FTR#455—Compendium on the Muslim Brotherhood—(Two 30-minute segments)
(Sources are noted in parentheses.) (Recorded on 4/11/2004.)
Note: FTR#’s 260-316, 317, 324,
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Summary of FTR#455—(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 book “Martin
Bormann: Nazi in Exile” is available at About
Paul Manning. 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. Key material from the book
is synopsized in an extended description for FTR#305.
Understanding the Bormann organization is essential to comprehending the
concept of “the Underground Reich.”) With public
attention focused on the attacks of 9/11 by the public hearings of the
commission investigating the assault, Mr. Emory is producing several programs
consolidating key information about the attacks. This is one of those
“compendia.” At the foundation of the Al Qaeda organization in particular and
Islamist terrorism in general is the Muslim Brotherhood. FTR#455 presents much of the most important information about the
Brotherhood from past programs in a single package. Beginning with discussion
of the fascist heritage of the Brotherhood (dating to its founding in 1928),
the program sets forth the fascistic influence on its theocratic ideology. In
addition, the program highlights theBrotherhood’s fascist operational
connections in the postwar period. The Bank Al Taqwa is the Brotherhood’s chief
financial conduit and has been implicated in the funding of Al Qaeda and Hamas.
This program sets forth the role of the Brotherhood in setting up the bank, and
presents information that underscores the Brotherhood’s profound involvement in
terrorist activities--its disclaimers to the contrary notwithstanding. In
addition to its influence in the Middle East, the Brotherhood is a significant
force among Muslim populations in Europe. It is important to note that the
Brotherhood has maintained important contacts among the conservative GOP
interests with which the Bush administration is closely identified, as well as
with Muslim congregations and student groups in the United States.
Program Highlights Include: The role of
the Brotherhood and its main functionary Said Ramadan in setting up the Bank Al
Taqwa; Ramadan and the Brotherhood’s pivotal influence in the establishment of
the Saudi-financed Muslim World League; allegations by French intelligence
specialists that Ramadan’s son Tariq is involved with terrorist elements; the
allegation that Tariq Ramadan is the nephew of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (in
prison for plotting in connection with the first attack upon the World Trade
Center); Said Ramadan’s relationship with Nazi banker and terrorist financier
Francois Genoud; Ramadan’s selection of Munich Germany as a base of operations
for the Brotherhood following its expulsion from Egypt; the influence of the
Brotherhood in Turkey; the influence of the Brotherhood on the French UOIF party;
the profound connections between the Brotherhood and the targets of the
Operation Green Quest raids of 3/20/2002; the presence of Youssef Nada and Ali
Galeb Himmat in the United States between 1979 and 1984; the connections of
Ahmed Huber and the Al Taqwa milieu in the Iranian shiite community; the
funding of mosques in the United States by the Brotherhood; connections between
African American Muslim congregations and the Al Taqwa milieu; the presence in
the U.S. of Said Ramadan in the 1970’s; Ramadan’s recruitment of an
African-American Muslim to work as an assassin for the Iranian fundamentalists.
1.
Discussing the diaspora of the Muslim Brotherhood following its
expulsion from Egypt, the program discusses the establishment of Munich as its
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. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] . . . 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.’” (Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam; by Richard
Labeviere; Copyright 2000 [SC]; Algora Publishing; ISBN 1-892941-06-6; p. 153;
visit their website at www.algora.com)
2.
Nada himself (the head of the Brotherhood’s Bank Al Taqwa) is alleged to
have been an 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.)
3.
Highlighting the political philosophy of the “Fraternity” (author
Richard 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.)
4.
“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.)
5.
As noted in FTR#332, FTR#340
and FTR#343, the fascists used
anti-colonial sentiment in the Third World to recruit confederates to fight
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.)
6.
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.)
7.
Further highlighting the comparisons between the Brotherhood’s economic
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.)
8.
Next, the program turns to the Muslim Brotherhood’s pivotal role in the
founding of Al Taqwa—its primary financial organ. (For more about the Muslim
Brotherhood, see “Islamism, Fascism and Terrorism” by Marc Erikson [Asia Times]; Parts I-IV. Parts I and II can be accessed at www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DK08Ak03.html;
Part III
can be accessed at www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DL04Ak01.html;
Part IV
can be accessed at www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DL05Ak01.html.
For more about Al Taqwa, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 343, 352, 354, 356, 357, 359, 377, 378, 382, 413, 415, 416, 423,
425, 432, 433, 435, 439, 442. In addition, see 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)
This part of the program accesses information from an interview with Richard
Labeviere, author of Dollars for Terror.
