My name is D'Anne Burley, I am the host of The D'Anne Burley Show on TRUTHRADIO.COM and Backdoor Stuff New on GETV Channel 17 in Glen Ellyn Illinois. Who has programs on WVON 1450 Am in Chicago, Illinois, and produced many programs with Peace and Justice Radio which was a American Friends Broadcast on various radio stations telling stories of human rights violations that had impacted on our world.
But here is what you may not know of why I have many Whistle blowers on my program and why I am attempting to get the public aware of the hidden facts of Sept 11th 2001....
One prior to Sept 11th 2001, I was the Director of Operations for a Gold coast Mortgage Company, which I was in the process of taking over,,,,, from this business I became involved with a Arab Businesses with a man, Steven “Suhail” Al-Masri, with whom was a loan officer within this business prior to my coming on board, and who had numerous businesses, a Newspaper, Chamber of Commerce (Not listed with the Commerce Department here in Illinois), was the CFO of Al-Salaam Mosque Foundation which the press changed the name of in the press I felt because of the ties this man had to many prominent persons including the Governor of Illinois then George Ryan, whose Secretary would call continuously to his office to invite him personally to forms and parties, then there was a Judge and a attorney who was involved in Defense all seemingly ties to links of rings of alleged terror which no one would look into why?.....
The fact was that no government agent would look into him and if you reported him, you became the target of counter-terrorist plots and assaults to your finance and credibility.....
Those involved targeted by children, my home and my health because they were connected to ownerships and or control large dollars going into Hospital, Townships, Policing agencies all I had alleged were under lock and key not to allow any information out on Money laundering, via the Mortgage Industry and banks...........
There was a lot more going on as well, the then Governor was under investigation about the “Drivers License for Hire Scam” which was only bought to light because a area Ministers family was killed by someone who had bought a license and was operating a truck. The Minister loss all his children and his wife and was burned over 40 % or more on his body from the crash.
If it was not for this I allege no one would have seen that this scandal began further back than the Ryan Governor era, it was allow illegal aliens coming into Illinois to get licensed but while I was involved Al-Masri, I saw that they were also using International Drivers Licenses to get other forms of ID’s to use to launch businesses and move into neighbors to set up operations....
All this information I reported as a good citizen and all which looked at and tossed why?
I had alleged later after 9/11 after obtaining copies of international drivers licenses, criminal reports and other documents that Steven and others were involved in a cell, which seem to be a major one because it seemed to link back to “A MAN NAME ATTA” the Terrorist suspect who was killed and pin pointed as a major Terrorist Cell operative, but there was no interest ....
When I spoke to the F.B.I. with a witness present who heard all I was told that Steven was one of the most prominent citizens within the Arab community and that his name meant The Egyptian....
It was at this point I knew that there was something wrong within the Chicago bureau of the F.B.I. but were could you go then where?
The Police, F.B.I, Attorney General Office, Senators, Township Officials, Churches and everyone else here in Illinois looked into nothing and acted as if I was crazy even with evidence in hand.....
And I also had a 52 Million Dollar lawsuit filed against some of these people because $50 Million Dollars came into a business I formed with Al-Masri whereas I was the Vice President and he was the CEO refusing to place his name on the Corporation because as he explained he was told not to do by someone known as the Accountant.... The $50 Million Dollars was on an allege wire transfer coming right from the Saudi Royal House, and this lawsuit was in the Chicago Tribune and also a online newspaper which with worldwide coverage Islamic Q which disappeared in a puff of smoke off the net....
The Law suit was the talk of Islam in the Middle east as well because a Arab concept business sued another one in a American Court system which seemed to be against Islamic law, and because of the impact this case was being evaluated by the Sahar’ia Board the board were the Saudi Royal Family sits as the top religious advisor. My Business was Royal Financial Group Inc., and I sued Baytana Funding a copycat company whose owner came into my business and took our trade secrets and then contacted the Saudi’s who at the time were to invest the money into our business The Riba for No Interest in Purchasing Homes. I was the one who was to make the concept work in the US, it was tried before in NYC and once in Illinois but no one could figure how to make it work because of Tax and Usury laws. But I did....
Because of the hotbed before the middle eastern council which was dealing with an America Lawsuit and at that time I had no idea that the plot indeed was more than the issue of suing but may have included too much news in the press that may cause someone to see something that was not to be seem, a more sinister plot a plot which would later lead up to 9/11....
But no one here cared not the press, not those in government....
