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Required Reading

Read article--The Crossroads of History: The Struggle against Jihad and Supremacist Ideologies

"....The true challenge of Islamic supremacism to America and the free world is not about Islam, Islamism, or terrorism, but about us.

It is a historic challenge to determine whether we truly have the courage of our convictions on equality and liberty and we are willing to fight for these ideals, or if we will instead accept the continuing growth of anti-freedom ideologies here and around the world...."

 

 

Muslim Brotherhood HeritageSPECIAL WAR OF IDEAS COVERAGE:

Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) Infiltration and Influence in America

 

"Allah is our goal; the Messenger is our model; the Koran is our constitution; jihad is our means; and martyrdom in the way of Allah is our aspiration."

 

"It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet." --Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood's Infiltration of the West by Fjordman

What the Muslim Brotherhood means for the US: Memo lays bare group's plans to destroy U.S. from within By Ron Dreher, Dallas Morning News

 

"Our strategy is this," President Bush said last month. "We will fight them over there so we do not have to face them in the United States of America." He was talking about jihadists, of course. And Mr. Bush is behind the curve. The president apparently missed the smoking-gun 1991 document his own Justice Department introduced into evidence at the Holy Land Foundation trial in Dallas. The FBI captured it in a raid on a Muslim suspect's home in Virginia. This "explanatory memorandum," as it's titled, outlines the "strategic goal" for the North American operation of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan). Here's the key paragraph:

 

"The process of settlement [of Islam in the United States] is a "Civilization-Jihadist" process with all the word means.

 

The Ikhwan must understand that all their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" their miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all religions.

 

Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet.

 

It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who choose to slack."

 

 The entire 18-page platform outlines a plan for the long haul. It prescribes the Muslim Brotherhood's comprehensive plan to set down roots in civil society. It begins by both founding and taking control of American Muslim organizations, for the sake of unifying and educating the U.S. Muslim community – this to prepare it for the establishment of a global Islamic state governed by sharia.

It sounds like a conspiracy theory out of a bad Hollywood movie – but it's real. Husain Haqqani, head of Boston University's Center for International Relations and a former Islamic radical, confirms that the Brotherhood "has run most significant Muslim organizations in the U.S." as part of the plan outlined in the strategy paper.

The HLF trial is exposing for the first time how the international Muslim Brotherhood – whose Palestinian division is Hamas – operates as a self-conscious revolutionary vanguard in the United States. The court documents indicate that many leading Muslim-American organizations – including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim American Society – are an integral part of the Brotherhood's efforts to wage jihad against America by nonviolent means.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an affiliation of at least 70 Islamist organizations around the world, all tracing their heritage to the original cell, founded in Egypt in 1928. Its credo: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Sayyid Qutb, hanged by the Egyptian government in 1966 as a revolutionary, remains its ideological godfather. His best-known work, Milestones, calls for Muslims to wage violent holy war until Islamic law governs the entire world.

According to a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation, establishing the Brotherhood in the United States has been a 40-year project that has worked mostly underground – even beneath the notice of many Muslims. Richard Clarke, the former top U.S. national security official, told the Senate in 2003 that the Muslim Brotherhood is the common thread linking terrorist fundraising schemes in the United States – which likely explains why so many mainstream American Muslim organizations were named by the feds as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the HLF trial.

Is this just alarmist paranoia? Not at all.

This matters because high-profile organizations with roots explicitly in the Muslim Brotherhood have successfully established themselves in a paramount position to define Islam in America according to a radical politicized model. And they've done so without the American public having the slightest idea about their real agenda. Indeed, the Bush administration is unwittingly helping the Islamist cause by including their leaders in public events, thus conferring them legitimacy. On Labor Day weekend, the same Department of Justice that's presenting evidence of the ISNA's involvement with radical Islam at the Dallas trial sponsored a booth at – wait for it – ISNA's national convention in suburban Chicago.

Look, no rational person believes America is going to exchange the Constitution for a caliphate. Rational people aren't the point. As the London subway bombings showed, even a tiny cell of committed radicals can kill a lot of people. Mustafa Saied, an American Muslim who left the Brotherhood, told the Tribune that he worried about the radicalism the Brotherhood inculcated in its membership here. "With the extreme element," he said, "you never know when that ticking time bomb will go off."

As long as they commit no crimes, CAIR, ISNA and the other Brotherhood-related groups have the right to advocate for their beliefs. But they don't have the right to escape critical scrutiny, and they deserve informed opposition. Courageous Muslims like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy are sounding the alarm about radical Islam's stealth takeover of U.S. Muslim institutions. Why are the news media ignoring this? Fear of being called Islamophobic?

This has got to stop. Six years after 9/11, we're still asleep. Islamic radicals have declared war on us – and some are fighting here in what looks like a fifth column. Read their strategy document. It's there in black and white, for those with eyes to see.