Note the central role of the leadership of the Brotherhood (Said Ramadan in
particular) in the founding of Bank Al Taqwa. “LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR:--In one of your
works, you claim that the father of Tariq Ramadan, Said, was one of the
founders of bank Al Taqwa, suspected by the United States to have financed Al
Qaeda. RICHARD LABEVIERE:--In April 1998 in Cairo, I interviewed Mustapha
Masshur, the Guide of the Brotherhood of the Moslem Brothers, at the seat of
this organization, located at the edge of the Nile. One had then evoked the
operation of the Islamic banks. The Guide assured me that Yussef Nada, the
financier of the Moslem Brothers, and Said Ramadan, the father of Tariq
Ramadan, were friendly since their escape from Egypt, in the middle of the
1950’s and that they were at the origin of the creation of bank Al Taqwa, the
fiduciary company based in Lugano, whose seat was in the Bahamas. This
establishment managed the money of the members of the Brotherhood. The Guide,
now deceased, said to me that the Ramadan brothers always acted in the logic of
their great father—Hassan el Banna, and that they were regarded as agents of
the interests of the founder of the Brotherhood.” (“Secrets of the
Financial Holy War [Interview with Richard Labeviere]”; La Nouvel Observateur; 1/31/2004; pp. 1-2; accessed at: http://www.bethel-fr.com/voxdei/infos/afficher_info.php3?cle+8439
.)
9.
“N.O.:--That does
not make any [of them], therefore, the accomplices of Bin Laden. R.
LABEVIERE:--No, of course [not], But this bank, Al Taqwa, is suspected by the
FBI, this shortly after the 11th of September, to have taken part in
the financing of Bin Laden. It [Al Taqwa] is reproduced on the black list of
the Americans. However, this kind of Islamic bank is quasi-impenetrable. It
does not have the right to make interest, it thus makes assemblages of risk
capital.—Translation: it invests in concrete operations, financing of NGO, etc.
In fact, multi-stage financial arrangements feed a myriad of charitable
organizations. It is what the specialists call bleaching back [laundering]—it
is a zigzag, a labyrinth in which the investigators lose themselves,
inevitably. When one examines the financial exercises of these establishments,
a whole fringe of their activities is registered under the heading of zakat,
the religious tax, the obligation of charity, a truly forbidden zone. However
one knows that the zakat is used to finance offshore companies, protected
perfectly by the same bank secrecy, and also the Islamic NGO’s, which are
completely unverifiable and uncontrolled. Thus, since November 2001, bank Al
Taqwa changed names but Yussef Nada, the friend of Said Ramadan, continues its
activities. The investigation does nothing but create publicity.” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
10.
The program highlights the power of Saudi capital in preventing the
interdiction of Islamist funding sources. Note the failure of Carla del Ponte
to move successfully against Saudi capital in Swiss banks. Del Ponte is a law
partner of Pier Felice Barchi, the lawyer for Youssef Nada. (For more about Del
Ponte, see—among other programs—FTR#’s
359, 446.) “N.O.—What
can make the Swiss authorities wrap up the matter? R. LABEVIERE:--The problem
is that in Switzerland, the banking interests are the absolute priority for the
Federal Government. It is imperative not to annoy the Saudis and their bankers.
The experts of FATF (Group of Financial Action) consider the Saudi assets
placed in Switzerland at between 30-60 billion dollars. It is a vital activity
for this country [Switzerland]. So, nobody really wants to unearth a scandal
which could kill the hen that lays the golden eggs. Judge Carla del Ponte even
(when she was Attorney General of the Confederation) after the attack at Luxor
in 1997, was accused of dragging her feat. To defend herself, she explained
that she was confronted with a wall of money.” (Ibid.;
pp. 2-3.)
11.
It is worth noting that Said Ramadan was instrumental in the founding
of the Muslim World League, one of the primary Islamist outreach organs of the
Saudi government. (See the Harper’s article
above, for more about the MWL.) “N.O.:--But the Ramadans are not directly implied in this
history. R. LABEVIERE:--Historically, Said Ramadan was one of the founders of
the Muslim World League, in 1961. It was he who advised the Saudis to finance
the Dawa in Europe, the propagation of the faith, by money, a kind of financial
holy war. It is one of the key characters of this ideological war. He [Said
Ramadan] is a central figure in the international branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian intelligence services suspect him of working directly for the
Americans in the 1960’s.” (Ibid.; p. 3.)
12.
According to the book Dollars for
Terror, the original move by Said Ramadan to Switzerland was to coordinate the
activities of the Muslim Brotherhood with those of Nazi banker Francois Genoud.
