Senator Ted Cruz Seeks to Remove Muslim Brotherhood’s Veil

Imagine the existence of a group involved in covertly formulating a plan on how to subvert the U.S. Constitution, distributing that plan among its leadership and agents within the U.S., quietly supporting terrorism to further this agenda, declaring war against America, and brazenly recognizing U.S. indifference by boasting about its terrorist activities.

A rational mind would conclude this group be identified as a domestic threat with every effort made to minimize its influence. Yet President Obama has not only embraced the group, but welcomed its leaders to the White House.

In numerous other countries—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE, Bahrain and Russia—this group, known as the Muslim Brotherhood, has been banned due to its well-known destructive intentions and terrorist acts. The Obama administration has yet to do the same.

Legislation to pull back the Muslim Brotherhood’s veil, exposing its telltale terrorist heart, has been introduced—again. On November 3, legislation was filed to have the Muslim Brotherhood designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO)—introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the Senate and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) in the House.

A similar bill introduced in July 2014 fizzled. The question now is whether Congress will push this bill through, forcing Obama’s Brotherhood enabler—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry—to strip the group of its veil.

Any group founded on the belief—as was the Brotherhood in 1928—that,‘‘Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Qur’an is our law; jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope” is transparently advertising its Islamist ideology. It has made clear the focus of this intent is global, seeking to “conquer… every obstinate tyrant” to ensure the world submits to Islam.

Sen. Cruz’s bill, known as the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015, explains the group’s evil intentions and terrorist activities.

It notes that training undertaken by the “Society of the Muslim Brothers” is renowned for “its distinctive qualities… because militancy and martyrdom had been elevated to central virtues in the Society’s ethos.”

It traces the Brotherhood’s violent early history, including establishment of a “secret (terrorist) apparatus” to do its bidding. While renouncing violence in the 1970s only to avoid persecution by the Egyptian government, it has learned to use proxy groups for this purpose that it helps to fund. Several of these proxy groups have received FTO designations by the U.S. or have resulted in individual Brotherhood leaders being identified as “Designated Terrorists,” according to Sen. Cruz’s bill.

The bill details how Brotherhood proxies still operate today to fund terrorist activities through the establishment of various front companies, some bearing the label of “unindicted co-conspirators” as a result of the largest terrorism-financing trial in U.S. history—the 2008 Holy Land Foundation prosecution.

The bill documents how the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, in September 2010 issued a call—much like Osama bin Laden’s in 1996—for war against the U.S., fighting it with a “jihadi generation that pursues death just as the enemies (Israel and the U.S.) pursue life.”

Documented too is the Brotherhood’s use of violence in Egypt ever since its ouster by then General, now President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Such violence has included attacks against Coptic Christians—torching over 70 churches, their residences and numerous businesses.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood’s website calls on followers to prepare for a “long, uncompromising jihad” against the Egyptian government—boasting of its terrorist past and urging them to continue down this same path. On May 27, 2015, this terrorist policy was endorsed by 159 Brotherhood scholars representing 35 countries.

In tracing the Brotherhood’s focus on America’s destruction, the bill failed to explain the chance discovery of the group’s very successful war plan, written in 1987 and implemented against the U.S. ever since.

In 2004, a driver and his passenger piqued the interest of police transiting the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Bridge in an unmarked car directly behind them. Suspicions arose as the passenger filmed the bridge’s strength members above rather than the scenery below. Stopping the vehicle, officers found the driver had an outstanding warrant related to the Holy Land Foundation case above. This led to a warrant to search his home.

During that search, police discovered a secret sub-basement in the house containing numerous documents in Arabic. One was a covert war plan designed to undermine the U.S. Constitution and laws by gradually introducing sharia.

While one might be quick to dismiss such a plan seeking to undermine America’s laws, it is in full implementation today and continues to make steady progress.

The plan calls for the use of front companies—such as those identified in the Cruz legislation—to continuously raise claims of Islamophobia whenever concerns are raised about Islam. It calls for using U.S. laws and public sensitivities against America’s interests to gradually impose Islam’s views upon others. This is to be accomplished by raising the flag of political correctness and First Amendment rights to allow non-assimilating Muslim communities in the U.S. to apply sharia.

Also omitted from the bill is mention of how the Brotherhood’s influence is being peddled under the guise of Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to fund Middle East study centers for schools and universities. These centers espouse a clear Islamic/anti-U.S. agenda.

Not much has changed about the Brotherhood since the 2014 bill was introduced seeking its designation as an FTO. As a result, it has been business as usual for the Brotherhood in continuing to implement its war plan.

In his 2010 declaration of war against America, Badie claimed, “The United States is now experiencing the beginning of its end, and is heading towards its demise.”

We failed to heed bin Laden’s war declaration in a timely manner. Will we heed the Brotherhood’s? Only time, and Senator Cruz’s bill, will tell.

Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of “Bare Feet, Iron Will–Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields,” “Living the Juche Lie: North Korea’s Kim Dynasty” and “Doomsday: Iran–The Clock is Ticking.” He frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.