Homeland Security Implications of the Holy Land Foundation Trial (Joseph Myers/American Thinker, 18 Sep 07)

A rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America

Over the last 40 years, small groups of devout Muslim men have gathered in homes in U.S. cities to pray, memorize the Koran and discuss events of the day. But they also addressed their ultimate goal, one so controversial that it is a key reason they have operated in secrecy: to create Muslim states overseas and, they hope, someday in America as well. These men are part of an underground U.S. chapter of the international Muslim Brotherhood, the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group and an organization with a violent past in the Middle East.......(Chicago Tribune)

MAS's Muslim Brotherhood Problem  

Does the Muslim American Society want an Islamic government in the United States?......(Weekly Standard)

The Truth about the Muslim Brotherhood

.....The Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism, Juan Zarate, stated recently, “the Muslim Brotherhood is a group that worries us not because it deals with philosophical or ideological ideas but because it defends the use of violence against civilians.” In fact, The MB 1982 secret plan, (the Project) recently exposed, instructs all members locally and globally “To channel thought, education and action in order to establish an Islamic power [government] on the earth.”....(FrontPage)

Muslim Brotherhood's papers detail plan to seize U.S. Amid the mountain of evidence released in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, the most provocative has turned out to be a handful of previously classified evidence detailing Islamist extremists' ambitious plans for a U.S. takeover.....(Dallas Morning News)

Charting the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood

The recent putsch in the Gaza Strip by Hamas is shedding light on an organization exercising considerable influence on the entire Arab world -- the Muslim Brotherhood. As both a social movement and a militant Islamist political outfit, its power stretches from the Atlantic coast to the Indian Ocean......(Der Spiegel)

Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary Focuses on Relationship Building

If Hesham Islam’s life story was translated into a screenplay -- and it’s got all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster -- the director would be hard-pressed to come up with a more compelling chain of events landing him as a top advisor to the deputy defense secretary......(DOD/AFPS, 15 Oct 07)

 

Questions for the Pentagon: Who is Hesham Islam?

In the sorry tradition of shooting the messenger, the Pentagon is cashiering its top expert on Islamist doctrine, Stephen Coughlin. Some members of Congress are now contemplating hearings to ask why. Along with drawing attention to Coughlin’s research, now circulating on the Internet, the growing controversy has thrown a spotlight on Coughlin’s alleged nemesis at the Pentagon, a top aide named Hesham Islam — whose tale deserves closer attention......(National Review, 25 Jan 07)

 

Hesham Islam's master's thesis

 

Pentagon Aide's Invitations Contradicted U.S. Policy

At the urging of a subordinate, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England scheduled at least two meetings with foreign emissaries in direct contradiction of U.S. policy at the time. The meetings date back to 2005. They involved a Lebanese ambassador considered a proxy for the Syrian government and a leading member of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood. U.S. policy at the time was not to engage in talks with either man, because they represent groups with whom the United States was not to communicate. The meetings were organized by England's special assistant for international affairs, Hesham Islam......(IPT, 4 Feb 08)

 

Embattled Muslim aide to leave Pentagon job

......The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say......."His resume didn't add up, and he knows it," the official said. "He's voluntarily leaving the government in March."....(WND, 11 Feb 08)

 

Goals of the Muslim Brotherhood's "The Project"

1 December 1982 document found during a raid in Switzerland by Swiss authorities on 7 November 2001. The target of the raid was Youssef Nada, director of the Al-Taqwa Bank of Lugano, who has had active association with the Muslim Brotherhood for more than 50 years and who admitted to being one of the organization’s international leaders. The 14-page document outlines a 12-point strategy to "Establish an Islamic government on earth." (more)

 

● Networking and coordinating actions between like-minded Islamist organizations;

● Avoiding open alliances with known terrorist organizations and individuals to maintain the appearance of “moderation”;

● Infiltrating and taking over existing Muslim organizations to realign them towards the Muslim Brotherhood’s collective goals;

● Using deception to mask the intended goals of Islamist actions, as long as it doesn’t conflict with shari’a law;

● Avoiding social conflicts with Westerners locally, nationally or globally, that might damage the long-term ability to expand the Islamist powerbase in the West or provoke a lash back against Muslims;

● Establishing financial networks to fund the work of conversion of the West, including the support of full-time administrators and workers;

● Conducting surveillance, obtaining data, and establishing collection and data storage capabilities;

● Putting into place a watchdog system for monitoring Western media to warn Muslims of “international plots fomented against them”;

● Cultivating an Islamist intellectual community, including the establishment of think-tanks and advocacy groups, and publishing “academic” studies, to legitimize Islamist positions and to chronicle the history of Islamist movements;

● Developing a comprehensive 100-year plan to advance Islamist ideology throughout the world;

● Balancing international objectives with local flexibility;

● Building extensive social networks of schools, hospitals and charitable organizations dedicated to Islamist ideals so that contact with the movement for Muslims in the West is constant;

● Involving ideologically committed Muslims in democratically-elected institutions on all levels in the West, including government, NGOs, private organizations and labor unions;

● Instrumentally using existing Western institutions until they can be converted and put into service of Islam;

● Drafting Islamic constitutions, laws and policies for eventual implementation;

● Avoiding conflict within the Islamist movements on all levels, including the development of processes for conflict resolution;

● Instituting alliances with Western “progressive” organizations that share similar goals;