It was in this precise time period that
Ramadan was instrumental in the formation of the Muslim World League. (For
more about Francois Genoud, see—among programs—FTR#’s 333, 343, 354, 357, 371, 383, 450, 453.) “Let us mention
only the incident of the treasure of the FLN, at the center of which the banker
Francois Genoud may be found. [Said] Ramadan and the Muslim Brothers thought
that they could play a part in the Algerian process as they had done in
Palestine in 1947. Said Ramadan thus left Munich to settle in the city of
Calvin.” (Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam; by Richard
Labeviere; Copyright 2000 [SC]; Algora Publishing; ISBN 1-892941-06-6; p. 154;
visit www.algora.com .)
13.
The broadcast examines reports from European intelligence agencies that
Tariq Ramadan, son of key Brotherhood patriarch Said Ramadan, is not as far
removed from operational terrorist elements as he claims to be. European
intelligence sources point to an alleged familial relationship between Ramadan
and Omar Abdel Rahman. It is also alleged by the same sources that Tariq is
much more heavily involved with the Muslim Brotherhood than he claims to be. “For several
weeks, a Federal judge in the state of Washington has had on his desk reports
from European intelligence services implicating Tariq Ramadan in several
investigations into the activities of Al Qaeda. According to our sources, these
reports were obtained by lawyers acting on behalf of the families of the
victims of the attack on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. A
lawsuit is currently being brought on behalf of 5,600 plaintiffs seeking
damages and interest against the persons or groups suspected of having
supported Osama bin Laden’s organization. According to Jean-Charles Brisard,
former member of the intelligence services and now a private investigator hired
by the victims’ families, this international investigation has obtained the political
and law-enforcement cooperation of thirty countries. Since the end of 2002, the
Geneva Islamic Center, where Tariq Ramadan sits on the board of directors, and
of which brother Hani Ramadan is the director, appears among the organizations
under investigation.” (“Tariq Ramadan, Target for European
Intelligence Services” by Christophe Dubois; Le Parisien; 11/14/2003; accessed at: http://watch.windsofchange.net/themes_71.htm
.)
14.
“Several of the newer
elements of this investigation personally implicate the star preacher to young
French Muslims. According to documents provided to American law-enforcement
officials, Tariq Ramadan is allegedly the nephew of Omar Abdel Rahman, the
planner of the first attack on the World Trade Center, sentenced to life in
prison in the United States. Grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood,
Hassan al-Banna, in 1993, Ramadan was allegedly put in charge of the Daawa
(preaching for Europe by that Islamist organization. Ramadan denies the
charges: ‘I am not related to Omar Abdel Rahman and have no organic ties to the
Muslim Brotherhood.’” (Idem.)
15.
“Moreover, the
name of the Muslim intellectual was cited in several anti-terrorist
investigations. As part of an investigation into an Al-Qaeda cell in Spain, he
was named as one of the ‘usual contacts’ for Ahmed Brahim, considered to be one
of al-Qaeda’s treasurers indicted in April 2003 by magistrate Garzon. In
particular, his name is mentioned during a telephone conversation of April 22,
1999, of which Le Parisien has a
copy, between Ahmed Brahim and an official at the Tawhid bookstore in Lyon,
which published Ramadan’s books. The conversation concerns the acquisition of
blank audio cassettes and the invitation extended to young French citizens in
Majorca to ‘work for the path of Allah.’ The Swiss intellectual is also named
in the trial in France of a group suspected of having planned an attack against
the US embassy. Djamal Beghal, considered to be network leader, told the
investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere on October 1, 2001: ‘In 1994, I
followed courses taught by Tarik Ramadan.’ The preacher’s response” ‘I do not
know Ahmed Brahim. My name was simply mentioned over the course of two harmless
conversations . . . . Moreover, I didn’t begin teaching in Paris until 1997.’
Another charge against him: according to the investigations conducted by the
lawyers acting on behalf of the families of the World Trade Center victims, the
Ramadan family address appears in a register at the Al Taqwa bank, which is on
the American State department’s list of organizations accused of supporting
Islamist terrorism. . . .” (Idem.)
16.
It is also alleged by the same European intelligence sources that
Ramadan was in operational contact with Al Qaeda’s #2 man—Ayman al-Zawahiri. “The last item
recorded by the intelligence services: Tariq Ramadan and his brother allegedly
organized a 1991 meeting in a Geneva hotel at which both Ayman al-Zawahiri,
current al-Qaeda number 2, and Omar Abdel Rahman were present. What of these
‘liaisons dangereuses’? ‘I have never met these people.’ So many denials that
do not impress Jean-Charles Brisard: ‘To-day there is a real stack of evidence
pointing to Tariq Ramadan’s having had relations with several terrorists,’ he
says. ‘He has renounced the Muslim Brotherhood but he shares their heritage.
Under the cover of moderation, he is accumulating a radicalism that may
encourage Jihad.’” (Idem.)
17.