I even wrote to the Rev. Minister Louis Farrakhan, to seek a equal meeting ground, but he was out of town in London, he knew my father Dan Burley, who was the managing editor of the Black Nations Founder the Honorable Elijah Mohammad and a very close friend.....writing and placing the nation on the map with the Black and White Press from 1947. But without anyone at my side I went into the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview and spoke directly to the Sheik Farris, who was there while Sheik Jamal was in the Middle East before council....
Sheik Farris, sat on the Shar’ia Panel before the Saudi Royal House, I spoke to him about Steven who was a member (this was what he told me) and also to talk about the man I sued Abe Karim the then current owner of Baytana funding which stole the No Riba Concept... But it became another interesting fact that it seemed that these very important Arab Businessmen was not known within this Mosque.... why? Who were they and this caused another major concern again all this happened prior to Sept 11th 2001...
They called me to inform me that neither man belonged to their Mosque and for some reason I believed them, it was like there were agents but not of this Mosque and maybe involved more within our own government because they again were the ones who refused to investigate this....
I was told that Karim was hated blacks as many who were involved with them.. And it later came out from one of my many whistle blowers that was a undercover agent with the KKK that the standard US hate groups were getting money from Bin Laden to run acts of terror within the US.
Whoever Steven was, he knew I was in the media before, and had many ties here in the government and friends who if I could get them involved may look into this operation so I was run out the business with the intent to remove me from seeing a plot unfold, but like John O’Neill, who was a F.B.I. Agent of over 30 years in the agency who was FIRED because of investigating what was alleged was a major cell moving drugs and laundering money out of the Veterinarian Clinic’s it was reported he alleged out of Boston Airport which was tied again to Bin Laden whose family was located within this area.... He followed this crime ring even after being Fired up until his died in the WTC on 9/11.... He was hired by the security company to head-up this security, hired just two days before he died receiving a salary of $300k a year much more than what he would had gotten if he was a FBI agent. The question is was he killed in the building or was he murdered and placed in the building? But the dots connect to Bin Laden’s family involved in money drugs and laundering lots of money which was being used to finance cells in America which were within hate groups and other terrorist organization to launch the takeover of the US and it’s government. The other interesting fact was why did our President allow Bin Laden’s brother to be moved to safety into the hands of the Saudi Royal Family though he claimed that it was intelligence Agencies who told him that Bin Laden was involved in the Terrorist Strike Against America...Why? And why is it that America can not see the connection of treason...
Bridgeview Mosque Foundation/ Hamas member Mohamed Saleh arrested with Howard U prof Abdelhaleem Ashqar on terrorism charges
August 21, 2004
The article Read:
After years of being under law enforcement scrutiny more proof of the obvious emerges revealing the Bridgeview Mosque Foundation's direct ties to Hamas . The BMF spokesman is Rafiq Jaber, the head of the Islamic Association of Palestine, which is the American wing of Hamas....
Please Note that Rafiq Jaber, has been on my programs many times to speak about the issue of Palestine.........
The article continues....
Which begs the question of how such a hub of terrorist activity in the Hamas stronghold of Bridgeview Illinois, is still conducting 'business as usual' and why Muhammed Hamid Khalil Salah is the only BMF associate who was arrested this week. . Imam Jamil Said of The Bridgeview Mosque Foundation is a known Hamas leader. The BMF president Oussama Jamal, , is a darling of the Chicago interfaith circuit, who apparently have no problems with his and Jamal's declarations at a post 9/11 community memorial service where he stated that he did not think Muslims were behind the 9/11 attacks, and that terrorism was a direct result of US support of Israel. Jamal used the event to bash Israel and cry to the media about how Muslims are suffering in the US.
As for Osama bin Laden, the general consensus in Chicago's Arab and Muslim community seems to be that it would have taken more than the resources available to the "Nomad of Afghanistan" to carry out operations of the sophistication and magnitude of the Sept. 11 terror. "How certain are we that it was Arabs who were behind it?" asked Jammal.
Suggesting that Americans look at the causes, he argued that despair and fear are at the roots of terrorism. His remedy: "Go after what makes people hopeless."
Do Americans have the patience for that? Jammal sounded doubtful. "We, as Arabs, are no strangers to suffering," he noted. "Americans are saying now that they are willing to give up some luxuries to get through the next phase. But how long will they hold out?"
My Story......
I also did a lot of Activism in the Chicago area, and worked to expose fraud against the public, I would investigate fraud and sought to get evidence on corruption so that the their would be accountability within government and other agencies which included corporations....
They also knew I was friends of Sherman Skolnick and others in the media, over the years I had closed down businesses by exposing them to the public underground but in this case there was nothing I could do and it seemed that the Courts were involved as well.....