● Creating autonomous “security forces” to protect Muslims in the West;

● Inflaming violence and keeping Muslims living in the West “in a jihad frame of mind”;

● Supporting jihad movements across the Muslim world through preaching, propaganda, personnel, funding, and technical and operational support;

● Making the Palestinian cause a global wedge issue for Muslims;

● Adopting the total liberation of Palestine from Israel and the creation of an Islamic state as a keystone in the plan for global Islamic domination;

● Instigating a constant campaign to incite hatred by Muslims against Jews and rejecting any discussions of conciliation or coexistence with them;

● Actively creating jihad terror cells within Palestine;

● Linking the terrorist activities in Palestine with the global terror movement;

● Collecting sufficient funds to indefinitely perpetuate and support jihad around the world

Read the entire document

 

In The Management of Savagery, senior Al-Qaeda strategic thinker Abu Bakr Naji calls for:

 

"Infiltrating the adversaries and their fellow travelers and establishing a strong security apparatus that is more supportive of the security of the [revolutionary Islamic] movement now, and later the [resultant Islamic] state. (We) should infiltrate the police forces, the armies, the different political parties, the newspapers, the Islamic groups, the petroleum companies (as an employee or as an engineer), private security companies, sensitive civil institutions, etc."

 

He notes that this "actually began several decades ago," but adds, "we need to increase it in light of recent developments.

 

A Declaration of War Against the People of Europe

     Last year in Vienna a conference was held about so-called Euroislam. Here the prominent Muslim delegates formulated a common strategic vision about a Europe dominated by Islam. At the event Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, envisioned an “upcoming Islamic era which, modeled on Moorish Spain and Osmannic Southern Europe, will take over after Christendom”.

      Among those present was the ubiquitous professor Tariq Ramadan. He advised that the more long-sighted intentions of Euroislam should remain hidden from the general public. The conference was in agreement about the first and foremost goal, namely the introduction of religious Islamic jurisprudence (sharia) in Europe “in the beginning at least as a parallel system alongside national laws in European states”. As to the real meaning of sharia they all agreed to avoid publicity as far as possible.

     One might wonder why the declarations from that conference did not attract wider attention than they actually did. Could it be that such forecasts for Islam are so far-fetched that nobody takes them seriously? Or could it be that forecasts such as this about Euroislam are so deviant from the wishful thinking of the otherwise so self-asserting cultural elites in Europe that they prefer to ignore what was really said?

    The same could be said about the problematic professor Tariq Ramadan who proclaimed the most worrying statement: The real intentions of Euroislam must be concealed from the general public. Quite a harsh and frank statement, considering that he must anticipate being quoted in the media. But maybe he just cynically relies on the negligence of “the infidels”?
...........Qaradawi probably set his heavy fingerprint on a document called “The Project” presumably authored by Said Ramadan, Tariq Ramadan’s father, he too a central figure in The Muslim Brotherhood. “The Project” , dated 1982, outlines a long-term strategy (100 years), a detailed roadmap for Islamic infiltration and the final grab of power in Europe (and the USA), and accordingly is in compliance with the declarations from the conference in Vienna last spring.

...........It’s interesting to notice an article in The Project’s roadmap regarding the European left wing which must be exploited as a temporary stepping-stone and provisional ally in the struggle towards the final Islamization of the West. Concealment and denial of the final objective is specifically mentioned in this manual.......(Gates of Vienna)

 

Holy Land Foundation Trial Exhibits make four things clear:

 

1. Many of the existing organizations that have set themselves up as the interlocutors between the Islamic community in the United States and the outside world (including government, law enforcement, and other faiths) were founded and controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood from their inception. Many of them changed their names over time to achieve broader national acceptance.

2. Brotherhood established a highly-structured organization with many different faces inside the United States while deliberately and continually seeking to hide the Brotherhood’s links to its front groups.

3. The agenda to be carried out by these groups in the United States in reality had little to do with the organizations’ publicly-proclaimed goals, such as protecting the civil rights of Muslims. Rather, the true goal is to destroy the United States from the inside and work to establish a global Islamist society.

4. The primary function of the Brotherhood structures, from the early 1990s forward, was to support, materially and politically, the Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories, as instructed by the office of the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo  (Counterterrorism Blog)

The Muslim Brotherhood and Voting

If one wants to get a more realistic picture of how the Muslim Brotherhood and its international legacy organizations view voting and the democratic process than the usual platitudes of their public discourse, it is well worth reading the Guide to Voting in Islam, posted by the Muslim Association of Britain.......It is clear from the Guide, and many other writings, that the MB’s primary loyalty is not to whatever country they live in, but to the establishment of an Islamist state.....(FSM)

Required Reading for Professionals

Professionals with War on Terrorism responsibilities have a professional duty to know the enemy that includes ALL the knowable facts associated with the law of jihad

"To Our Great Detriment": Ignoring What Extremists Say About Jihad, by Stephen Coughlin, Major, Military Intelligence, USAR. July 2007 master's thesis, National Defense Intelligence College

 

"In comments made at the National Defense University on 1 December 2005, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace explained to his audience the importance of “understand[ing] the nature of the enemy” if we hope to defeat jihadi extremists.  Comparing our situation today, with that faced by an earlier generation who had to deal with the reality of the Nazi threat, General Pace suggested a simple solution to complying with his injunction:  “read what our enemies have said.  Remember Hitler….  He said in writing exactly what his plan was that we collectively ignored to our great detriment (emphasis added).”  Just as we ignored Hitler’s articulation of his strategic doctrine in Mein Kampf, so too are we on the verge of suffering a similar fate today, if we fail to seriously assess the extremist threat based on jihadi strategic doctrine....."