The next section of the program deals with growing influence of the Islamofascist
Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and in Europe. Beginning with an
examination of a German Islamist group affiliated with the Refah Party (the
Turkish branch of the Muslim Brotherhood), the program highlights connections
between that party and the AK party currently governing Turkey. “Milli Gorus,
Germany’s largest Islamic association, recently gained the official support of
the Turkish government, despite being watched by German intelligence services
due to alleged extremist leanings. On April 19, Turkey’s religious-conservative
government ordered its embassies to offer the Islamische Gemeinschaft Milli
Gorus (IGMG) their support. The group, formed in 1985 in Cologne to support
Turkish nationalism and oppose the separation of state and religion, has long
been criticized by German officials as being anti-Semitic and against liberal
Western values.” (“Turkey Offers
Support for Controversial Islamic Group”; Deutsche
Welle; 4/23/2003; p. 1; accessed at www.dw-world.de/english
.)
18.
“Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul on Saturday refused to discuss his specific directions to
diplomats regarding Milli Gorus, saying only the government ‘has for some time
tried to strengthen the ties between our country and our citizens overseas.’
The decision comes only two weeks after an agreement between Germany and Turkey
on combating organized crime incensed many members of Turkey’s ruling AK party
because it included Milli Gorus with groups like the Kurdish terrorist outfit
PKK. Since many AK members have ties to Islamic religious groups, Gul was
compelled to say he did not consider Milli Gorus a terror organization.” (Idem.)
19.
“Some observers
say the attempt to reform its public image could be at least partly linked to the
rise of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party. Coming to power
in a landslide victory last year, Erdogan styles his party as a modern
conservative group based on Muslim values. He has distanced himself from former
mentor Necmettin Erbakan, who founded the Islamic-influenced Welfare Party.
Erbakan’s nephew, Mehmet Sabri Erbakan, was IGMG chairman until he left office
after allegedly having an extra-marital affair.” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
20.
Fleshing out discussion of Necmettin Erbakan, his Refah party and the
Muslim Brotherhood, the program highlights Erbakan’s relationship with Al
Taqwa’s Ahmed Huber and the manner in which that relationship precipitated
Huber’s ascension to his position as a director of Al Taqwa. (For more about
Huber and Al Taqwa, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 343, 352, 354, 356, 357, 358, 359, 387.) Speaking of the
décor of Huber’s residence: “A second photograph, in which Hitler is talking with
Himmler, hangs next to those of Necmettin Erbakan and Jean-Marie Le Pen [leader
of the fascist National Front]. Erbakan, head of the Turkish Islamist party,
Refah, turned to Achmed Huber for an introduction to the chief of the French
party of the far right. Exiting from the meeting (which took place in September
1995) Huber’s two friends supposedly stated that they ‘share the same view of
the world’ and expressed ‘their common desire to work together to remove the
last racist obstacles that still prevent the union of the Islamist movement
with the national right of Europe.’” (Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam; by Richard
Labeviere; Copyright 2000 [SC]; Algora Publishing; ISBN 1-892941-06-6; p. 142.)
21.
“Lastly, above
the desk is displayed a poster of the imam Khomeini; the meeting ‘changed my
life,’ Huber says, with stars in his eyes. For years, after the Federal Palace
in Bern, Ahmed Huber published a European press review for the Iranian leaders,
then for the Turkish Refah. Since the former lacked financial means, Huber
chose to put his efforts to the service of the latter. An outpost of the
Turkish Muslim Brothers, Refah thus became Huber’s principal employer; and it
was through the intermediary of the Turkish Islamist party that this former
parliamentary correspondent became a shareholder in the bank Al Taqwa.” (Idem.)
22.
The Muslim Brotherhood has significant influence in the UOIF, which had
a strong showing in the recent French elections. “ . . . The group that made a surprisingly
strong showing in the election is the Union of Islamic Organizations in France.
It preaches a strict, conservative interpretation of Islam, derives much of its
support from the poor suburbs of Paris and other major cities and is said to
derive its inspiration from the banned fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which
originated in Egypt. It won 14 of 41 seats in the governing administrative
council. The organization has come under fire from those who claim it has close
links with the Muslim Brotherhood, which calls for Islamic rule via Islamic
law, personal purification and political action, and cannot be officially
recognized by a secular country like France.” (“French Threaten
Expulsions After Islam Radical Victory” by Elaine Sciolino; The New York Times; 4/16/2003; pp. 1-2.)
23.
The UOIF has also had contact with the milieu of the Bank Al Taqwa. “ . . . It [Al
Taqwa] effected several fund transfers to the profit of a chief of this
organization, the Lebanese Faycal Maoulaoui, former leader of the ‘Union of
Islamic Organizations of France’ (UOIF), the Muslim Brothers’ organization in
France. The transfers intended for Maoulaoui were executed by the intermediary
of an account opened through the agency of Paribas in Lugano.” (Dollars
for Terror; p. 148.)