Other government agencies refused to look into this and or were all told to “Stand Down” and because I reported this harm came to me and my family... and even poisoning...
Another parallel to this was James Bath and his business relationship with a Mr. White, who was a Real Estate Agent, and by whom Bath was using his business to laundry money it was alleged in many articles and also within the story that was within the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, in f act a attempt to contact Mr. Moore which was impossible even though I had interviewed him back while on Peace and Justice Radio, all those in the media and those who sought to investigate the truth were not interested in the fact that there was a dormant Terrorist Cell right in good old Illinois which had a flight school attached connected to many here, many who had power. The media did nothing and all was as if I was in a dream, a never ending nightmare whereas the public was without a clue to the fact that Terrorist were alive and well living within their communities .... why?
The Hot Bed was Palos Hills, Illinois, Bridgeview with a flight school operating in a Chicago Suburb...
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And why was it a hands off in Al-Masri’s case, a case that if you report him you became the target for crimes against YOU to discredit the reporter, but protect the criminal why?....
I loss job, someone deposited $4k of counterfeit money orders into my bank account which ordinated out of Citibank, which had a known problem of receiving counterfeit transactions, I also located a secondary federal Reserve which seemed to have a float of money orders and checks with the same numbers and same routing information (duplicate transactions and maybe washed) whereby these funding transactions were going through and being allowed and paid while the real transaction would go in at the same time within the normal government based reserved again no one was interested in this and it seemed that this was again a hands off operation all and all there was cover up on cover up the same way the cover happened within the Savings and Loan Scandal in which Neil Bush was alleged involved and coverup with gulf war and the so call war of drugs which went no where, it was just a measure to get the public off the real stories....
The government agencies never investigated nor had interest in any of this unless in could be proven that it was me who they could connect to some crime so that they could get off the hook for criminal activities which were going investigated the crimes were more vest and more of a nightmare than anyone would believe... Then they have intercepted by telephone calls which is a common occurrence with whistle blowers a game within the intelligence community...
I was being discredited, denied to government investigation and protection, denied reward and anything and everything else... It was I that became the VICTIM. For speaking out!
The other trick of the trade is make sure that the those who speak out have no money, my child support was Stop with no reason, and because I was a former Court Clerk I had people I could contact and if they refused to help I would report on the air because I am in the media, the one thing they did not want is to awaken the people of the THEFT AGAINST AMERICA....
About Steven Suhail Al-Masri - Mortgage Loan Officer, CFO of Al-Salaam Mosque Foundation, Editor and Owner of Al-Salaam Newspaper Written in English and Arabic which was Nation and International circulation, Owner of America Financial Group Inc, owner of a used Car business, Grocery Store which was near White Sox Park before being shut down for missing lottery money, was a board member of SKM a real firm investigated and forced out of California and Florida for property scams, who later sued him.... Owner of the Jordanian Chamber of Commerce, Owner of the Jordanian Flight School, and other businesses within a very small two office location within the suburb of Palos Hills Illinois. Which had no staff when I arrived to develop the No RIba Program.... In fact he was getting calls as if he was a member of the Jordanian Embassy. On the wall of the business was a picture of the King and Queen of Jordan and on the other wall was a picture of a 747 cockpit he said was used in training..
Steven was arrested under Operation Mountain Express II, which was available online and which is now missing information on the internet to further coverup more and more information on the fact that there was a major movement of Meth a date rape drug into the US which was being used as a measure to rape children and teen-ager to turn them into prostitutes and as a means to late move them into white slavery for businessmen and those in other European Nations....... if you attempt to click on the DEA site and those about Steven and other facts on the net it seems that those in the government have removed them to further coverup these crimes the crimes against are nations.......
The rapes and all the missing children I got information on this sometime ago from someone out of Texas who was involved in looking into a major child kidnaping scandal which also got no press... again more to harm America and to robe us blind....
The thing that John O’NEILL was looking into, the man who knew too much and was killed in the WTC buildings......
Our first meeting .....
Elite Funding International Ltd, Chicago Illinois now closed mortgage company...
In the Summer of 2000, I was involved in cleaning up a Gold Coast Chicago Illinois located Mortgage Ltd., “Elite Funding International”, which was seeking someone to come in to create a revenue for a then failing business, upon entering as their Director of Operations I notice that there were many issues, many - and I began to clean this business of many of it’s woes.... with plans to take-over the business from it’s owner who was at that time talking of retiring so that we, me and my friend and partner for 6 years could open up our Secured Homes of America Inc., speciality program from, it was a major concern on mine of the housing trends in America and I felt that if people were given a second chance at homeowner because we were going into a time of very high rates of foreclosures.....