DOCUMENTS/REPORTS/ARTICLES:

Books on the subversive threat:

 

Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington by Paul Sperry

--Key Revelations in book

--Documents

--More Sperry articles

 

Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the Us by Steven Emerson

 

American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us by Steven Emerson

 

Militant Islam Reaches America by Daniel Pipes

 

Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI by Peter Lance

 

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West by Walid Phares

 

The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy by Walid Phares

911 at Pentagon

 

Pentagon ablaze

 

The Pentagon builds Islamic prayer rooms and hires imams to make military life more appealing.

As US troops battle Islamic extremists abroad, the Pentagon and the armed forces are reaching out to Muslims at home.....(Christian Science Monitor, 27 Dec 07)

 

Marine Corps' First Islamic Prayer Center Dedicated

......The prayer center will help educate many about the Islamic faith while it serves the Islamic community here, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said......(DefenseLink/AFPS, 7 Jun 06)

Remarks by Deputy Secretary England at the Islamic Prayer Center Dedication

 

US Marines Build Shrine to Islam

We are at war with militant Islam, but you wouldn't know it from the Pentagon, which is busy erecting a shrine to Islam just five short years after Islamic terrorists destroyed a good chunk of its own building and killed more than 100 of its occupants. Worse, it's consulting on the project with a Wahhabi-educated cleric posing as a moderate.

     ....With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy texts the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of war. This is tantamount to the Marines setting up a Mein Kampf reading room during WWII.......(Paul Sperry, 13 Jun 06)

 

The U.S. Department of Defense Woos Muslims....(Daniel Pipes, 6 Jan 07)

 

The State Department Promotes Islamist Organizations....(Daniel Pipes, 25 Feb 04)

 

The United States Government, Still the Patron of Islam....(Daniel Pipes, 6 Oct 06)

 

Pentagon and Islam
Defense officials involved in waging the global war against Islamist extremism are increasingly frustrated by the apparent failure of senior military and civilian officials to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys. They are concerned that community outreach efforts have helped legitimize some U.S. Islamic groups with covert or overt ties to extremists, a problem that also is occurring at the FBI and Justice Department......."During the Cold War, we at least had the brains to recognize Soviet front groups and didn't invite them to the Pentagon for vodka and caviar," one defense official said. "Now, the Islamic militant front groups are [the Department of Defense's] guests of honor."......(Bill Gertz/Inside the Ring, 12 Oct 07)

 

In Search Of Friends Among The Foes

....The episode demonstrates the U.S. government's dilemma. Some federal agents worry that the Muslim Brotherhood has dangerous links to terrorism. But some U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials believe its influence offers an opportunity for political engagement that could help isolate violent jihadists.....(Washington Post, 11 Sep 2004)

 

The Magical Muslim Brotherhood Tour : FBI and US Embassy court the 'Egyptian American Group' both home and abroad.....(Militant Islam Monitor)

 

FBI Reaching Out to Jihadist-Linked Group

The FBI is cooperating with a U.S. Muslim group recently linked to global extremists and is asking the group to provide "cultural training" for its special agents, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report......(Washington Times, 28 Sep 07)

 

Pentagon observes Muslim holy month

....As the Pentagon celebrated Ramadan, the White House is in preparations for an iftar feast tomorrow, said Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena M. Saifulislam, who will be participating at the White House events......(Washington Times, 3 Oct 07)

 

Military Academies Help Muslims Face Mecca

Military academies in the United States increasingly are making special accommodations for Muslim students so they can practice their religion...(USINFO/State Dept, 21 Nov 06)

 

FBI invites Muslim scholars to preach

Even as the FBI takes new heat over the 9-11 report's revelation that it overlooked ties between a Muslim cleric and two of the al-Qaida hijackers, it is putting agents and new recruits through a Muslim sensitivity program that includes inviting Muslim clerics and leaders to preach about the allegedly peaceful attributes of Islam......(Paul Sperry, 30 Jul 03)

 

FBI Polarized by the "Wahhabi Lobby"

.....Well into the war on terrorism, the FBI is a house divided. On one side, agents are wrapping up terrorist-support networks coast to coast that include radicalized American Muslims bent on unleashing a murderous jihad against their own country. On the other side, in Washington, a culture of political correctness seems to have settled in the bureau's upper management, which some insiders describe as a Clintonlike pandering to the latest favored victim group......(J. Michael Waller, 31 Jul 03)

 

Daniel Pipes Writings on the FBI & Islam

 