24.
Next, the program highlights the profound connections between the
Muslim Brotherhood and the SAAR network, the principal element in the
organizations targeted in the Operation Green Quest raids of 3/20/2002. As
noted in FTR#454, the connections
between the SAAR network, the Muslim Brotherhood, elements of the Al Taqwa
milieu and the GOP and Bush administration are profound. “Another focus of the probe is the SAAR
leaders’ links to the Muslim Brotherhood, a 74-year-old group which is under
investigation by European and Middle Eastern governments for its alleged
support of radical Islamic and terrorist groups. For decades the brotherhood
has been a wellspring of radical Islamic activity; Hamas, the militant
Palestinian group, is an offshoot of it. European officials are particularly
interested in the brotherhood’s ties to leading neo-Nazis, including the Swiss
Holocaust denier Ahmed Huber. A number of central figures in the SAAR network,
including Rajhi, were for decades involved in the brotherhood, where they
befriended Nada, said representatives and friends of the SAAR officials. The
one-time radicalism of SAAR network members has mellowed since they moved to
the United States, SAAR associates said. Nada, 73, a native of Egypt, has been
one of the brotherhood’s leading figures for years, and European officials say
his network of banks and companies, including bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank, are
intimately tied to the brotherhood. European officials say the two banks
handled tens of millions of dollars for the brotherhood over the years.” (“U.S.
Trails Va. Money, Ties” by Douglas Farah and John Mintz; Washington Post; 10/7/2002; p. 3; accessed at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52054-2002Oct6.html.)
25.
“A wealthy
construction magnate, Nada controls firms across Europe and the Arab world.
Nasreddin, of Ethiopian descent, operates a business empire intertwined with
Nada’s out of Milan. Founded in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has over the
decades helped stir a revival in Islamic pride and militant opposition to
secular Arab regimes. Governments in Egypt, Syria and Iraq have harshly cracked
down on the group since the 1950’s. The organization, viewed as heroic in much
of the Arab world, has recently moderated some of its radical stances.” (Idem.)
26.
“Investigators
said they have also uncovered numerous ties between SAAR entities and Bank al
Taqwa. Samir Salah—a founder of Safa Trust, SAAR’s successor, and an officer of
other SAAR companies—helped establish Bank al Taqwa in the Bahamas in the
mid-1980’s, according to a Treasury document. In a letter to The Washington Post, Salah said he had
no role with the bank. Ibrahim Hassaballa, another officer of some SAAR-related
companies, also helped set up Bank al Taqwa in the Bahamas, according to the
document. Hassaballa did not respond to numerous requests for comment.” (Ibid.; pp. 3-4.)
27.
“Terrorism
specialists say the significance of the SAAR network is that it could offer
wealthy Persian Gulf financiers a circuitous route for money they don’t want
traced. ‘A rich Saudi who wants to fund radical ideas or terrorists like Hamas
and al Qaeda knows he can’t send the money directly, so he filters it through
companies and charities, often in the U.S. or Europe,’ said Rita Katz, a
terrorism expert at the private SITE Institute in Washington. The SAAR
organizations are run by approximately 15 Middle Eastern and Pakistani men, a
number of whom lie in two-story homes on adjoining lots in Herndon that were
developed by one of their affiliated firms in 1987. SAAR representatives say
most were born into devout Muslim families and some fell under the sway of the
Muslim Brotherhood. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, funded largely by Persian Gulf
and particularly Saudi money, the men who would later form the SAAR network
fled their homelands amid crackdowns on the brotherhood.” (Ibid.; p. 4.)
28.
It should be noted that the Al Taqwa/SAAR/Muslim Brotherhood milieu
targeted in the Operation Green Quest raids was well-entrenched in the business
world and very powerful. The powerful al-Rajhi family of Saudi Arabia was
centrally involved in the creation of the SAAR network and is very influential
in the world of American business. “In Saudi Arabia and the United States, they helped launch
groups that would evolve into some of the nation’s and the world’s leading
Islamic organizations, including the Muslim Students Association, the World
Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Islamic Society of North America. In 1984,
Yaqub Mirza, a Pakistani native who received a PHD in physics from the
University of Texas in Dallas, used money from the Rajhis to start SAAR in
Virginia, with the goal of spreading Islam and doing charitable work. Mirza
also sought out business ventures for SAAR. By investing the Rajhis’ money with
Washington real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, he made SAAR one of the region’s
biggest landlords in the 1980’s. The SAAR network also became one of South
America’s biggest apple growers and the owner of one of America’s top poultry
firms, Mar-Jac Poultry in Georgia. ‘The funds came very easily,’ said a
businessman who dealt with SAAR. ‘If they wanted a few million dollars, they
called the al-Rajhis, who would send it along . . .’” (Idem.)
