By Christine Brim
Think of it as ACORN reborn, with a slice of Jihad on the side.
On August 31, this coming Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood-associated “Coordinating Council of Muslim organizations” (CCMO) will bring 25-30 Muslim leaders of 20 national Muslim groups to attend a special workshop presented by the White House and U.S. Government agencies (Agriculture, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services etc.) to provide the groups “funding, government assistance and resources.” The workshop will apparently provide special access for these Muslim Brotherhood organizations: the organizers pledge to provide “direct access” and “cut through red tape.” Government and Muslim groups will hold an Iftar dinner (breaking the fast of Ramadan) after the workshop.
The event was announced in an email newsletter sent August 27 by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, long associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the global Islamist network (great backgrounder here from Hudson Institute). Here are three key paragraphs from the email (the entire article on the August 31 event from the ISNA email is pasted below this post as reference):
This year, a phenomenal next step has been made where government iftars become coupled with workshops to provide resources and benefit the Muslim community. The US Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO) have paired the first of such events, scheduled for August 31, 2010.
…Leaders from Muslim organizations around the nation, particularly social service organizations, are invited to a workshop with representatives from the DOA, Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Health and Human Services, the White House, Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, and more. Twenty five to thirty Muslim leaders representing 20 Muslim organizations are expected to attend the workshop.
According to a representative of CCMO, this workshop is designed to clarify how Muslim nonprofits, mosques, Islamic centers, and social service organizations can strengthen their communities through more direct access to opportunities provided to social service agencies at the Federal level. “It will hopefully help cut through some of the red tape and shine light on the many opportunities for funding, government assistance, and resources that we just don’t know about at the local level,” said Elsanousi.
The Problem: Your Money, redistributed to the Muslim Brotherhood
This workshop constitutes an abdication of their professional responsibility by all government participants – and a taxpayer-funded government stimulus program for the attending Muslim Brotherhood-associated groups. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, is a global Islamist political movement dedicated to imposing Shariah law on all nations and institutions. Their credo is “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”
Why do we think some of these groups attending, possibly all, may be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood?
Because the sponsoring organization – the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO), co-sponsoring with the Department of Agriculture – has a long history of associations with the Muslim Brotherhood. They also signed a 2009 American Muslim Task Force statement threatening to “suspend” relations with the FBI, because the FBI was investigating possible links to homegrown terrorism in mosques and other Muslim organizations.
Not so evident on the current website, of course. This happens all the time with groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood – the current CCMO website has a LOT less information than the older ones preserved at archive.org (aka “The Wayback Machine”). Here are the previous websites for the CCMO from 2004-2008. The pre-whitewashed CCMO websites are highly revealing. They expose the degree to which this Administration intends to direct taxpayer money (and “reduced red tape”) to Muslim Brotherhood-associated organizations in the U.S.
The Administration has not revealed which 20 groups and 25-30 leaders will attend the special workshop, but if they include the 41 CCMO members listed in 2007, the attendees could include the following groups , which I’ve linked to descriptions published by The Investigative Project (please support their work):
The Islamic Society of North America, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Terrorism Finance trial, and the source of Friday’s email promoting this CCMO/Department of Agriculture Event;
The Council on American Islamic Relations, shunned by the FBI, several of its leaders indicted or convicted for terrorism, a possible violator of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, sued for fraud by Muslim, Hispanic and African-American families, named as an unindicted co-conspirator (CAIR fundraiser advertised at the CCMO site);
The International Institute of Islamic Thought , the “think tank” of the Muslim Brotherhood, described at that link by The Grand Jihad author and former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. One of the current and longest serving officers of CCMO is Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, founder of the educational arm of IIIT, the Fairfax Institute and the Director of Outreach Program for Dar-ul Hijrah “Terror” Mosque – more on him below.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee , exposed in that linked 88-page IPT report particularly for their defense of terrorists and terrorist financers. MPAC advertised here at the CCMO site for an event co-sponsored by Islamic Free Market Institute, the latter described in Paul Sperry’s pathbreaking book Infiltration)
The Dar al Hijrah Mosque (known as the “Terror Mosque” in Northern Virginia for its links to imprisoned, indicted or wanted terrorists as vividly described by Frank Gaffney), advertised here at the CCMO site.
The Muslim American Society “Freedom Foundation” run by three-time felon Mahdi Bray (MASFF Fundraiser advertised at the CCMO site). The Muslim American Society was originally founded as the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAS leader Mahdi Bray was elected on September 7, 2003 to the Executive Committee by over 40 CCMO member organizations.
I suggest that the Administration knows these groups are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. They think that’s a good thing.
This isn’t incompetence; it’s intentional.
The article closes with this invitation that was emailed:
Here’s the email in entirety:
Iftar with Our Government:
Serving up Resources for American Muslim Communities
In celebration of Ramadan, ISNA leadership and staff have been busy attending iftars hosted by the White House, State Department, Federal and State Agencies, Embassies, elected officials and interfaith partners.
These iftars are a place to celebrate the diversity of America with our partners in the government and interfaith communities,” said ISNA Director for the Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances Dr. Sayyid Syeed. He adds, “They are also evidence that Muslims and our traditions are more regularly incorporated into the mosaic of cultures and traditions that form the foundation of American life.”
Although these iftars are important symbols of the transition of Muslims into mainstream American culture, according to ISNA Director of Community Outreach Mohamed Elsanousi, they are also a very important place for brainstorming and the development of practical ideas to help the Muslim community.
“Muslim community members have been asking for more from these iftars for years now. They have contacted ISNA and requested that we work with our partners in government to make the dinners more useful to our communities at the local levels,” said ISNA Director of Community Outreach Mohamed Elsanousi.
This year, a phenomenal next step has been made where government iftars become coupled with workshops to provide resources and benefit the Muslim community. The US Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO) have paired the first of such events, scheduled for August 31, 2010.
“ISNA is happy to join other nation-wide Muslim organizations and participate in this workshop. We absolutely expect that there will be more of these paired iftars and workshops in future Ramadans,” said Elsanousi.
The Workshop: So what exactly is this workshop, you may ask. Leaders from Muslim organizations around the nation, particularly social service organizations, are invited to a workshop with representatives from the DOA, Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Health and Human Services, the White House, Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, and more. Twenty five to thirty Muslim leaders representing 20 Muslim organizations are expected to attend the workshop.
According to a representative of CCMO, this workshop is designed to clarify how Muslim nonprofits, mosques, Islamic centers, and social service organizations can strengthen their communities through more direct access to opportunities provided to social service agencies at the Federal level. “It will hopefully help cut through some of the red tape and shine light on the many opportunities for funding, government assistance, and resources that we just don’t know about at the local level,” said Elsanousi.
The Iftar: Following the workshop, the DOA will host an Iftar to acknowledge and thank Muslim employees for their dedication and to the DOA. Keynote speakers will discuss the issues of increasing access to healthy foods for all communities and the powerful communal and sacred aspects of food. In addition to the DOA employees and representatives of various Muslim organizations, the DOA also invited Muslim employees from various other government agencies. The Deputy Secretary of the Department of Agriculture is also scheduled to attend.
Complete article can be found here at Big Peace
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