FTR#435—The Road to Lugano—(Two 30-minute segments) (Sources are noted in
parentheses.) (Recorded on November 10, 2003.)
Note: FTR#’s 260-316, 317, 324,
FTR#325 and succeeding programs are streaming
on Real Audio at www.wfmu.org/daveemory.
FTR#’s 01-270, 316-324 are available
for download only, also on Real
Audio, on their Archive Page.)
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the audio files on the WFMU web sites to create their own research/teaching
databases. Summary of FTR#435—(Note: The massive
volume of “For The Record” programs about 9/11 and related topics is summarized
and analyzed in the periodically-updated description for FTR#391. It is recommended that listeners use this
description and e-mail it to others. Also: The “meat” of the book “Martin
Bormann: Nazi in Exile” has been digested into an extended description for FTR#305. Listeners can now e-mail this
quintessentially important book to people around the world. In addition, the
professional history of the late Paul Manning, the book’s author, is presented
in the description “About Paul Manning.” This
enables listeners to acquaint others with Mr. Manning’s journalistic
credentials. Understanding the Bormann organization is essential to
comprehending the concept of “the Underground Reich.”) At the core of the thesis presented in “For The Record” about the 9/11
attacks is the Underground Reich. With Islamofascist elements attacking from
without at the same time as elements of the Bormann group—crystallized in the
Bush administration—subvert from within, the Underground Reich is perpetuating
the Second World War after a fifty-year hiatus. At stake is nothing less than the survival of the United States,
democracy, and civilization as we understand it. FTR#435 highlights Lugano, Switzerland—the crossroads at which the
Thyssen-Bornemisza industrial and financial interests (to which the Bush family
is beholden) and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al Taqwa network interesect. It is upon the “Road to Lugano” that the
fate of civilization and humanity will be determined. Beginning with
brilliant, vital research by “The New Hampshire Gazette,” the program documents
the fact that the Bush family’s business dealings with the Thyssen interests
encompassed the postwar flight capital program that was the foundation of the
Bormann organization. This relationship extended up until the time of Prescott
Bush Sr.’s 1952 Senate campaign. The Bush family helped to frustrate Operation
Safehaven—directed at interdicting Nazi flight capital. Al Taqwa, too, is
escaping successful interdiction due to the international financial conduits
upon which it feeds. Al Taqwa’s founders—Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris
Nasreddin—continue to attempt to resurrect their operations.
Program Highlights Include: A U.N. report
detailing the continued machinations of Nada and Nasreddin; the pair’s
connections to Abdurrahman Alamoudi; the Al Taqwa/Al Qaeda Fifth Column within
the military; the Al Taqwa/Al Qaeda Fifth Column within the GOP; the fascist
heritage and philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood.
1.
The program begins with a consummately important article about the Bush
family’s Nazi business connections. (For more about this subject, see—among
other programs—FTR#’s 248, 273, 332,
353, 361, 370.) As discussed in FTR#’s
273, 370, these relationships
proceeded into the postwar period and involved Bush family participation in the
Nazi flight capital program that evolved into the Bormann organization. (See FTR#305.) “After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S.
enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott
Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of
more than a dozen ‘enemy national’ relationships that continued until as late
as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal. Furthermore, the
records show that Bush and his colleagues routinely attempted to conceal their
activities from government investigators. Bush’s partners in the secret web of
Thyssen-controlled ventures included former New York Governor W. Averell
Harriman and his younger brother, E. Roland Harriman. Their quarter-century of
Nazi financial transactions, from 1924-1951, were conducted by the New York
private banking firm, Brown Brothers Harriman. The White House did not return
calls seeking comment.” (“ ‘Bush-Nazi Dealings Continued Until
1951’—Federal Documents” by John Buchanan and Stacey Michael; The New Hampshire Gazette; 11/7/2003
[vol. 248, #3]; p. 1; accessed at www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2
.)
2.
