US STATE DEPARTMENT OF ISLAM

Frightening in its failure .............. deadly in its implications. The damn thing must be scrapped. Top to bottom, starting with Condhimmi.

Emerson Exposes Radical Ties of State Department Outreach Partners  IPT

The State Department has collaborated with many radical Islamist organizations and individuals in its attempts to engage in outreach to the American Muslim community at large, Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Executive Director Steven Emerson told a congressional panel Thursday. Many of the individuals in charge of these organizations, and the organizations themselves, have been convicted, indicted, or designated as unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases throughout the United States.

(For detailed examples, see Emerson's complete written testimony here.)

Emerson appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade came despite the protests of some of the same Islamist organizations. Emerson urged Congress to review the State Department's interaction with these organizations in its attempts to reach out to the Muslim community.

Emerson outlined some of the more troubling aspects of participation with these groups: namely their ties to terrorist entities and promotion of radical Islamic ideology. A number of groups that the State Department has cooperated with have links to entities such as Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hizballah - which are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States government. The groups partnering with the State Department help to support an ideology that focuses on eliminating secular Western powers and promoting their stringent ideas of Sharia law, or law as governed by Islamic text.

[...]

While the outreach to the Muslim community by the State Department "is an honorable and worthwhile pursuit, the State Department has conducted outreach to the wrong groups, sending a terrible message to moderate Muslims who are thoroughly disenfranchised by the funding, hosting and embracing of radical groups that purport to be opposed to terrorism and extremism," Emerson wrote in his testimony further stressing the idea that the State Department's polices need to be reanalyzed in order to better select which Islamic organizations receive funding in order to promote peace and understanding.

Prior to Emerson's testimony, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) both expressed their concerns over the State Department's funding and support of these organizations to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They collaborated on a letter in which they urge Secretary Rice to stop funding entities that support radical Islamic ideology. The senators' concerns are that despite these organizations' known connections to radical terrorism entities, the State Department has willingly participated in awarding grants of about $500,000 to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas fundraising trial with a long history of support for Hamas itself, and other radical Islamic organizations for programs that could help to promote or fund future terrorist ideology and violence.

[...]

Subcommittee Chairman Brad Sherman (D-CA) also was interested in ways to reform State Department outreach funding. He suggested creating a questionnaire for prospective grant recipients. Among the areas it would ask about are past connections to radical groups, whether the applicant condemns terrorist groups such as Hizballah and Hamas and whether their board members ever were connected to the Muslim Brotherhood or other radical groups. (More here)

This from Congressman Sherman's office, it takes courage - particularly when so many in Congress and bend over and submitted to an enemy bent on our destruction

Muslim Public Affairs Council Tries to Halt Congressman Sherman's Hearings

Sherman Oaks, CA – On Tuesday, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) demonstrated in front of the Office of Congressman Brad Sherman, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Nonproliferation. The demonstrators demanded the cancellation of a subcommittee hearing on whether American foreign aid is going to organizations affiliated with terrorists.

"This hearing will go on. We need to make sure that the State Department is not giving U.S. tax dollars to those on the other side in the war on terrorism," said Sherman. "I know there are many in our community so desperate for peace that they want us to sweep under the rug the pro-terrorism positions of some groups. There are groups in the Islamic world truly dedicated to peace, but we should not blind ourselves to the fact that some are not."

The day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, MPAC executive Salam Al- Marayati created a furor when he stated on a Los Angeles radio program, "If we are going to look at suspects, we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list…"[1]

Two brothers have played a critical role in leading MPAC. Maher Hathout is a senior adviser and one of the founders of MPAC, while his brother Hassan Hathout served as MPAC's president.

In the "about the authors" section of his book, Hassan Hathout is described as "a close disciple of the late Hassan Al-Banna of Egypt,"[2] the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Maher Hathout has praised Hassan Al-Turabi as a reformist working for peace and justice for all.[3] Hassan Al-Turabi was head of the Sudan National Islamic Front (NIF) which the U.S. government condemned for supporting terrorism, and for launching a genocidal war in southern Sudan. Al-Turabi has been described as the "power behind the throne" in Sudan during the 1990s, as leader of the NIF and as Speaker of the National Assembly.[4] Turabi gave Osama Bin Laden sanctuary in Sudan.[5]

Maher Hathout has also asserted that "Hezbollah is fighting for freedom" and that the organization is "very American".[6] In fact, Hezbollah is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

OT related: Hoekstra fights ban on terms that describe terrorists*

Regardless, U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Holland, offered an amendment last week to the 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act that would ban financing for any restriction on such words. Reps. Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Hills, Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, and Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, also voted for the amendment.

"None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this act may be used to prohibit or discourage the use of the words or phrases 'jihadist,' 'jihad,' 'Islamo-fascism,' 'caliphate,' 'Islamist' or 'Islamic terrorist' by or within the intelligence community or the Federal Government," the amendment reads. It was approved by a 249-180 vote in the House. The Senate is working on its own authorization bill, and no such amendment has been offered, to date.

"I am sympathetic to the argument that if used inappropriately, the words can be counterproductive, but I find that the people who are criticizing this are very short on alternatives," Hoekstra said. "So how do they want us to describe al-Qaida and what they are involved with?"

Comments

[BillBowen]

Folks, just as a point of reference - that last 3-paragraph clip must have come from a Michigan newspaper. The location names next to those Congressman's names are cities in Michigan. Holland is NW of Detroit, Livonia is a western suburb and Bloomfield Hills is north of Detroit.

The Democrat, Bart Stutpak, is one of the few sane Democrats in Congress. Menominee is in the SW corner of the Upper Peninsula on the shore of Lake Michigan just a few miles north of the Wisconsin border. The rural Democrats seem to me to be a bit more sane than the big city variety like Conyers & Dingal (both Detroit area).

Peter Hoekstra is right - if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck then we bloody well ought to call it a duck! And I don't give a damn if the duck is offended.