WEEKLY STANDARD and FRANK GAFFNEY BLAST FBI DIRECTOR'S SPEECH AT AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL CONFERENCE; WASHINGTON TIMES JOURNALIST TO APPEAR AT SAME EVENT WEEKLY STANDARD 06/17/2002, Volume 007, Issue 39 GUESS WHO'S COMING TO LUNCH We understand, especially after the last couple of weeks, that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III's job description includes enduring any number of slings and arrows, some more outrageous than others. But he must be even more of a glutton for punishment than we imagined to have agreed to be a luncheon speaker at the American Muslim Council's annual convention on June 28. The AMC is one of those groups that once upon a time, way back before September 11, expressed sympathy for the 1993 World Trade Center bombers and support for terrorist outfits like Hamas and Hezbollah. But all has changed since last fall, right? Now the AMC specializes in maligning federal law enforcement officials. An AMC press release characterized the federal raids in March on several businesses in Northern Virginia suspected of aiding terrorist groups as follows: "National Muslim organizations have described the raids as what appears to be 'a fishing expedition by federal authorities' using 'McCarthy-like tactics' in a search for 'evidence of wrongdoing that does not exist.' Brothers and Sisters this is YOUR community that has been attacked." And here is the AMC's June 3 letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft complaining about the new surveillance policies announced by Ashcroft and Mueller to improve the FBI's ability to gather intelligence on terrorists: "The announcement last week by the Justice Department of its new policy permitting blanket government spying on any mosque or Muslim organization, however, has raised issues and questions in our community which we feel you must directly address now. For example, we need you to clarify your remark that 'scrupulous respect for civil rights and personal freedom' will be maintained even under this new policy. "Thus, we request an immediate meeting with you to discuss this issue. We feel that Director Mueller addressing the Muslim community at our convention can serve as a bridge builder--provided there is first a fundamental acknowledgement and protection by the Justice Department of the rights and liberties of Muslim Americans." So here's the AMC's offer: We will insult you, then you must suck up to us, then we will deign to let you speak to us. The Scrapbook is glad it doesn't run the FBI. World & I Defends Participation of Washington Times Journalist at American Muslim Council Event "The World & I gives its staff considerable latitude in attending and speaking at conferences that are forums for the public discussion of important issues. "While I have some concerns about the impact on the liberty of U.S.citizens of aspects of the Justice Department's response to the threat of terrorism, I do not believe that The World & I's editorial integrity will be compromised by Mr. Connery speaking at the same conference as FBI director, Robert Mueller." Michael Marshall [Associate Executive Editor] HERE'S THE PROOF: American Muslim Council's 11th NATIONAL CONVENTION AMERICAN MUSLIMS: PART OF AMERICA, JUNE 27 - 30, 2002, HILTON MARK CENTER HOTEL OFFICIAL PROGRAM: 3.30 p.m. - 5.30 p.m. AMERICAN MUSLIMS IN MEDIA Moderator: Faiz Rahman, Director of Communications, AMC Speakers: Barber Ferguson, Arab News William Connery, World and I, Washington Times Toru Takanarita, Asahi Shimbun Collete O' Bulin, French TV. Journalist Hafiz Mirazi, Al-Jaazera Washington Bureau Chief NOTE: Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Gaffney has written that the American Muslim Council has "defended Hamas and Hezbollah," two groups designated by the U.S. State Department as foreign terrorist organizations. Terrorism analyst Steven Emerson says, "The American Muslim Council has consistently promoted and defended Hamas, Turkey's fundamentalist Welfare Party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other militant Islamic movements." Seth Gitel writes that Abdurahman Alamoudi, the founder and former executive director of the American Muslim Council, "attended an anti-Israel protest outside the White House on October 28, 2000. Alamoudi revved up the crowd, saying: ' I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Anybody supporters of Hamas here? ' The crowd cheered. ' Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah.'" In a late development, Connery is claiming that he is "acting on his own, representing only himself," and is trying to foster "reconciliation," "peace and mutual respect." TELL THAT TO THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISM, MR CONNERY. Ironically, the Washington Times on June 18 published a Frank Gaffney column Urging Mueller to Cancel HIS Appearance at the Event: Inviting losses on two fronts Frank J. Gaffney Jr. Published 6/18/2002 In the months that have followed the murderous attacks launched on September 11, President Bush has repeatedly, and correctly, emphasized that the war on terror must be fought both at home and abroad. He has recently underscored his determination to make advances on these two fronts by creating a real capability for homeland defense and by adopting, where necessary, pre-emptive measures against our enemies overseas. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush's efforts on the home front and abroad are in danger of being significantly undermined by actions expected to occur this week. Damage may be done here at home on June 28, when FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to address the annual convention of the American Muslim Council (AMC). He is evidently doing so because - as Mr. Mueller's spokesman put it last week - the FBI believes the AMC to be "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." Talk about intelligence failures. As Steven Emerson, one of the nation's foremost authorities on Islamist organizations and their activities in the United States, has noted in his new book "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us,": "The AMC is a founder, corporate parent and supporter of several militant Islamic groups." In particular, Mr. Mueller should be aware that, in Mr. Emerson's words, "The AMC has routinely featured or honored Islamic militants or supporters of terrorism at its annual conferences." Mr. Emerson quotes a former AMC president and board of directors chairman, Nazir Khaja, as saying: "No one in the organization really knows where the funds for AMC are coming from, how are they being raised and spent, and who is controlling the whole process." Mr. Khaja suggests the man in control is the AMC's secretary, Abdulrahman al-Amoudi, an individual who publically declared in October 2000 that he is a supporter of both Hamas and Hezbollah. Arguably worst of all, confusing organizations like the AMC with "mainstream" Muslims - let alone dignifying the former by affording them repeated access not only to the FBI director but to the president and his Cabinet - serves to legitimate the radicals while disenfranchising those who genuinely adhere to moderate Islamic teachings. Why would the FBI want in this way to advance the AMC agenda, which Mr. Emerson says includes "aggressively attack[ing] Sheikh Muhammed Hisham Kabbani, a leading moderate voice in the American Muslim community"? With respect to the war on terror overseas, President Bush himself is being encouraged to unveil this week an initiative that will likely prove even more problematic than the Mueller outreach to the AMC. Some expect Mr. Bush to endorse a new U.S. Mideast peace plan built around the idea of a "provisional" Palestinian state. While it is unclear exactly what the term "provisional" would mean in this context, its implications are unmistakeable: (1) Despite well-deserved castigation of Yasser Arafat's kleptocracy by the president and, most recently, by his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, under present circumstances any interim state would, as a practical matter, have to be built on the foundation of Mr. Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA). The growing chorus of calls for real "reform" in the PA would be undermined. Mr. Arafat would be rewarded yet again for his misconduct. And terrorist violence against Israel would continue to be seen as producing results - an inducement for more terrorism. (2) To the extent any geographic dimensions of this "provisional state" are recognized (and that would appear the bare minimum such recognition would require), Israel's efforts to defend itself against terror emanating from Palestinian-controlled areas - a right President Bush has repeatedly affirmed - would inevitably be, to put it mildly, complicated: Should Israel have to traverse internationally recognized borders to root out terrorist infrastructures, it would risk not only virulent foreign condemnation but the creation of a casus belli with the Arab world. (3) The danger of such a war will only grow insofar as there is seen to be significant daylight between the United States and Israel. Since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already rejected the "provisional state" idea (as have Palestinian spokesmen), a Bush initiative along these lines will appear, at best a nonstarter; at worst, it will reignite hopes among the Arabs that their ambition to destroy Israel may yet be achievable if the Jewish State becomes estranged from the U.S. In this regard it is instructive to recall what Mr. Arafat told Jordanian television on Sept. 13, 1993, the same day he signed the Oslo accord on the lawn of White House: "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel." The Bush administration need not inflict such reverses upon its own war efforts at home and abroad. After all, Mr. Mueller can simply cancel his ill-advised appearance at the American Muslim Council convention. He should nonetheless ensure that there is an FBI presence there - albeit for the purpose of putting under surveillance what promises largely to be yet another AMC event sympathetic to those who are our Islamist enemies in the war on terror. For his part, Mr. Bush should eschew seductive appeals to reward terrorists in the Middle East by embracing even more of a proto-Palestinian state than Mr. Arafat has ruled since 1993. He can, instead insist - as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle suggested on Sunday - on "regime change" in the Palestinian Authority as well as Iraq, establishing such a step along with democratic institution-building and other reforms as preconditions to further progress toward creation of a Palestinian state with whom Israel, and the rest of us, can safely live.              Printer-friendly version Click here to be added to our mailing list.