Highlighting the postwar Bush/Thyssen/UBC transactions, the broadcast
underscores the fact that some of the Bush-connected companies seized under the
Trading with the Enemy Act were confiscated after
the war. “Although
the additional seizures under the Trading with the Enemy Act did not take place
until after the war, documents from The National Archives and Library of
Congress confirm that Bush and his partners continued their Nazi dealings
unabated. These activities included a financial relationship with the German
City of Hanover and several industrial concerns. They went undetected by
investigators until after World War II. . . .” (Idem.)
3.
“ . . . After
the war, a total of 18 additional Brown Brothers Harriman and UBC-related
client assets were seized under The Trading with the Enemy Act, including
several that showed the continuation of a relationship with the Thyssen family
after the initial 1942 seizures. The
records also show that Bush and the Harrimans conducted business after the war
with related concerns doing business in or moving assets into Switzerland,
Panama, Argentina and Brazil—all critical outposts for the flight of Nazi
capital after Germany’s surrender in 1945. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s]. . .
.” (Ibid.;
p. 2.)
4.
“One of the
final seizures, in October 1950, concerned the U.S. assets of a Nazi baroness
named Theresia Maria Ida Beneditka Huberta Stanislava Martina von
Schwarzenberg, who also used two shorter aliases. Brown Brothers Harriman,
where Prescott Bush and the Harrimans were partners, attempted to convince
government investigators that the baroness had been a victim of Nazi
persecution and therefore should be allowed to maintain her assets. ‘It
appears, rather, that the subject was a member of the Nazi party,’ government
investigators concluded. At the same the last Brown Brothers Harriman client
assets were seized, Prescott Bush announced his Senate campaign that led to his
election in 1952.” (Ibid.; pp. 2-3.)
5.
Note that in Martin Bormann: Nazi
in Exile, Paul Manning—excerpting a captured German document from Treasury
Department files—emphasizes that “New York addresses” were to be used by the
assembled Third Reich economic kingpins assembled at Bormann’s behest and
addressed by SS general Dr. Scheid. The Hamburg-Amerika line was also one of
the Bush family’s Nazi-connected businesses. (For more about this, see FTR#305.) “ . . . Dr. Scheid also affirmed, ‘The ground
must now be laid on the financial level for borrowing considerable sums from foreign
countries after the war.’ As an example of the kind of support that had been
most useful to Germany in the past, Dr. Scheid cited the fact that ‘patents for
stainless steel belonged to the Chemical Foundation, Inc. New York, and the
Krupp Company of Germany, jointly, and that of the United States Steel
Corporation, Carnegie, Illinois, American Steel & Wire, National Tube,
etc., were thereby under an obligation to work with the Krupp concern.’ He also
cited the Zeiss Company, the Leica Company, and the Hamburg-Amerika line as
typical firms that had been especially effective in protecting German interests
abroad. He gave New York addresses to the twelve men.” (Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile; Paul
Manning; Copyright 1981 [HC]; Lyle Stuart Inc.; ISBN 0-8184-0309-8; p. 25.)
6.
Emphasizing the significance of the heroic New Hampshire Gazette stories, the broadcast excerpts an interview
of John Loftus (author of The Secret War
Against the Jews), conducted by John Buchanan, co-author of the Gazette articles. “BUCHANAN: What do you think is the true
significance of the story in The New
Hampshire Gazette? LOFTUS: Your Story, the first in a ‘reputable’ US
newspaper in 60 years, redeemed my two decades of work that only resulted in
the mainstream media slamming doors in my face, despite my credentials as a
Justice Department Nazi war crimes prosecutor. I give a lot of credit to the
courage of The New Hampshire Gazette as
well, for practicing journalism as it should be practiced—tell the truth and
let the facts speak for themselves. LOFTUS: It’s a complex story and the media
hate that now in the age of the sound bite headline. It’s also unpopular and
frightening to most people, understandably. But the truth about this period of
our history as a nation must come out and be dealt with. You and The Gazette have helped to accomplish
that. It will come out now, I think.” (“Interview with a Prosecutor”
by John Buchanan; The New Hampshire
Gazette; 10/24/2003 [Vol. 248, #2]; p. 1; accessed at www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_loftus_interview
.)