On my first day in the business I met with all the Loan Officers, but the one who stood out the most was a loan officer who was listed as the businesses V.P.(but whereby the owner and this man claimed it was just something to make his business look good only) This man was Steven (Suhail) Al Masri, a man, who was very well dressed, intelligent, and a man who had a newspaper "Al Salaam News" which was syndicate throughout the US and the Middle east.
He knew the then Governor of Illinois George Ryan, and was involved with Judges and had ties to many within the Islamic Community via his businesses he owned, and his ownership of the newspaper which was written in both English and Arabic.
Steven was also the CFO of The Al Salaam Mosque Foundation, which many of the papers have covered up and renamed as Mosque Foundation, in a measure which seems to protect those involved.....
Steven came to me one day within the office and asked me to help him develop a Business Plan for a product called No Riba, this is a term used by Moslems whereby there is no implied interest and purchasing goods and services therefore Steven was attempted to make this concept work in the US for Moslems.
At the time I felt it would work well with all Americans - But the game and plot was to get two individuals without knowledge of a major fraud to become involved in a business which they were intending to use to move money and who knows what else through....
It was not to do the Program, the concept was to create a dummy shell business to move money through, and use American’s to uncover-up a spy business and intent.....
My Story turned to ashes when I came into Steven’s Office, after leaving Elite Funding International,...
I had ended up in Steven’s South Suburban Office and this was where the nightmare began,
From getting death threats over the phone about the newspaper from the Middle East and those within the area, to answering the phone for over 26 lines of business within this tiny office, where he had no help prior to me coming into the business,
The most interesting fact which I had reporting thousands of times was the fact he had and was operating a flight school which I felt was tied to the Sept 11th schools. In all the authorities had no interest none...
The Al-Salaam Mosque was in the press a lot then because it was involved in a heated fight with Palos Hills Illinois residence who did not want it within their town, there were a number of lawsuits filed, one was a Civil Right claim against the City for racism by the Moslem community whereby the Government Officials made a offer of $200k for it not to be built within the town, but there was more to this issue... .The President of the Foundation Ghassan Bullut, who along with Steven Al-Masri ended up arrested after Sept 11th 2001 .... years later whereby Steven was arrested for Operation Mountain Express II which the DEA netted over 52 mega tons of meth which is to make Ecstasy the “DATE RAPE DRUG”, which millions in cash and other drug making equipment.
Ghassan Bullut, who I was tracking because of what I found during my time with being a partner with AL-MAsri in a business whereby I was the Vice President of Royal Financial Group Inc.,
And he had a Jordanian Chamber of Commerce, and a Illinois based flight school was the F.B.I. and other agencies refused to admit existed in the Chicago land area.
The Flight school was not out of Chicago Lake Front Airport as the Mayor was alleging but instead out of a suburban based location, - No One was Interested in it not even after 9/11 why?
The other fact was there was a sum of money which was earmarked for our Corporation which I was force to flee from because of individuals who wanted me out because I was seeing to much and looking into too much as well. But my name remained on the Corporation.....
After leaving for less than one month 52 Million dollars was to be transferred from the Saudi Royal family business to get this business the seed money it needed. Because I was the one who developed the secret to make it work within the US they did not know how to get the money out of the program “No Riba” so I was called back to help but I did nothing to help them remaining how I was being used, but coming back just to watch and get more information.
Read this story by Sherman Skolnick....
Sherman H. Skolnick Email: skolnick@ameritech.net
"REPORTEDLY LINKED TO 'TERRORISTS', CHICAGO JUDGE THREATENS TV REPORTER",by Sherman H. Skolnick 11/8/01
Is a long-time court-reformer/TV reporter supposed to know about EVERY judge he comes across? I have been a court-reformer since 1958 and part of a weekly non-commercial TV program since 1991. Since 1995, I have been the moderator/producer of the program called "Broadsides", a public access Cable TV show. I cannot be expected to know every judge. After all, in the Chicago-area, for example, there are hundreds of judges.
I came to court on October 29, 2001, in litigation involving an associate of mine, Joseph Andreuccetti who assists with the production of our show in Chicago. I was there as his paralegal, to take notes, and also as an alternative media reporter.
Maybe I should have been immediately suspicious when the Judge, Samuel Betar III [(312) 603-4371], threatened me, apparently to jail me, if I didn't stop taking notes. He shouted and hollared at me, demanding I go to the rear of the courtroom. I was alarmed when the judge threatened to also jail Joe and he had a heart attack.