Islamists in the Army

One of the individuals that has been involved in both is currently located in Iraq. However, he is no Iraqi. He is an American and a member of the United States Army. The following exposes this individual, in hopes that a potential threat will be averted.....(FrontPage, 18 Dec 07)

 

Pentagon Jihadis

....It has been obvious for months that Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces. In February, milestone Wall Street Journal established that imams who consider Osama bin Laden "a hero of Allah" dominate the Islamic chaplaincy in the New York state prison system......And at least six prior cases of Islamist servicemen have come to light:....(Daniel Pipes)

 

More Pentagon Jihadis

.....Here is a listing of new jihadis as they appear....(Daniel Pipes)

 

The enemy within

.....If infiltrators did play a role in the attack, it would just be the latest example of a long history of Islamic terrorists penetrating military forces throughout the world. Recognizing the tremendous intelligence value of placing operatives within enemy ranks, terrorists have placed a premium on this strategy......(Armed Forces Journal, 13 Jan 05)

 

The 'Fifth Column' Syndrome

....The attack for which Sgt. Akbar is being held at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait is sending shockwaves through the national security community for another reason, though: It could be the precursor for a far larger and more dangerous problem, both for the military and for American society more generally. Call it the "Fifth Column syndrome."....(Frank Gaffney, 26 Mar 03)

 

DEFEAT in the War of Ideas against the Muslim Brotherhood:

 

'Jihadist' booted from government lexicon

The Bush administration has launched a new front in the war on terrorism, this time targeting language. Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as "jihadists" or "mujahedeen," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Lingo like "Islamo-fascism" is out, too. The reason: Such words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by giving them a veneer of religious credibility or by causing offense to moderates.......(AP)

Terms to use and avoid when talking about terrorism

Some do's and don'ts from the National Counterterrorism Center

 

Score one for the Muslim Brotherhood

…..As Walid Phares describes in his post-9/11 three-book series on the meaning, structure, and progress of the current jihad, words can be enormously influential in the war of ideas. So, when the White House announces that government employees both at home and abroad must employ euphemisms such as "violent extremists" or "South Asian youths" instead of "Muslim jihadis" because the latter somehow confers legitimacy on the enemy, the entire Islamic world understands that the U.S. leadership has been infiltrated and influenced to a state of almost unbelievable confusion about this war..……

    That the U.S. administration could even suppose that its choice of vocabulary might influence the jihadi enemy betrays a woeful lack of understanding about what actually motivates him. Concern about offending non-jihadi Muslims must not deter the country from conducting a realistic assessment of the Islamic roots of jihadi terrorism. Non-jihadi Muslims are the target and victims of jihadis to a far greater extent than kufar (non-believers in Islam). They welcome the West's outreach and need the empowerment it could offer, but are weakened when political correctness replaces focus on defining and defeating the enemy that would dominate both societies……. (Middle East Times op-ed by CI Centre Professor Clare Lopez)

 

Who is America Fighting - Jihadists or Extremists?

.......What the "Extremist Messaging Branch" of the NCTC and the Muslim outreach division of the DHS have not addressed are the inconvenient writings in the 9/11 Commission Report, the closest thing that America has yet in terms of a "strategic" document on Jihad. The 9/11 Commission Report uses the term "jihad" in referencing the enemy 79 times and specifically defines "jihad" as a "holy war".......The Report refers to the term "jihadist" 31 times, including the references to the "worldwide jihadist community".....Most importantly, the 9/11 Commission Report provides the definition of "Islamist terrorism" as being based on the ideology of "Islamism".........(Counterterrorism Blog)

 

The New American Lexicon: Jihad, We Hardly Knew You

.....As a Muslim trying to help America defend itself against the Islamist jihad, I am outraged that our government is letting us down so badly by cozying up to the enemy. I have seen this happen in my home country and in so many other places, but I never thought it would happen here.....What I really don’t understand is what on earth happened to the Americans having the guts to stand up to evil? Why is America following in Europe ’s footsteps of appeasement?......(Counterterrorism Blog)

 

Dangerous Word Games.

Apparently the report does not say which American Muslims offered the recommendations. But it is virtually identical to a long campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamist groups (Check out the examples we cited in our series on CAIR, then go back and read the AP report). So the U.S. government is taking its cues from a group that emanated from a secret Muslim Brotherhood operation in America, one with a stated goal of being "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.".........(IPT)

Deja Vu All Over Again

Winston Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons after Czechoslovakia was yielded to Hitler at Munich in 1938:

 

“I find unendurable the sense of our country falling into the power, into the orbit and influence of Nazi Germany, and of our existence becoming dependent on their good will or pleasure. I have tried my best to urge the maintenance of every bulwark of defence … to restrain the onward movement of this power. It has all been in vain …

 

"We have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.”

 

"And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup that will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” (Winston Churchill, “The Gathering Storm,” p.328.)