7.
“BUCHANAN: What
is the importance of it coming out, in your view? LOFTUS: Your stories will be
the crack in the dam and it will come flooding out. For 60 years, it has been a
huge cover-up of the activities of some of the people who brought us the worst
grief in the history of the world—the Holocaust. This country needs to
understand which of its most prominent families supported Hitler, even after
the US went to war with Germany. . . .” (Idem.)
8.
“ . . .
BUCHANAN: How do you account for the failure of the media to break this story
before The Gazette did? LOFTUS: My
feeling is that about 15 years ago, when big corporations started taking over
media companies that had been privately owned by families or individuals, we
ended up with an over-worked but well-intentioned media without the staff or
resources, in light of all the corporate cost-cutting that was done, to look
into the really big stories. The real enemy is the multinational corporations
who are only interested in profits and choose profits over truth. . . .
BUCHANAN: Should Prescott Bush, George Herbert Walker and the Harrimans have
been tried for treason? LOFTUS: Yes, they should have been tried for treason,
because they continued to support Hitler after the US entered the war. As a
former prosecutor, I could have made that case. . . .” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
9.
“ . . .
BUCHANAN: If there is information like that to be uncovered still, what do you
proposed? LOFTUS: I want a full Congressional investigation and I think your
reporting in The Gazette certainly
justifies one. I want the cover-up itself investigated, and I want the
long-concealed Nazi histories of these families brought out to the public.
BUCHANAN: Who should investigate? LOFTUS: Now that this information has finally
come out, I am calling for full investigations by both the house and Senate
Judiciary committees. We’ll see where it goes from there. But I want the
cover-up fully and aggressively investigated. The American people and Congress
have a right to find out how this happened, to make sure it never happens
again. It’s too late for justice, but it’s never too late for the truth. The American
people and survivors of the Holocaust and veterans of the war are entitled to
the truth. BUCHANAN: Why hasn’t it come out before? LOFTUS: President Clinton
wanted all the Nazi files declassified, but it didn’t happen fast enough. Some
of the documents you saw on I.G. Farben were only declassified a few days
before you walked into the archives. You were very lucky, I’d say. . . .” (Ibid.; pp. 2-3.)
10.
As emphasized in numerous programs (particularly FTR#370), the Swiss City of Lugano is the epicenter of the
Thyssen-Bornemisza operations, dating to the post-World War I period.
Thyssen-Bornemisza is the parent firm of the Thyssen empire, the largest
component of which is Thyssen-Krupp (the largest heavy industrial firm in
Western Europe). “Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza runs his private Dutch-based investment
group from Lugano, Switzerland, and his cousin Count Federico Zichy-Thyssen,
grandson of old Fritz Thyssen, exercises control over Thyssen A.G. from his
base in Buenos Aires.” (Martin
Bormann: Nazi in Exile; Paul Manning; Copyright 1981 [HC]; Lyle Stuart
Inc.; ISBN 0-8184-0309-8; p. 237.)
11.
Reprising a point of information from FTR#370, the broadcast presents the untimely deaths of the former
Dutch manager of the Bush/Harriman/Thyssen bank in Rotterdam, as well as that
of Dutch journalist Eddy Roever in 1996. Roever’s demise underscores the fact
that the Bush family/Nazi industrial connections are not “old news.” “In 1945, the
former Dutch manager of the Rotterdam bank resumed control only to discover
that he was sitting on a huge pile of hidden Nazi assets. In 1947, the manager
threatened to inform Dutch authorities, and was immediately fired by the
Thyssens. The somewhat naïve bank manager then fled to New York City where he
intended to talk to Union Bank director Prescott Bush. As Gowen’s Dutch source
recalled, the manager intended ‘to reveal [to Prescott Bush] the truth about
Baron Heinrich and the Rotterdam Bank, [in order that] some or all of the
Thyssen interests in the Thyssen Group might be seized and confiscated as
German enemy property.’ The manager’s body was found in New York two weeks
later.” (“How the Bush Family Made its Fortune from the Nazis” by
John Loftus; p. 4; accessed at www.john-loftus.com/Thyssen.htm
.)