What was going on here? Understand something. I am a paraplegic in a wheelchair and Joe and his wife Noemi often drive me where I have to go and assist me at my residence. I tried in court to wheel over to where Joe took ill, and the Judge hollared at me and threatened me again. I told the Judge to stop falsely threatening to jail Joe, since I depend on him. The Judge would not permit me to go over to see what happened to Joe.
Paramedics along with about six armed guards arrived and took Joe away on a stretcher. I was not allowed to accompany him or to find out rightaway what was going on.
My subsequent investigations uncovered plenty about Judge Samuel Betar III. Later was filed a Motion to try to force the removal of Judge Betar from the case, to stop him from falsely threatening to jail me and Joe. Filed in support of that motion are my signed statements of what I uncovered. From the court record are verbatim what is stated, numbered as they are there
1. I understand this this instrument under [citing Illinois law], has the same force and effect as if it were an Affidavit sworn to before a notary public.
2. I am a traditional Jew, of the Jewish race and religion. My associates Joseph Andreuccetti and Noemi Andreuccetti are perceived by their opponents and enemies as being partly Jewish.
3. Judge Samuel Betar III is closely aligned, including financial, with Suhail "Steven" Al-Masri who is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Al-Salam Newspaper, which has been circulated in the Chicago area and elsewhere."
4. Said Newspaper was operated at 8150 W. 111th Street, Suite 11, Palos Hills, Illinois, which was the offices of "Steven".
5. Said newspaper has published what those of the Jewish race and religion perceive as vicious anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda, calculated to slander and defame those of the Jewish race and religion.
6. "Steven" has been the purported owner of an airplane pilots training school which has likewise been headquartered at 8150 W. 111th Street, Suite 11, Palos Hills, Illinois. Law enforcement personnel have been surveilling "Steven" because, they contend, his school has been used by purported "terrorists" who apparently had and have been planning to seize U.S. commercial airplanes for the purpose of sabotage and violence to be inflicted on U.S. persons and properties."
7. Part of law enforcement and other government surveillance of "Steven" has also included Judge Samuel Betar III, who is financially and otherwise closely aligned with "Steven" according to such government personnel.
8. According to covert surveillance, "Steven" received numerous calls from topmost officials in the Springfield office of Ilinois Governor George H. Ryan. Because of the close relationship of "Steven" with Judge Samuel Betar III and they, in turn, with Governor Ryan, law enforcement personnel contend they are precluded from taking any action against either "Steven" or Judge Betar, or both, jointly. Further, "Steven" has been photographed with Illinois Governor George H. Ryan."
9. "Steven" has been the owner of Royal Financial Group, Inc., headquartered at 8150 W. 111th Street, Suite 11, Palos Hills, Illinois. Law enforcement personnel contend that said business is, in part, an apparent front for clandestine dealings with a Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois[a Chicago suburb], identified by the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as being a purported "terrorist" linked organization and enterprise, funneling funds in the U.S. and to the Mid-East and elsewhere for purported "terrorist" activities directed against U.S. citizens and properties."
[Clarification Although "Steven" claims to have been the owner of Royal Financial Group, Inc., the apparent clandestine dealings were reportedly done through other of his companies with other different names, as a front.]
10. As part of activities to promote their front enterprises, as aforementioned, "Steven" and Judge Samuel Betar III have two slide photographs posted on his and/or their, website, http//www.noribahomes.com. Said photographs appear to have been taken inside the judicial offices of Judge Samuel Betar III for the purpose of promoting their joint businesses and financial activities. Copies of said photographs, reproduced from said website, are attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit One." [The said website-reproduced photographs are in the court record attached to my signed statement and show "Steven" and Judge Betar.]
11. Law enforcement personnel assert they are precluded from taking action against Judge Samuel Betar III and Suhail "Steven" Al-Masri, despite law enforcement contentions that "Steven" and Judge Betar appear to be Chicago-area links to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
12. According to those who know him well, "Steven" went low-profile, if not totally disappearing, prior to the purported "terrorist" violence on September 11, 2001, directed against lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. Law enforcement personnel contend they would want to interview him as to his activities including with Judge Betar and the airplane pilots training school, as aforementioned. "Steven's" apparent dropping out of sight tends to support law enforcement contentions that "Steven" with his aforementioned activities has something to conceal, along with Judge Betar."
13. Both Judge Samuel Betar III and "Steven" have been in a position to note that Sherman H. Skolnick has a popular website where he often comments on activities in the U.S. for and on behalf of Osama bin Laden, the bin Laden group, and similar persons and groups linked to them. Skolnick's website is http//www.skolnicksreport.com."
