Rep. Myrick sounds "Wake Up" call on U.S. security

By Seth Mandel

June 6, 2008

It was a delicate balancing act, keeping up the pretension of a peaceful Muslim community leader in the U.S. while -- bankrolled by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi -- spearheading a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, and funneling the money to radical causes back in the states.

Those are the highlights of the resume of Abdurahman Alamoudi, the Eritrean-born founder of the American Muslim Council, who in 2004 was sentenced to 23 years in prison for terrorism financing and tax and immigration violations.

But the arrest and sentencing of Alamoudi, the open supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, is only part of the effort to clean up the Alamoudi mess, according to Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina's ninth district.

Until 1998, Alamoudi held a Pentagon-approved unpaid position nominating and screening candidates to be Muslim chaplains in several branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

"We need to do a thorough background check on foreign nationals who seek positions of authority in the United States government," Myrick told The Jewish State. "When someone is going to be given such a great responsibility, we must be sure that there are no questions about their background.  I do not believe that we have resolved this problem yet."

Myrick in April unveiled her "Wake Up America" agenda, a 10-point plan to address the threat of Islamic extremism in the U.S. and educate the American public about that threat.

"The government and the media have been all over the place when talking about terrorism," Myrick said in response to a series of questions posed to her by The Jewish State in May. "I hope this provides a blueprint so that we can all get on the same page and really educate the public on these issues and start a dialogue.  The more focused we are, the more we can educate, and the better chance we have of accomplishing the points on the agenda."

The "Wake Up America" plan consists of Myrick's intent to:

1.     Call for a government investigation of all U.S. military chaplains who were approved by Abdurahman Alamoudi.

2.     Call for a government investigation of all U.S. prison chaplains who were approved by Abdurahman Alamoudi.

3.     Call for the Government Accounting Office (GAO) to investigate the selection process of Arabic translators in the FBI and Department of Defense (DoD).

4.     Call for the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) 501(c)(3) non-profit status, which restricts "lobbying on behalf of a foreign government".

5.     Introduce a bill to make the preaching, publication, or distribution of materials that call for the death of American citizens, attacks on the United States government or Armed Forces, or the financing of the means and/or operations to accomplish these acts, acts of sedition and/or solicitation of treason.

6.     Call on the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit to verify the total sovereign wealth fund investment in the United States.

7.     Attempt to cancel scholarship student visa program with Saudi Arabia until they reform their textbooks.

8.     Introduce a bill to restrict R-1/R-2 religious visas for imams who come from countries that do not allow reciprocal visits by non-Muslim clergy.

9.     Introduce a bill to cancel contracts to train Saudi police and other security forces in U.S. counterterrorism tactics until the Saudis certify the prosecution of al-Qaeda financiers, like Yasin al-Kadi, and the detention of repatriated Guantanamo terrorists that keep being released into the general population after being "rehabilitated".

10.   Introduce or sponsor a bill to block the sale of sensitive military munitions, especially Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), to Saudi Arabia.

On Alamoudi, Myrick said the system used by Western governments must be subject to careful scrutiny, as Alamoudi's case likely isn't an isolated incident. Myrick cited an "ongoing situation" involving Hesham Islam, a key aide to Gordon England, the deputy secretary of defense.

"His biography alleges some facts that cannot be proven," Myrick noted. "Rather than erring on the side of revoking his security clearance in light of these issues, the Department of Defense said that since it cannot be disproved, it's okay. That's insane!"

Alamoudi's leadership in the Muslim Brotherhood while serving as an emissary on behalf of the U.S. government is troubling as well, Myrick said. As documented by historian Matthias Kuentzel in his Independent Publisher Gold Medal award-winning book "Jihad and Jew-Hatred," the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt, and rose to prominence through its violent anti-Semitic campaigns, eventually inheriting Nazism's anti-Jewish ideology and tactics.

The Brotherhood has renounced violence in certain locations, such as Syria, though Hamas, whose platform is violent jihad, is the Brotherhood's Palestinian division.

Myrick said the Brotherhood, which is sometimes portrayed as a peaceful organization, must be taken seriously.