29.
One of the most startling revelations about Al Taqwa concerns the
apparent siring of six children by the Al Taqwa founders in the United States! An educated guess would be that they were in
the country working on the Muslim Brotherhood’s recruitment of fighters to go
to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. The development of the anti-Soviet
mujahadin appears to have set the stage for the incubation of an anti-U.S.
mujahadin, courtesy of the Muslim Brotherhood. “ . . . There are also indications that both
Nada and Himmat, the Al Taqwa principals who today live in an Italian enclave
bordering Switzerland and have acquired Italian citizenship, spent time in the
United States in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. According to a translated
copy of a 1996 Italian intelligence report, they each had three children born
in the United States—five of them born in Silver Spring, Md., between 1979 and
1984.” (“Terror Fund Trail Leads to Alpine Kingdom” by Marc
Perelman; Forward; 10/17/2003; p. 4;
accessed at http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.10.17/news4.terror.html
.)
30.
An ominous development concerns the infiltration of the Muslim
Brotherhood into the U.S. and its apparent ability to forge bonds with domestic
Muslim populations in this country. This point will be discussed at greater
length below. Note, for the purposes of present discussion, Youssuf Al
Qaradawi--a principal director of Al Taqwa. Soliman Biheiri is also associated
with Youssef Nada and other Al Taqwa personages. “ . . . According to the Kane affidavit,
Biheiri also had relations with a prominent Egyptian religious leader from the
Muslim Brotherhood called Sheikh Youssouf Qaradawi. He acknowledged hosting him
during when the sheikh visited America several years ago, according to the
affidavit. Now living in Qatar, Qaradawi has been barred from entering America
since November 1999 because of his alleged support for terrorism. He has issued
fatwas supporting suicide bombings in Israel and attacks on American troops in
Iraq, according to documents produced by the Biheiri trial.” (Ibid.;
p. 5.)
31.
“Qaradawi is
listed as one of the shareholders of the Bahamas branch of Al Taqwa bank,
according to a copy of a 1999 list of shareholders in possession of the Forward. This Branch shut down in April
2001. Press reports said the closure was the result of Jordanian, French and
American intelligence reports which affirmed that Al Qaeda money coming from
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had been channeled through Al Taqwa. . . .”
(Idem.)
32.
In FTR#’s 381, 386, 439 we
examined the inroads made by the Islamofascist Muslim Brotherhood within the
United States. That topic is developed at greater length here. The implications
of having an organization like this operating in the United States are to be
carefully considered. Numerous broadcasts have discussed an Underground Reich
Fifth Column in the United States composed of domestic allies of the
Underground Reich and Islamofascist/Muslim Brotherhood elements as well. It
appears that the inroads the Brotherhood has made here are paving the way for
serious recruitment of U.S. Muslims to the Islamist cause. “One afternoon, Mustafa Saied, a junior at
the University of Tennessee, was summoned by a friend to a nearly empty campus
cafeteria. The two settled themselves in a quiet corner, and Mr. Saied’s friend
invited him to join the Muslim Brotherhood. ‘Everything I had learned pointed
to the Muslim Brotherhood being an awesome thing, the elite movement,’ says Mr.
Saied of his initiation in 1994. ‘I cannot tell you the feeling that I
felt—awesome power.’” (“A Student
Journeys Into a Secret Circle of Extremism” by Paul M. Barrett; The Wall Street Journal; 12/23/2003; p.
A1.)
33.
“On that day in
Knoxville, Mr. Saied entered a secretive community that was slowly building a
roster of young men committed to spreading fundamentalist Islam in the U.S. A
movement launched 75 years ago in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has inspired
terrorist acts, as well as social reform throughout the Middle East and has
chapters in some European nations. Until recently, law-enforcement officials
saw little evidence that the organization was active in the U.S. . . .” (Idem.)
34.
Mr. Saied’s encounters in the world of the Muslim Brotherhood included
coming in contact with Al Taqwa’s Al Qaradawi. “ . . . Like many activist Muslim students,
Mr. Saied belonged to an Islamic study group. His often focused on the writings
of Youssef Al Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric based in Qatar who is a leading
figure in the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Sheik Qaradawi is known among many
Muslims as [being] relatively moderate on such issues as relations with the West,
while endorsing what he calls ‘martyrdom operations’ against Israel and Jews. .
. .” (Ibid.; p. A8.)
35.