Islamic Sharia Law

 

Shariah 'justice' in Afghanistan

.....Also, given post-Taliban Afghanistan's dependency on U.S. troops for survival, would the implementation of this Shariah (Islamic law) death sentence against Mr. Kambakhsh make us a party to a Shariah crime against universal human rights?....Does our "war on terror," which currently includes stabilizing U.S.-fostered governments that enshrine Shariah in Afghanistan and Iraq, in effect place the United States in the role of making the world safe for Shariah?..........(Diana West/ Washington Times, 25 Jan 08)

 

Clerics welcome Afghan reporter’s death sentence

A group of Afghanistan's Islamic clerics welcomed yesterday a court's decision to sentence a reporter accused of blasphemy to death.......(AFP, 26 Jan 08)

 

Journalist claims article that led to death sentence

......In an interview with Radio Free Afghanistan, Balkh Province Attorney-General Hafizullah Khaliqyar said Kambakhsh had insulted Islam, misinterpreted the Koran, and distributed the article to others. He denied there had been any violation of the journalist’s rights and said the trial was held in a "very Islamic way." Khaliqyar also threatened to arrest any journalist who defended Kambakhsh.....(RFE/RL, 26 Jan 08)

 

Mounting criticism of young journalist’s death sentence
......Balkh provincial state prosecutor Hafizullah Khaliqyar has nonetheless dismissed the charges that the court violated human rights and press freedom, insisting that the verdict was given “in accordance with Islam’s values.”....(Reporters Without Borders, 25 Jan 07)

 

Afghanistan Constitution

Article Three: "In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam. "

 

"According to the Islamic law, Sayed Perwiz is sentenced to death at the first court."

--Shamsur Rahman, the head of the court

 

"This was not a violation of human rights or press freedom, not a violation of rights of a journalist. Kambakhsh violated the values of Islam. He did not make a journalistic mistake; he insulted our religion. He misinterpreted the verses of the Koran and distributed this paper to others. All ulama [Islamic clerics] have condemned his act."

-- Attorney-General Hafizullah Khaliqyar who defends the death sentence against Kambakhsh

 

 

Don't "Get It"?  Attend CI Centre courses 361 or 362

 

From Douglas Farah's website:

ANALYSIS OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S GENERAL STRATEGIC GOALS FOR NORTH AMERICA MEMORANDUM

 

This assessment makes the point that the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered a threat organization and the affiliated US domestic Muslim NGOs and associations identified in the strategy document should likewise be considered part of the Muslim Brotherhood network, that these are “front” functional organizations operating as links and nodes of the overall network.

Exceptionally important in the analysis is the role of the “Truespeak” organization and Jim Guirard who has been arguing in DoD circles and academic institutions that the term jihad should be suspended from the GWOT lexicon to be replaced by hiraba. This analysis demonstrates that “Truespeak” contributors are part of the Muslim Brotherhood threat network, with the implication that this entire communication and lexicon effort is part of a strategic disinformation and denial and deception campaign.

Those involved in strategic communication or IO, whether senior leaders, practitioners or analysts should take a close note.

This analysis begins to provide clear I&W for domestic threats that DoD, DHS and the USG must come to terms with.

LTC Joseph C. Myers
Senior Army Advisor
Air Command and Staff College
Maxwell AFB Montgomery, AL

ANALYSIS OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S GENERAL STRATEGIC GOALS FOR NORTH AMERICA MEMORANDUM

By Pentagon Joint Staff analyst Stephen Coughlin, 7 September 2007

INTRODUCTION

The following is a brief analysis of a Muslim Brotherhood document entered into evidence in the U.S. v Holy Land Foundation trial (Trial) that the U.S. Justice Department is currently prosecuting in Federal Court. Analysis is based on this document as well as other publicly available documents. (For a broad offering of Trial documents, see here). The attached documents relate to ISNA and the Trial.

The first document is a Muslim Brotherhood memorandum that was accepted into evidence in the U.S. v Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case. The first 16 pages are in the original Arabic and the second are English language translations of the same. It is dated 22 May 1991 and titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America” (Memorandum). The document includes an Attachment 1 that contains “a list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”

Among those noted in the Attachment are ISNA, MSA, AMSS, AMSE, NAIT, IFC, IPAC, IAP, UASR, ICNA (typo in the second listing) and IIIT. ICNA and ISNA are the only two organizations named in the body of the text. ISNA is additionally represented on the list as IFC (ISNA Fiqh Committee – now the Fiqh Council of North America) and IPAC (ISNA Political Awareness Committee). The second document is a signed letter from Members of Congress Pete Hoekstra and Sue Myrick to the Justice Department dated 28 August 2007 formally requesting that Justice stand down from “co-sponsoring” a conference with ISNA due to its very close relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Justice attended anyhow. The Memorandum was admitted into evidence at the same time the Letter was sent addressing Congressional concerns.
DISCUSSION

ACCEPTED AS EVIDENCE

It should be noted that the Memorandum met evidentiary standards to be admissible as evidence in a Federal Court of law.

THE ENUMERATED ENTITIES ARE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

As noted, both ICNA and ISNA are identified and described in the body of the Memorandum in these contexts:

  • The positive development with the brothers in the Islamic Circle in an attempt to reach a unity of merger.

  • We have the seed for a “comprehensive Dawa’ educational” organization: We have the Dawa’ section in ISNA.