"The federal government has released information showing Muslim Brotherhood plans to infiltrate the media, U.S. government, military, etc. in order to preach political correctness so that they could take us over from within," Myrick said, adding that their member affiliates were unindicted co-conspirators in last year's Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) trial due to their financial support for designated terrorist organizations. "It's hard to be peaceful when you directly help fund terrorists."

Myrick co-chairs the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus, though she stressed that her plan is not associated with the CATC.

"Many of them are supportive of the effort," Myrick said. "They may not agree with every point, which is fine, but they agree that this is a serious issue and we need to discuss it."

Myrick's Web site (http://www.house.gov/list/press/nc09_myrick/wakeupamerica41808.html) offers the 10-point plan as well as background on each item. Myrick said it's part of her effort to get the information out to the public, which includes media interviews and encouraging supporters to contact their representatives in Washington to express their desire to see the agenda points pursued.

"Right now I'm trying to create a grassroots swell across America," Myrick said. "The more the public pushes their [congressional representatives], the better chance we have at starting an in-depth dialogue. We are also carefully moving forward on the first few points and determining the best way to start investigations into the chaplain programs."

Myrick added that interested members of the public can sign up for her newsletter on the Web site.

One polarizing voice in the national discussion over domestic Islamic supremacists has been that of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR's mission statement is, according to its Web site, "to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding."

But an investigation conducted by Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism (investigativeproject.org) found that Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad founded CAIR after attending a meeting in Philadelphia in 1993, organized by Hamas, that served as a brainstorming session on how to derail the Oslo Accords for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The investigation also found that CAIR admittedly has funded the Hamas-linked HLF; its leaders have voiced public support for Hamas; its leaders refer to Israelis as "zionazis," have questioned the validity of accepted and documented Holocaust-related history, accused Jews of controlling U.S. presidential policy, and other anti-Semitic activities; and has conducted a propaganda campaign to distort the American public's understanding of Islam-related events and information.

Myrick said her push for an IRS investigation into CAIR's nonprofit status was spurred by "red flags" raised by certain of its activities.

"Specifically, there are questions about their political and lobbying activities, which are significantly restricted as a 501(c)(3) organization," Myrick said, adding that the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) previously owned CAIR's headquarters in Washington and has contributed about $75 million to the organization, which, Myrick said, "raises concerns about whether CAIR is acting as a foreign agent. I simply think these issues should be looked into and addressed."

Sovereign wealth funds are investments owned by governments. In the U.S., foreign governments' ownership of investments and capital has increased in recent years, especially after this year's crisis in the subprime mortgage market, Myrick noted. She said she is concerned about the investments that are owned not by our allies, but by nations that may be looking for some leverage by owning a controlling stake in a pillar of U.S. financial infrastructure.

"I have no problem with countries that invest for profit alone," Myrick said. "My fear is that if they can help stabilize us, then they can turn around and destabilize us if they pull their money out or start making demands. So I think we need to make these funds more transparent so we can see who is directing the funds and where they are being invested and why."

On the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, Myrick differentiates between offensive weapons and defensive weapons -- expressing less objection to the sale of the latter.

"I don't think we should be selling sensitive offensive weapon systems to a country that is the greatest funder and promoter of Wahhabism," Myrick said, referring to the extremist teachings of the 18th century Sunni reformist Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. "It makes no sense to me."

To the question of whether the restriction on the sale of JDAMs would send the Saudis into the open arms of Russian or Chinese weapons dealers, Myrick responded that the Saudis will trade with Russia and China regardless, but that it shouldn't be the responsibility of the U.S. to provide dangerous weapons to the Saudis, whether they will trade elsewhere or not.

Myrick's call to peg the U.S./Saudi scholarship visa program to Saudi textbook reform is, at least in part, one facet of Myrick's effort to make public some of the problems with state-funded textbooks in Muslim Arab and Persian countries in the Middle East. She said the more the public is aware, the more they will, in turn, make the media as well as their elected representatives is in the U.S. government aware.

"I also believe that the world as a whole should be concerned about this, and democratic countries should put pressure on other countries that teach hate to reform their education programs," Myrick said. "It is one thing to teach a religious belief, it is another to teach hate."