This is the beginning and I will be adding more here but it’s you the public that needs to do something about this because I have done all I can as have all the others......
We are being killed off, without means of support and nothing... No one is aiding me, but god who has granted me the ability to do the things I am doing now and it takes all of us to commit to our Country and the People within America where are you on this.....
Peace!
D’Anne Burley
The D’Anne Burley Show Truthradio.com
Next Generation of Terrorist
Since September 11th, on balance, I can say that we won the war against the formal structure of al-Qaeda, its organization, its army, and its finances. We were also helped by Al-Qaeda's attacks on Riyadh on May 12. If al-Qaeda shot itself in the foot on September 11th,on May 12 it shot itself in the head. The attacks in Saudi Arabia pushed the Saudi's to finally launch an all-out attack on the financial network of al-Qaeda. But this not the whole story.
Although we are winning the war against the organization called al-Qaeda, we seem to be losing the cultural war. This means that in the Arab and the Muslim World, al-Qaeda and its affiliate organizations continue to draw on a new pool of recruits. The Arab and the Muslim media is the nebulous area where secret relations amongst states and terrorist organizations are forged. This culture of terrorism in not a sentiment; it is an industry. Their people and governments who finance these newspapers and TV stations that promote al-Qaeda and its ideas. Many leaders of states and industries in the Arab and the Muslim world - even America's friends - have failed to take a clear stand in terms of their relationship with al-Qaeda and the extremist ideas they promote and the money these states spend of their TV and newspapers. In many Arab newspapers and TV programs, Ben Laden can appear as a hero- and even if al-Qaeda is not named, its ideas and "victory" over America are implicitly applauded. This peaks in Qatar's al-Jazeera and the Lebanese channels and El-Osboa newspaer in Cairo which recently praised "any one who put a bullet in the heart of any American."
Currently many governments in the Arab and Muslim world are happy with a new division of labor where the media is for bin Laden and his affiliate organization and state power is at the hands of the traditional elite. Thus, president Bush's question after September eleventh about whether you are with us or with the terrorists has not been answered in the Muslim world. Key to the success of any American policy is a balance sheet focusing on a clear answer to president Bush's question. This should be followed by a question of what have you done for me lately on the issue of terrorism. America should not accept ambiguous answers about this clear-cut question.
We have to realize that terrorism in the Arab World, al-Qaeda and even Saddam Hussein did not descend to the Arab world from Mars. They are byproducts of an Arab civil war that has been raging for the last 40 years. This spectrum of civil war has its apex in the current Algerian civil war between radical Islamists and secular forces to the temporary cease fire in Egypt. Make no mistake it is a rooted war that starts from the family level between two sisters or brothers over Hijab and jihad to the level of state and societies. The question that remains is what is our position on that civil war and how to minimize damage to America and American interests.
Terrorism in the Muslim world can be drawn as a triangle between three points: states that harbor the terrorists, the terrorists themselves; and finally the Islamic movements that provide the pool of recruits and the intellectual drive and justification for acts of terrorism. Our current policy addresses two elements of this triangle, terrorist organizations and states that harbor terrorists. We have failed however to adequately understand the nature of the third component of the triangle of terror and its importance. That third component is the role played by broad anti-American movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood in making terrorism appear legitimate in the eyes of ordinary Arabs and Muslims. In fact, movements are becoming more powerful than states. One can only look at Lebanon to see who wields more power, the Lebanese state or the radical Hibzbullah? After driving Israel out of southern Lebanon, Hizbullah gained more influence in Lebanese politics. Many Arab leaders went to Lebanon to congratulate them for liberating southern Lebenon. These leaders did not visit with Hareiri, the prime minister, instead they visited with sheikh Nasralla, the leader of Hizbullah. The Lebanese model boosted the role of movements in Arab society over the role of the state. This is why I say that movements matter most. This should come before states as we consider the significant pieces in phase two of the war on terrorism.
The threat represented by these movements causes a loss of focus in the fight against terrorism for the US and for governments in the Arab and Muslim world. It's clear that the US and its allies are determined to attack terrorism from above by searching out the planners and perpetrators of terrorist actions and drying up their financial resources. But we have to keep in mind that these movements are part and parell of broad social tendencies. These represent major obstacles for any long-term strategy to simply attack terrorism from above. If the incubators of terrorist organizations are to be done away with, we have to allow and encourage alternative movements to take root. More civicly and democratically minded ideas have to show that they can have a broad appeal. This requires the cooperation of Muslim and Arab governments, but also attention to a broad spectrum of social issues.