12.
“Similarly, in
1996, a Dutch journalist Eddy Roever went to London to interview the Baron, who
was neighbors with Margaret Thatcher. Roever’s body was discovered two days
later. Perhaps, Gowen remarked dryly, it was only a coincidence that both
healthy men had died of heart attacks immediately after trying to uncover the
truth about the Thyssens.” (Idem.)
13.
Just as the Bush/Dulles/Harriman/Thyssen connection was used to help
undermine Operation Safehaven, so, too, the international financial conduits
associated withy the Al Taqwa network have frustrated Operation Green Quest. It
is significant under the circumstances that both Green Quest and Safehaven were
Treasury-department intelligence operations directed at elements associated
with the finances of the Third Reich—Safehaven in the late World War II period
and Green Quest after the Underground Reich’s attack on the US of 9/11. (For
more about the comparison of these two operations, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 353, 365, 366, 367. For more
about Operation Green Quest, see--among other programs—FTR#’s 356, 357, 359, 382, 387, 406, 432. For more about Al Taqwa,
see—among other programs—FTR#’s 343,
354, 359, 371, 377, 378, 387, 416, 425, 433. In addition, be sure to check
three very important articles by Kevin Coogan: “The
Mysterious Achmed Huber: Friend to Hitler, Allah and Ibn Ladin?” available
at: www.oraclesyndicate.org/pub_e/k.coo_e/publ_05-02_1.htm
; “Report on Islamists, The Far Right, and Al
Taqwa” available at: www.oraclesyndicate.org/pub_e/k.coo_e/publ_09-02_1.htm
; and “Achmed Huber, The Avalon Gemeinschaft, and
the Swiss ‘New Right’” available at: www.oraclesyndicate.org/pub_e/k.coo_e/publ_08-02_1.htm
.) “The
international system designed to curb the flow of financial resources to
al-Qaeda is being dangerously undermined by inadequate co-operation,
legislative loopholes and a lack of political determination, the United Nations
has warned. A new UN report, obtained by the Financial Times, reveals that despite ‘considerable progress’ in
combating terrorist financing, al-Qaeda-related businesses and charities
continue to operate across the globe. It highlights the activities of Youssef
Nada and Idris Nasreddin, directors of al-Taqwa, a financial group the US
believes was the most important fund-raising operation for al-Qaeda. The report
says the two men continue to maintain commercial interests and property in
Italy and Switzerland, despite their designation as terrorist financiers. It
says Mr. Nada traveled to Liechtenstein in January 2003 and tried to re-register
two al-Taqwa-related companies under new names. By doing so he violated a
UN-sanctioned travel ban. . . .” (“Loopholes Undermining Crackdown
on Terror Financing” by Mark Turner and Edward Alden; Financial Times; 11/14/2003; p. 1.)
14.
“Two men at the center
of what US investigators believe was the most important financing network for
al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups continue to operate businesses in several
European countries, according to an investigation by the United Nations group
monitoring international sanctions on al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The report,
obtained by the Financial Times,
traces the recent activities of Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, who
were directors of a financial group known as al-Taqwa. Mr. Nada was named as a
terrorist financier by the US on November 7, 2001 in action by Washington to
crack down on funding for terrorists after the September 11, attacks.” (“Al Qaeda ‘Financiers’
Active in Europe” Edward Alden, Mark Huband and Mark Turner; Financial Times; 11/24/2003; p. 5.)
15.
“Mr. Nasreddin
was listed by the US on April 18, 2002, on allegations that he headed a network
of companies that provided direct support for Mr. Nada and Bank al-Taqwa. The
UN has also designated both men, requiring all UN countries to shut down their
financial commercial operations.” (Idem.)