“Today, the
Brotherhood remains an active, controversial organization working within the political
systems of some Arab countries. Its violent offshoots include the faction that
assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and the Palestinian
terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Another outgrowth of the
Brotherhood, Egyptian Islamic jihad, is led by Osama bin Laden’s top
lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who merged his organization into the al Qaeda
network in 1998. In the U.S., the Brotherhood has not operated openly. But
federal prosecutors say they are investigating whether Brotherhood members who
arrived in the U.S. decades ago have used businesses and charities here to
raise and launder money for terrorism abroad. . . .” (Idem.)
36.
“ . . . In
December 1995, Mr. Saied attended another Muslim Arab Youth Association
conference at a hotel in Toledo, Ohio, Sheik Qaradawi, the cleric affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood, gave a speech later transcribed and translated by
the Investigative Project, a terrorism-research group based in Washington.
Islam will ‘overcome all the religions’ and dominate the world, the sheik told
his audience of several hundred people.” (Idem.)
37.
“He quoted
Islamic texts as saying ‘You shall continue to fight the Jews, and they will
fight you, until the Muslims will kill them. And the Jew will hide behind the stone
and the tree, and the stone and the tree will say, ‘Oh, servant of Allah, Oh,
Muslim, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him!’ The resurrection will not
come before this happens.” (Idem.)
38.
Next, the program reviews an item from FTR#439. Al Taqwa’s Al-Qardawi has also been involved with the
establishment of a mosque in Boston. “The Islamic organization poised to build the largest mosque
in the Northeast on a site in Roxbury has long-standing ties to an Egyptian
cleric who praises suicide bombings and a Muslim activist indicted last week in
a terrorism financing probe. The Islamic Society of Boston, which has city
approval to build a sprawling $22 million Islamic cultural center and mosque on
Malcolm X Boulevard, has had a long association with Dr. Yusuf Abdullah
al-Qaradawi, whose vocal support of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas
prompted the State Department to bar him from entering the U.S. four years
ago.” (“Radical Islam: Outspoken
Cleric, Jailed Activist Tied to New Hub Mosque” by Jonathan Wells, Jack Meyers,
Maggie Mulvihill and Kevin Wisniewski; The
Boston Herald; 10/28/2003; accessed at www.bostonherald.com .)
39.
In addition, Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi (another Al Taqwa associate)
is affiliated with this mosque. FTR#’s
381, 386, 425 examine the infiltration of Muslim Brotherhood elements and
ideology into the African-American community. (For more about Alamoudi, see the
information presented above, as well as in FTR#’s
433, 435. Significantly, Alamoudi—with significant connections to the
GOP—appears to have been involved with the establishment of an Al Qaeda/Muslim
Brotherhood Fifth Column within the U.S. military. For more information on
this, see “
‘Countdown with Keith Olberman’ for Oct. 23”; MSNBC News; 10/23/2003; accessed at: www.msnbc.com/news/984616.asp.)
“The local
religious organization, now headquartered on Prospect Street in Cambridge, was
founded by Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi—a high-profile Washington, D.C.
activist who has publicly supported Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist
organizations.” (Idem.)
40.
Before recounting information about the Brotherhood’s Said Ramadan and
his activities in the United States, the program reviews the links between
Ramadan and the Al Taqwa milieu. “In his book Dollars
for Terror, Richard Labeviere gives us a critical profile of Said Ramadan.
Ramadan married Wafa Hassan al-Bana and thus became the son-in-law of Hassan
al-Bana, the founder of the MB. Ramadan next led a famous brigade of Arab
volunteers to fight against Israel in the 1948 war. When Nasser cracked down on
the MB in Egypt in 1954, Ramadan relocated first to Saudi Arabia and then to
Pakistan. He then moved to Europe, after getting Saudi backing for the
propagation of Islam in Europe in particular. At first, Ramadan opened a
MB-backed Islamic center in Munich, in part in a reflection of the MB’s
collaboration with the Nazis dating back to the late 1930’s. (Labeviere in this
regard also cites Egyptian reports that Youssef Nada worked for the Abwehr
(German military intelligence) in the 1940’s. It should also be recalled that
Francois Genoud, the Swiss Nazi banker, began developing contacts in the Arab
world on behalf of German intelligence beginning in the 1930’s.]”(“Report
on Islamists, The Far Right, and Al Taqwa” available at: www.oraclesyndicate.org/pub_e/k.coo_e/publ_09-02_1.htm ; p. 13.)
41.