Currently, governments and societies in the Muslim world are under attack. Governments in particular are alarmed by the magnitude of this threat, but they are not always sure whether compromise or confrontation is the best strategy. Because we have not studied the complex history of Islamism, nor paid enough attention to how ideas and ideologies have spread over the years, it makes it difficult to coordinate our efforts to fight the influence of such movements in key countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan. Because the third aspect of the terror triangle is not well understood, it is addressed in a piecemeal fashion that plays down the regional reach and intense appeal that these organizations have to significant numbers of people throughout the Muslim world. It is impossible to explain the rise of these movements by simply observing that certain Muslims or Arabs "hate America". We have to study the origins of these transnational movements, their messages and their modes of recruitment and operation, or kiss the war on terrorism goodbye.
Some governments in the region began to understand the problem, though in later stage in the game. Recently, Prince Nayef of Saudi Arabia made an unprecedented statement accusing the Muslim brotherhood of being the mother of all terror. He said that the "ikhwan", or Muslim brotherhood, is "the mother of all problems in the Arab world." The significance of such declaration might be missed by someone who is unaware of the key influence of the "brothers" in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Muslim world. The main ideas and ways of thinking that drove men to carry out the September 11th, 2001 attacks in the name of Islam can only be understood by tracing them back to the writings of the Egyptian, Sayid Qutob and the Pakastani Abu Al-Ala Al-Maudoudi. Although both men died in the past century, their continuing influence can hardly be exaggerated. All Islamic radicalism today springs from their teachings. The organizational methods and political attitudes of a host of different groups were inspired by their methods of organization as well as their positions on religion, politics and personal life. Their influence is an important element in what some specialists of the Middle East call the "reislamization" of Muslim societies.
The Muslim brotherhood movement was born in the Egyptian coastal city of Ismaeliya in 1928. After they were thrown out of Egypt during the Arab cold war between Nasser and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, (1960-1970), the Muslim Brothers went to Saudi Arabia. There they worked in the field of education. They were responsible for radicalizing Saudi students who were raised in the strict but quietist Wahabi tradition. Although many people in America have come to see Wahabyia as the source of all evil in Islam, in fact the Wahabi doctrine developed over the years in Saudi Arabia has been status quo oriented rather than radical. When the Saudis welcomed the members of the Muslim brotherhood they did so naively- not thinking that they were giving them a chance to influence young Saudis. It is the "brothers" who were responsible for development of certain radical teachings in the Saudi education system and for the spread of the radical madrasas (religious schools) throughout the Middle East and south Asia. And while some Saudi's influenced by the teachings of the Muslim brothers remained faithful to that organization, others developed even more radical versions of its doctrines, creating the new organizations that gave us Usama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. This was in part because many Saudis felt that this originally Egyptian organization was trying to steal the mantle of Islam from Saudi Arabia. Saudis felt that to compete with a global organization such as the brotherhood, they too would have to establish similarly wide reaching networks of influence. This is what led to the rise of the Muslim league and the Muslim youth organization and many other charities that we know now have been directly or indirectly are linked to terrorism.
The Muslim brotherhood was the first Islamic organization with global reach. It currently has offices in Germany, France, Malaysia, and throughout the Arab world. Offices in the US can be found in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The record of destruction of the Muslim brotherhood leaves no doubt about their intentions. Their man in Algeria, Abbasi Madani, sowed the seeds of the civil war there. Members of FIS (the Islamic Salvation Front) and its offshoots like the GIA provided bin Laden with his core fighters. In Sudan, the leader of the Muslim brotherhood International, Hassan al-Turabi, brought Sudan to its current state of infamy. Another brotherhood leader, the Tunisian Rachid al Ghanoushi lives in London, where he leads the organization's European branch. Sheikh Yaseen, the head of Hamas in Gaza is another Brotherhood member. Yousef al-Qaradwi in Qatar created the TV channel known as al-Jazeera that has amongst its reporters and correspondents who is who in the rank and file of the brotherhood. This is of course in addition to Sheikh Abdullah al-al Mutawai' of Kuwait whose school gave us the spokesperson for al-Qaeda, Soleiman Abu Gheith as well as financing radical movements from Bosnia to Africa to Chechnya.
Currently, intellectuals of the Muslim brotherhood champion the Arab campaign of denial of responsibility for the September 11th attacks. Their writings in the Arab world and even in this country have always argued that this is a proper response to US actions in the world. The most recent of the declarations signed by many of the Muslim brothers condemned America and its policies and amounted to what many now in the Arab world call a blatant support for Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. And yet instead of seeing this organization for what it is, a source of instability and terror, America has often courted the Muslim brotherhood and its allies, for instance, the mujahidine of Afghanistan in the 1980's.