16.
“But the UN
report says that, while the bank accounts of both men and of the al-Taqwa
entities have been frozen, ‘nothing has been done with respect to any of their
other physical or business assets’. The report adds that both continue to have
commercial property interests in Italy and possibly Switzerland, as well as
residences in Lugano and Italy. Mr. Nada also defied a UN travel ban to go to
Liechtenstein in January 2003, where most of al-Taqwa’s offshore companies were
registered. While there, he applied to change the names of two of his companies
and to name himself as liquidator of both companies. After the UN monitoring
groups raised questions, the Liechtenstein government removed Mr. Nada as the
liquidator.” (Idem.)
17.
“But because of
Liechtenstein’s lax registration requirements for offshore shell companies, the
government has no information regarding Mr. Nada’s companies the report said.
Jonathan Winer, a former senior State Department official and expert on terror
financing, called it ‘shocking to think that any element of al-Taqwa is still
functioning. Their business activities are supposed to be shut down. It’s cut
and dried.’” (Idem.)
18.
“US and European
investigators believe that Bank al-Taqwa, originally set up in 1988 with
significant backing from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was at the middle of an
international network of charities and companies used to funnel money to
al-Qaeda and to other groups, including Hamas. ‘US terrorism finance
investigators view al-Taqwa as the spine on which other terrorist finance
operations were built,’ says Mr. Winer. In just one year, 1997, the US believes
that $60m collected for Hamas was funneled through Bank al-Taqwa.” (Idem.)
19.
Some of the links between Operation Green Quest, Al Taqwa and
Abdurrahman Alamoudi are detailed in the Financial
Times article. (For more about Alamoudi, see below.) “US investigations of Islamic business and
charities in northern Virginia known as the Safa Group—which the US believes
funneled millions of dollars to terrorist groups—have turned up several links
to al-Taqwa. In addition, the names of Mr. Nada and Ghaleb Himmat, both of whom
founded Bank al-Taqwa, were discovered on the electronic organizer of
Abdurrahman Alamoudi, who was charged last month with violating US sanctions
against Libya and is alleged by Washington to be part of a larger US-based
terror financing network. . . .” (Idem.)
20.
The program reviews an item from FTR#433
about an Al-Taqwa-connected Fifth Column within the US political and
military infrastructures. This Fifth Column is fundamentally connected to the
Republican Party and the Bush administration. (For more about the GOP/Islamist
connection, see—among other programs—FTR#’s
356, 357, 415.) “ . . . OLBERMANN; NBC’s Lisa Myers on this extraordinary
story in Washington. Joining us now, with more on the purported double life of
this prominent Muslim-American is John Loftus, host of ‘The Loftus Report’ and
frequent guest on this show. John, good evening.” (“ ‘Countdown with
Keith Olberman’ for Oct. 23”; MSNBC News;
10/23/2003; accessed at: www.msnbc.com/news/984616.asp .)
21.
“LOFTUS: Well,
you know, it’s a funny story. About a year-and-a half ago, people in the
intelligence community came and said-guys like Alamoudi and Sami al-Arian and
other terrorists weren’t being touched because they’d been ordered not to
investigate the cases, not to prosecute them, because they were being funded by
the Saudis and a political decision was being made at the highest levels, don’t
do anything that would embarrass the Saudi government. So, of course I
immediately volunteered to do it and I filed a lawsuit, against al-Arian
charging him with being a major terrorist for Islamic Jihad; most of his money came
from Saudi charities in Virginia.” (Idem.)
22.
“Now, Alamoudi’s
headquarters were in the same place, he was raided the same day, on March 20.
