stood up by two Department of Justice officials at an immigration symposium in Florida. CAIR should find it hard...

Portrait of a WahhabiBy Stephen Schwartz FrontPageMagazine.com | June 30, 2003 On Thursday, June 26, I testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, chaired by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz).  My topic was “Wahhabism and Islam in the U.S.”  I outlined the outrageous degree to which Saudi-funded Wahhabi extremists, who are supporters of terrorism, have come to dominate Islam in the U.S. My testimony was not greeted with enthusiasm by James Zogby, the phony civil rights leader who heads the “Arab American Institute." Zogby, a Lebanese Christian once known for his moderate camouflage on Israel, but...

FBI asks for Muslim help in terror hunt By Michael Kirkland UPI Legal Affairs Correspondent From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk Published 5/29/2003 5:20 PM WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- The FBI is considering a 10-point "partnership" program offered by the Muslim-American community to fight terrorism, a Muslim leader said Thursday. FBI Director Robert Mueller met Wednesday at bureau headquarters with the leaders of national Muslim, Sikh and Arab-American organizations in the latest of a series of conferences. Salam al-Maragati, executive director of the Washington and Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, suggested the 10-point plan, and said Mueller...