“While in
Germany, Ramadan defended his doctoral thesis on Islamic law at the University
of Cologne. However the Saudis advised Ramadan to make Switzerland his main
base of operations and at the height of the Algerian war, Ramadan opened up
what is now a famous Islamic Center in Eaux-Vives, near Geneva, in 1961. [It
was at this center that Achmed Huber first converted to Islam. –KC] Said
Ramadan remained a top European leader of the MB until his death in August
1995. This, in effect, means that Nada, Himmat, Nasreddin, and all the other MB
leaders associated with al-Taqwa, were essentially in Ramadan’s orbit. As
Labeviere writes, after being condemned in
absentia to forced labor for life by the Egyptian government, Ramadan first
‘settled in Munich, then in Switzerland, where
he manages the movement’s fund. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.]’” (Idem.)
42.
Kevin Coogan presents the working hypothesis that the founding of Al
Taqwa may have been at the instigation of Ramadan. (An interview with Richard
Labeviere presented above reinforces this conclusion.) One should not fail to
note that, in addition to the Wahhabi connections of the Muslim Brotherhood
milieu presented here, a Huber-Nada-Iran link may well be important. It appears
that the Ramadan/Huber/Al Taqwa milieu has made significant inroads in Shia
Islam, as well as Sunni. “In a May 6, 2002 article in Le Monde, author Piotr Smolar quotes Achmed Huber as saying that he
first met Youssef Nada only during the course of a conference organized in Iran
in 1988. It was here that Nada approached Huber about participation in the
founding of al-Taqwa. The relatively brief time between Huber’s meeting Nada
and his participation with al-Taqwa suggests that both men may have been
operating for the same larger concern, namely Ramadan’s MB operation in
Switzerland.” (Idem.)
43.
“Equally
interesting is that Huber and Nada met in Iran. In the late 1970’s, it has been
reported that the Saudis were said to have decided to stop backing Ramadan’s Swiss
center and in 1978, they opened their own group (l’Association Culturelle
Islamique de Geneve) because the Saudi monarchy disagreed with Ramadan’s
embrace of the Iranian Revolution. [It should be recalled that Huber also
became one of the Iranian revolution’s leading Western supporters in the late
1970’s]” (Idem.)
44.
The broadcast concludes with discussion of Said Ramadan’s recruitment
of an African-American named David Belfield. While living in the U.S., Ramadan
recruited Belfield to become an assassin on behalf of the Iranian
fundamentalist government in Iran. “Incredibly, in the middle 1970’s Said Ramadan actually
recruited an American named David Theodore Belfield, who later changed his name
to Dawud Salahuddin. Salahuddin was a black American who became radicalized and
adopted a mixture of Third Worldist radicalism and Muslim beliefs. He later
served as an assassin for the Iranian government and on July 21, 1980,
Salahuddin murdered Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former press attaché at the Iranian
Embassy under the Shah who was living in Bethesda, Maryland, where he helped
direct a pro-Shah exile group, the Iran Freedom Foundation. After the
assassination, Salahuddin first fled to Geneva and then to Iran. Salahuddin
first encountered anti-Shah and pro-Khomeini Iranian exiles in Washington.
However his life really began to change in May 1975, when he met Said Ramadan,
who was the guest speaker at the Islamic Center, a large mosque on
Massachusetts Avenue. [On Ramadan and Salahuddin, see David Ottaway, ‘The Lone
Assassin’ published in the Washington
Post magazine on August 25, 1996 as well as Ira Silverman, ‘An American
Terrorist’ published in The New Yorker,
August 5, 2002. Both are available on the web.] Salahuddin and Ramadan then
lived together through the summer of 1975 in a house in Washington near Howard
University. Salahuddin to this day describes Ramadan as his advisor and
spiritual guide. There is also strong evidence that Ramadan was involved with
hooking Salahuddin up to the Iranians for the assassination of Tabatabai. Once
in Iran, Salahuddin told The New Yorker
that he had extensively traveled through the Muslim world as a kind of diplomat
for Ramadan and that in 1986 he made ‘certain representations on behalf of
Ramadan to Muamar Qaddafi’ through one of Qaddafi’s cousins and in 1995, he
‘delivered a message from Ramadan to President Burhanuddin Rabbain, in
Afghanistan, warning him that the Taliban had ties to the CIA.’” (Ibid.; pp. 13-14.)
45.
The program concludes by noting that Al Taqwa’s Achmed Huber continues
to maintain good relations with African-American Muslims. “The story of Ramadan and Salahuddin is also
remarkable given that (as I document in my article on Huber now on the web),
Huber to this day maintains close ties to radical black Islamist fanatics based
in Washington, D.C., such as Imam Abdul Alim Musa and Sheikh Mohammed al-Asi,
both of whom are associated with the pro-Khomeini Institute of Contemporary
Islamic Thought (ICIT). Both man also maintain good ties to the New Black
Panther Party, an organization founded by the late Khallid Mohammad after he
split from the Nation of Islam.” (Ibid.;
p. 14.)