In the days after September 11, 2001 George W. Bush spoke at a Saudi mosque with some very questionable characters standing behind him, including the Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad. Why would the President agree to such a thing with all that we now know about CAIR?
Six days before 9/11, on Septemer 5th, federal agents raided a company that operated the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) website. HLF would later be convicted on all counts in the largest terrorism funding trial in American history. Their server was also shared by none other than CAIR, which was ultimately found to be an unindicted co-conspirator. The Feds had been monitoring HLF up to that point, since 1996. At the very least, suspicions about CAIR’s involvement had to be very high. Awad was already on record as supporting Hamas in 1994.
So why would George W. Bush speak at a mosque, shoulder to shoulder with elements of the Muslim Brotherhood less than one week after the worst attack on American soil and say these words?
The “Truthers” – individuals who believe the Bush administration was involved in the 9/11 attacks to one degree or another – would point to that video as proof that Bush was in on it. If Muslims really attacked us, why would he show support for people who can be shown to share similar sentiment? While they should be extended some grace for being confused by Bush’s behavior, Truthers always seem to give the Islamists a pass in a quest to prove a much larger conspiracy whose bandwagon even carries Islamists themselves.
The truth is that nefarious Islamist characters are extremely persuasive; it’s what they do. They have spent decades teaching and learning how to dupe people within the confines of political constructs. In fact, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) teaches young Muslim college students just how to do it and there are chapters on college campuses all over the United States.
None other than former Ground Zero mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf had his words translated by former Muslim terrorist Walid Shoebat during the height of the Ground Zero mosque controversy last summer. According to that translation, Rauf explains exactly how Muslims should engage western Christians and Jews:
“Deal with them as one courts a pretty girl he wants to date; stop thinking like a typical Muslim. Then you engage.”
In a memorandum penned by Big Peace’s Frank Gaffney to the American Conservative Union (ACU), he identifies one of its Board members – Suhail Khan – as someone who has infiltrated the conservative movement while having very close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. In addition to Khan being on the Board of the Foundation responsible for CPAC, he also had inside access to the Bush administration.
Ironically, Khan’s father founded the MSA so Suhail most assuredly had received some advanced training by the time he found himself in the White House.
When the September 11th attacks happened, Khan’s inside access was thanks in large part to Grover Norquist, who is known as a strong fiscal conservative with Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). Gaffney makes an incredibly strong case against Khan, Norquist, and others. If he’s right, the damage done to America by these figures may have been extensive. Each had the ear of administration officials at a very critical time – in the days and weeks before and after 9/11.
Truthers are inclined to believe that Muslims were simply used as fall guys in a much larger conspiracy involving the Bush administration.
In reality, Muslims in the Bush White House were likely just courting administration officials like pretty girls they wanted to date before engaging them.
Ben Barrack is a talk show host on KTEM 1400 in Texas and maintains a website at www.benbarrack.com