An hour after I filed my lawsuit, the U.S. government finally got off its butt
and they raided these offices. And, the stuff that they’re taking out of there
now is absolutely horrendous. Al-Arian has now, finally been indicted, along
with Alamoudi, today. But, who ws it that fixed the cases? How could these guys
operate for more than a decade immune from prosecution? And, the answer is
coming out in a very strange place. What Alamoudi and al-Arian have in common
is a guy named Grover Norquist. He’s the super lobbyist. Newt Gingrich’s guy,
the one the NRA calls on, head of American taxpayers. He is the guy that was hired
by Alamoudi to head up the Islamic institute and he’s the registered agent for
Alamoudi, personally, and for the Islamic Institute.” (Idem.)
23.
“Grover
Norquist’s best friend is Karl Rove, the White House chief of staff, and
apparently Norquist was able to fix things. He got extreme right wing Muslim
people to be the gatekeepers in the White House. That’s why moderate [Muslim]
Americans couldn’t speak out after 9/11. Moderate Muslims couldn’t get into the
White House because Norquist’s friends were blocking their access.” (Idem.)
24.
“OLBERMANN: How
does this tie back into the thing that apparently pulled the stopper out of the
drain, if you will-The developments at Guantanamo Bay? How rotten is the system
of the interpreters and the chaplains-the Muslim chaplains that Alamoudi was
involved in setting up?” (Idem.)
25.
As theorized in FTR#’s 356, 386,
405, Islamist elements of this Underground Reich milieu appears to have
successfully infiltrated the US military. “LOFTUS: It’s as rotten as it gets. Think of the Muslim
chaplain’s program that he set up as a spy service for al-Qaeda. The damage
that’s been done is extreme. It wasn’t just sending home mom and dad messages.
From the prisoners. These guys, this network in Guantanamo, stole the CIA’s
briefing books. Everything that the CIA knew about al-Qaeda is now back in
al-Qaeda’s hands. That’s about as bad an intelligence setback as you can get.” (Idem.)
26.
“OLBERMANN: John,
how does this end up? How far will the investigation into this necessarily have
to go to get to the bottom of it?” (Idem.)
27.
“LOFTUS: There’s
a lot more to go. Norquist had a lot of other clients. There’s a whole alphabet
soup of Saudi agencies that funded terrorism in this country. They had an awful
lot of protection. And one of the things we may find about 9/11 is that people
out in the field weren’t allowed to connect the dots and questions will be
asked whether guys like Grover Norquist were part of the problem?” (Idem.)
28.
“While
establishing its headquarters in a tax haven, the Brothers’ bank opened a branch,
Al Taqwa Management Organization S.A., in Italian Switzerland, in Lugano.
Lugano, a discreet frontier banking locale, is a stone’s throw from Milan, a
major financial center, and above all the Islamist groups’ entry point to
Europe.” (Dollars for Terror: The United States and
Islam; by Richard Labeviere; Copyright 2000 [SC]; Algora Publishing; ISBN
1-892941-06-6; pp. 139-140; visit their website at www.algora.com
.)
29.
The balance of the program recapitulates information from FTR#343, about Al Taqwa, the Muslim
Brotherhood and its fascist heritage. (For more about the fascist heritage of
Youssef Nada and Al Taqwa, see FTR#’s
377, 378, 416. Also: check out four very important articles from The
Asia Times, linked to the description for FTR#416.) Note that Al
Taqwa is based in Lugano, Switzerland—as is Thyssen-Bornemisza. In turn, both
Thyssen-Bornemisza and Al Taqwa intersect the milieu of the Bush family. Nada
has been less than forthcoming about the true nature of his organization. It
should be noted in this context that the Underground Reich/Bormann Organization
also maintains a rigorous, and secretive infrastructure. “Al Taqwa is situated on the top floor of a
small glass building, right in the center of Lugano, in the banking district, a
district where overly curious journalists are immediately denounced to the
police, who then conduct American-style identity checks in the middle of the
street . . . In Lugano, bank secrecy is no laughing matter. Several times we
tried to meet Mr. Nada, who eventually responded by mail, ‘We allow neither you
nor any other journalist, nor publication, to speak about us—positively or
negatively—without our written permission.’ Signed, Yussef Nada.” (Ibid.; p. 140.)
30.