Although the 2001 attack on America was spectacular and deadly, it was not the first act of terrorism. It is especially instructive to study attacks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the two countries that gave us Usama bin Laden and Aymen al-Zawahiri the two top leaders of Al-Qaeda. Since the Sadat Assassination in 1981, Egypt has been battling terrorism and terrorists. Some of the men who executed the plot were members of the Islamic Jihad (Abood al Zumor, Ayman al Zawaheri, and Fouad Dwalibi and many others). But many were also part of the Islamic group (Nail Abraham and Asim Abdul Majid etc). These men were nursed in jihadism in the schools of the Muslim brotherhood. Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahaman, currently imprisoned in New York and the chief leader of the Islamic groups was also a product of the Brotherhood's branch at Al-Azhar University. And yet, some people in various American administrations saw them as a viable alternative to Mubarak's regime in Egypt. Such an approach is inconsistent, for instance. With the American targeting of the Hamas organization, which is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Why support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt while considering Hamas, the Brotherhood Gaza branch, a terrorist organization? Wouldn't a globally critical manner of addressing such movements be the best way to go if America's true aim in the region is to fight terror and promote the practice of democracy?
Bush's policy toward terrorism and terrorists cannot be seen as robust and realistic until includes serious reflections on the third component of the triangle, the social movements that breeds and legitimates terrorism. It is not possible to go on targeting some Muslim brotherhood organizations, like those in the occupied territories, while seeing those in other places as "moderates", and leaving them intact. It is perturbing that the only part of the brotherhood that is being targeted is the one involved in the Israeli-Palestinian situation. The US should coordinate with its partners in the region to design strategies to deal with such movements that represent the incubators of terror. How to do this requires a great deal of debate. States in the region could deal with this either politically or in terms of security measures. Politically, countries like Egypt could be encouraged to allow the younger generation of the brotherhood such as Isam al-'aryan and Abul 'ila Madi to form their Wasat party and break free from the stranglehold of the old generation that grew in the secret world of terror. Restricted political pluralism could be an initial aim for the Arab world. Groups that advocate terrorism and violence should be excluded from the political process. But to achieve long-term results, the reasons for their emergence must also be addressed. In terms of security measures, the US should assist these countries to the extent that it can to deal effectively with this threat. But in general they are likely to do a better job if the US is not a direct participant in security or political initiatives.
Some Americans might see targeting the Muslim brotherhood and related organizations as a way of engendering conflict between the US and Muslims- something that tolerant people would take great pains to avoid. But one should keep in mind that there are many voices to be heard and faces to be seen in the Muslim world. The Muslim brotherhoods and those extremists who have emulated them have very specific criteria for inclusion and exclusion. As the Saudi story shows, even conservative Muslim movements are not all allied to the "ikhwan". Opinions about religion and its correct practice, as well as its relationship to politics are extremely diverse in different places and social milieu around the Arab and Muslim world. There are many more faces of Islam than those of the bearded Islamist brother and the veiled woman. Every guy named Mohammed is not part of the Muslim Brotherhood and its network. Part of what has to be understood is how the "ikhwan" has seemingly been able to dominant how many people in America envisage Islam- an issue not unrelated to the very real social difficulties the administration tends to simply write off as the "contradictions" of a traditional religious culture at odds with the modern world.
Without addressing the third component of the terror triangle the war on terrorism will loose its momentum. The US and the world cannot afford this. A consistent stand on the brotherhoods and on all movements that provide support for al-Qaeda-like activities, is key to developing an effective way of addressing the rise of terrorism in the Muslim world. To stand as bystander on the civil war in the Muslim world is to expect a next generation of al-Qaeda with deadlier weapons and devastating consequences for America.
Mamoun Fandy
Incoming Senior fellow at the US Institute of Peace
Professor Fandy is also the author of "Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent,"
Current News
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The Commission has released its final report. [more]
The Chair and Vice Chair have released a statement regarding the Commission's closing. [more]
The Commission closed August 21, 2004. [more]
Commission Members
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Thomas H. Kean
Chair
Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chair
Richard Ben-Veniste
Fred F. Fielding
Jamie S. Gorelick
Slade Gorton
Bob Kerrey
John F. Lehman
Timothy J. Roemer
James R. Thompson
Commission Staff
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Philip D. Zelikow
Executive Director
Chris Kojm
Deputy Executive Director
Daniel Marcus
General Counsel