The enumerated recognition suggests that ISNA and ICNA, as elements of the entity that drafted the Memorandum, are likewise elements of the Muslim Brotherhood. Additionally, the Memorandum refers to the entities designated in Attachment (1) as currently held possessions:

  • What encourages us to do that – in addition to the aforementioned – is that we possess “seeds” for each organization from the organization we call for [See attachment (1)].

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN CHARGE IN NORTH AMERICA

The Memorandum expressly recognizes the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikkwan) as the controlling element. For example, the first authority identified as the basis of the Memorandum is the Muslim Brotherhood:

  • The general strategic goal of the Group in America which was approved by the Shura Council and the Organizational Conference for the year 1987 in “Enablement of Islam in North America, meaning: establishing the effective and stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims’ efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is.”

Next, the Memorandum expressly identifies the Muslim Brotherhood as the leadership element in implementing the strategic goals:

  • Also, we must summon and take along “elements” of the general strategic goal of the Group in North America and I will intentionally repeat them in numbers. They are:

*(1) Establishing an effective and stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood.*

The status of the Muslim Brotherhood as being in charge of all Muslim organizations in North America is reinforced in a statement asserting that establishing Islam as a part of America is to be done through a civilization level Jihad:

  • In order for Islam and its Movement to become “a part of the homeland” in which it lives, “stable” in the land, “rooted” in the spirits and minds of its people, “enabled” in the lives of its society and has firmly-established “organizations” on which the Islamic structure is built and with which the testimony of the civilization is achieved, the Movement must plan and struggle to obtain “the keys” and the tools of this process in carry out this grand mission as a “Civilization Jihadist” responsibility which lies on the shoulders of Muslim and – on top of them – the Muslim Brotherhood in this country.

An analysis of the entities designated in Attachment (1) of the Memorandum, along with those entities that can be reasonably assessed to have spun off from them since 1991, should be assessed to see what organizational presence they represent.

CIVILIZATION-JIHAD: THE STRATEGIC GOAL OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.

Having established its leadership, the Memorandum states the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America:

  • The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is not escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. But, would the slackers and the Mujahedeen be equal.

  • As part of the process is “[the] conviction that the success of the settlement of Islam and its Movement in this country [America] is a success to the global Islamic Movement and true support for the sought after state [caliphate] God willing.”

The first bullet is a clear threat statement of hostile intent while the second speaks to foreign agency to a transnational movement with stated objectives that overlap with al-Qaeda’s. When assessing members who belong to organizations known to be identified with the Muslim Brotherhood, the inference should be that their designated leaders have knowledge of its identified roles and missions. It is not reasonable to do otherwise.

The strategic goal of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America is multifold: the destruction of Western civilization through a long-term civilization-killing Jihad from within (“by their [our] hands”) and through sabotage (“the hands of the believers”) and, secondly; to support the global Islamic movement to establish an Islamic super-state, the caliphate.

When conducting outreach with organizations identified as being a party to the “strategic goals” identified in the Memorandum, the gain/loss assessment of associating with them should be undertaken in light of their clearly stated hostile intent that includes the subversion of American institutions through outreach, strategic deception and perception management. To undertake outreach with known identified organizations without knowledge of their objectives is to run the extreme risk of strategic manipulation by declared Jihad entities in ways that fulfill stated Muslim Brotherhood objectives as enumerated in the Memorandum.

ENUMERATED MB ORGANIZATIONS AND TRUESPEAK

As part of a presentation designed to change the lexicon of the GWOT (hiraba not Jihad), Jim Guirard explains that his proposed terms and definitions come from a group of “moderate” Muslims and other experts. He provides a list of contributors as part of his handout. Cross-referencing the names from his TrueSpeak list with the list of organizations provided in Attachment (1) of the Memorandum gives cause for concern:

  • For example, along with ICNA and ISNA, Attachment (1) also lists the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT), the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT).

If one were to list all of Guirard’s contributors who are associated with, for example, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), one might be able to glean a web of Muslim Brotherhood associations. From the TrueSpeak list, it turns out that the following CSID members are also members of identified Muslim Brotherhood entities:

  • Muqtedar Khan (AMSS, IIIT), Akbar Ahmed (AMSS, IIIT), Anthony Sullivan (AMSS, IIIT), Robert Crane (UASR, IIIT), Asma Afsaruddin (AMSS), and Layla Sein (AMSS, IIIT).

  • Other CSID members listed in the TrueSpeak brochure are John Esposito and Radwan Masmoudi.

If one accepts the Memorandum statement that “the big challenge … is how to turn these seeds or ‘scattered’ elements into comprehensive, stable, ‘settled’ organizations that are connected with our movement,” then it appears that the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in getting CSID to “fly in our orbit and take orders from our guidance.”

Other notables on the TrueSpeak list of “moderate” contributors:

  • Shaykh Taha Jabir al-Awani. Chairman, North America Fiqh Council (in 1991 the IFC and still an ISNA affiliate) and was a co-founder and President of IIIT. He was also un-indicted coconspirator number 5 in the al-Arian trial.

  • Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. [US designated supporter of terrorism] Co-founder of ISNA’s HQ in Boston along with ISNA founder Alamoudi (convicted and incarcerated for material support to terrorism related offenses).

