Stephen Emerson, author of the new book "American Jihad," first began warning about terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah in the early 1990s. The 9/11 attacks have turned the former CNN reporter into a prophet for America's dangerous new age.
"The United States has become what I call occupied fundamentalist territory," he told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.
About 40 percent of the domestic threat has been neutralized thanks to heightened law enforcement efforts, Emerson said. But terrorist cells remain operative within the U.S. and will inevitably attack again.
While careful to avoid sounding partisan - he told Malzberg he's neither a Republican nor a Democrat - Emerson couldn't avoid the record of the last eight years.
"Since [the early 1990s] the evidence has been absolutely unambiguous in terms of showing that the Hamas front organizations were operating here," he contended. "And the Clinton administration did not want to shut them down."
Last week U.S. News & World Report quoted an ex-FBI agent who said the bureau tried to seize the assets of one such front group, The Holyland Foundation, in 1997. But the Clinton White House balked because it didn't want to appear to be "Muslim bashing."
The "American Jihad" author said he wasn't sure how much money the Clintons had raised from suspected terrorist front groups, but noted, "When you bring money to a political official, you have access to that person, you have influence over that person."
He praised the investigative efforts of the Jewish Forward, which uncovered one particularly suspicious Washington, D.C., fundraiser that Mrs. Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign had tried to conceal from the press.
The May 2000 event, held at the mansion of Yasser Arafat crony Hani Masri, raised $50,000, including a $1,000 donation from Abdurahman Alamoudi, an official with the American Muslim Council. (The Clinton campaign camouflaged his identity by listing Alamoudi's employer on FEC records as "The American Museum Council.")
Alamoudi's contribution proved particularly embarrassing after reporters uncovered quotes where he vowed death to Israel and boasted, "We are the ones who went to the White House and defended what is called Hamas."
The Muslim militant also attended a June 2000 Hillary Clinton fundraiser sponsored by the American Muslim Alliance in Boston where Clinton collected a total of $50,000. (Her campaign pledged to return the donation after it was uncovered four months later.)
As noted by NewsMax.com's Lawrence Auster at the time, Mr. Emerson had written extensively about Alamoudi's ties to the Clinton administration in a 1996 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece:
"Alamoudi, then the executive director of the American Muslim Council, had repeated high-level contacts with the Clinton White House in late 1995 and early 1996, which happened to be the period immediately preceding the suicide bombings in Israel in early 1996.
"On November 9, 1995 he met with President Clinton and Vice President Gore at a meeting with 23 Muslim leaders at the White House.
"On December 8, National Security Adviser Anthony Lake met at the White House with Alamoudi and several board members of the American Muslim Council.
"On February 8, 1996, Mrs. Clinton wrote a newspaper column based on talking points provided by Alamoudi.
"And on February 20, 1996 (only a few days before the first Hamas bombing of the Number 18 bus in Jerusalem), Mrs. Clinton had Alamoudi's group draw up the Muslim guest list for a White House reception marking the end of the Muslim holy period of Ramadan, the first time such an event had ever been held at the White House."
And that's not all.
The Clintons actually had the pro-Hamas Alamoudi acting as a roving "good will ambassador" for the State Department. When that news got out three days before her election, Mrs. Clinton told a radio interviewer that Alamoudi should be fired.
While the total dollar amount of terrorist front-group money collected by Bill and Hillary Clinton remains unclear, what is clear is that the former first couple weren't at all reluctant to give political favors in return for campaign cash.
In March 2000 the Clinton campaign scheduled another secret fundraiser - this one with Pakistani-Americans - that predated her husband's trip to South Asia. Though no presidential trip to Pakistan was on the agenda and the Secret Service considered such a venture too dangerous, Hillary peppered her conversation with hints about how much she'd like to see Bill visit the country.
The magic figure of $50,000 was raised that day as well.
After the event, "a brief stopover in Pakistan was added to the president's tour of South Asia that begins Saturday," USA Today reported.
When asked whether she'd pressured her husband to make the trip after collecting the cash, Mrs. Clinton said, "I don't talk about what I talked to the president about on any issue."