Discussing the diaspora of the Brotherhood following its expulsion from
Egypt, the program discusses the establishment of Munich as a primary base of
operations. “
‘Why Munich, why Germany?’ I asked Rifaat Said. ‘Because there, one finds old complicities that go back to the late
1930’s, when the Muslim Brothers collaborated with the agents of Nazi Germany.
. . By soaking up the savings of these Muslim workers, Yussef Nada, like Said
Ramadan, took advantage of an extremely favorable context and used it as a
springboard for the Muslim Brothers’ economic activities.’” (Ibid.;
p. 153.)
31.
Nada himself is alleged to have been agent of the Abwehr, the military
intelligence service of the Third Reich. (See FTR#416.) “But Yussef Nada is even better-known to the Egyptian
[intelligence] services, who have evidence of his membership in the armed
branch of the fraternity of the Muslim Brothers in the 1940’s. At that time,
according to the same sources, he was working for the Abwehr under Admiral
Canaris and took part in a plot against King Farouk. This was not the first
time that the path of the Muslim Brothers crossed that of the servants of the
Third Reich.” (Ibid.; 140-141.)
32.
Highlighting the political inclinations of the “Fraternity”
(Labaviere’s nickname for the Muslim Brotherhood), the program sets forth the
fascist orientation of this organization. “The history of the Fraternity makes the Brothers’ concept
of the Islamic State clear: a theocratic State
of fascistic inspiration. . . . Some of them were fellow travelers of the
Nazis, and are still trying today to resuscitate the old alliance of Islamism
and the swastika.” (Ibid.; p. 121.)
33.
“Muhammad Said
al-Ashmawy continued: ‘All my research always brings me back to the same point:
at the beginning of this process of the perversion of Islam are the Muslim Brothers, an extreme
Right cult.’.. . An extreme Right cult? ‘The history of the Muslim Brothers is
infused and fascinated by fascistic ideology,’ Said al-Ashmawy adds. ‘Their
doctrines, their total (if not totalitarian) way of life, takes as a starting
point the same obsession with a perfect city on earth, in conformity with the
celestial city whose organization and distribution of powers they can discern
through the lens of their fantastical reading of the Koran.’ This ‘Fascistic
affiliation’ would crop up in the analyses of several of our interlocutors, in
particular that of the journalist Eric Rouleau, who is a specialist in the
Middle East, former French ambassador to Tunisia and Turkey.” (Ibid.; p. 124.)
34.
As noted in FTR#332 and FTR#340, the fascists used
anti-colonial sentiment in the Third World to recruit confederates against
Britain and France. The Muslim Brotherhood was utilized in this fashion. “Lastly, the
emergence and the rise to power of Fascism, hostile to French and British
colonialism, gave rise to many analogies with corporatist propaganda and the
methods of mobilization of Mussolini’s gangs.” (Ibid.; p. 126.) (For
more on the Corporate State espoused by Mussolini, see RFA 1, Miscellaneous Archive Show M42 and FTR#268.)
35.
The theocratic fascism of the Brotherhood was enunciated by the
organization’s founder Hassan al-Banna. “ ‘Islam is doctrine, divine worship, the fatherland, the nation, religion,
spirituality, the Koran and the sword.’” (Idem.)
36.
Further highlighting the comparisons between the Brotherhood’s program
and those of Mussolini and Hitler, the broadcast continues. “Taking Italy’s
choices under Mussolini for inspiration, the economic program set three
priorities . . . The social policy foresaw a new law on labor, founded on corporations.
This economic program would more directly reveal its relationship to
totalitarian ideologies a few years later, with the works of Mohamed Ghazali .
. . . Mohamed Ghazali recommended ‘an economic regimen similar to that which
existed in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.’ . . .The moral code is also an
important component in this program, which is intended to create the ‘new
Muslim man.’ . . . The notion of the equality of the sexes is inherently
negated by the concept of the supremacy of male social responsibilities . .
.the ‘natural’ place of the woman is in the home.” (Ibid.; p. 127.)