  • Dr. Aboul-Hakin (Sherman Jackson). Trustee of NAIT and the MSA (Muslim Student Association), Board Member of the Fiqh Council of North America (ISNA affiliate)

  • Jeremy Henzell. Executive Director AMSS, published by IIIT.

  • Sayed Syeed. President of MSA, cofounder ISNA, General Secretary AMSS, Director of Academic Outreach IIIT.

It is worth noting that when Mr. Guirard “cites” to authority for the terms and definitions he uses, it is to these individuals and not to reviewable published authoritative sources. This is hearsay.

Based on the Memorandum, it turns out that many of the individuals that provide TrueSpeak with the terms and definitions – that Guirard would have us use to conceptualize and orient to the enemy – are known to be associated with threat entities that believe “their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” There are sound reasons to question the uncritical adoption of TrueSpeak’s uncritically accepted war on terror lexicon.

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FOLLOWS THE MILESTONES

As a Muslim Brotherhood document, it should not surprise that it follows Sayyid Qutb’s Milestone formula based on progressive revelation (revelation in stages) as first experienced by Muhammad and the first most perfect generation of Muslims. (For a more detailed explanation, see Appendix C [Abrogation and Progressive Revelation] of Thesis) Hence, Part Four, Section 3 “Understanding the historical stages …” lists 8 stages of development that emphasizes the need for a “gradual and balanced ‘time-frame’” approach that is patterned after the revelation in stages that reflects the “role during the time of Allah’s prophet” who was “the first pioneer of this phenomenon.”

Because the Memorandum is understood to be a Muslim Brotherhood work, the lexicon used to define the terms it uses (for example jihad, dawa’, dar al-arqam and Usras) should likewise come from the Muslim Brotherhood dictionary (the “threat vocabulary”).


CONCLUSION The HLF Trial is turning up primary source threat documentation and information that provides new insights into global jihad organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood.

  • These documents are beginning to define the structure and outline of domestic jihad threat entities, associated non-governmental organizations and potential terrorist or insurgent support systems.

  • The Memorandum also describes aspects of the global jihad’s strategic information warfare campaign and indications of its structure, reach and activities.

  • Consequently, outreach strategies must be adjusted in the face of credible information that seeming Islamic humanitarian or professional non-governmental organizations may be part of the global jihad with potential for being part of the terrorist or insurgent support system.

The Memorandum identifies ISNA as an element of the Muslim Brotherhood that the Justice Department already designated as an unindicted coconspirator that Congress has given formal notice that it has knowledge. Outreach as an end in itself can cause those responsible for its success to so narrowly focus on the outreach relationship that they miss the surrounding events and lose perspective. This could undermine unity of effort in Homeland Security, lead to potential for embarrassment for the USG and legitimize threat organizations by providing them domestic sanctuary. In light of unfolding events, disregarding a Congressional request to suspend attendance at the ISNA conference may result in some uncommonly uncomfortable public testimony.

[1] From the ‘Umdat al-Salik, Islamic law defines jihad as “war against non-Muslims … signifying warfare to establish the religion.” Qur’an Verse 9:5 is among the most pre-eminent and it states: “But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war; but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them.” Islamic law recognizes no authority except that which comes from Allah (Islam is not just a religion but a complete way of life governed by Islamic law that comes from Allah Who is alone sovereign).

 

Stephen Coughlin, Esq. Biography

 

"To Our Great Detriment": Ignoring What Extremists Say About Jihad, by Stephen Coughlin, Major, Military Intelligence, USAR. July 2007 master's thesis, National Defense Intelligence College

 

Coughlin for Beginners

A summary of Major Couglin’s main ideas in his thesis, “To Our Great Detriment: Ignoring What Extremists Say About Jihad".......(Counterterrorism Blog, 28 Jan 07)

 

 

"Stephen Coughlin is one of the keenest analysts of Islam working for the American government, possibly the very best inside the Pentagon. If he is pushed out, if he is subject to any campaign by Muslims and their non-Muslim collaborators and puppets, that will be, or should be, a matter for alarm as great as any raised about the infiltration by Soviet agents during the Cold War."--Hugh Fitzgerald, Jihad Watch  Read more and more

 

"Steve Coughlin is the most knowledgeable person in the U.S. government on Islamic law. The secretary of defense should ensure that he stays at DOD."--retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney

 

Coughlin Termination

 

Coughlin Fired for Speaking the Truth

Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government's most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it. He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hesham Islam, who confronted Mr. Coughlin during a meeting several weeks ago when Mr. Islam sought to have Mr. Coughlin soften his views on Islamist extremism......Mr. Coughlin appears to have become one of the first casualties in the war of ideas with Islamism......(Bill Gertz/Washington Times, 4 Jan 08)

 

 

"The termination of Stephen Coughlin on the Joint Staff is an act of intellectual cowardice"

LTC Joseph C. Myers, Army Advisor to the Air Command and Staff College, speaks out about the firing of Stephen Coughlin:

MAJ (USAR) Stephen Coughlin is to my knowledge the only Isl