Authors: Paul Sperry
Muslim Mafia (45 page)
A word about primary sourcing: The dates and modes of first-hand interviews with unnamed FBI agents and local JTTF detectives are documented extensively below. These sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the active investigations or open cases they are either working on or familiar with, and because they fear reprisals from management if they speak to the press.
Intermixed with these quotes are dozens of interviews on the record with former FBI agents and other key law enforcement officers. Several veteran FBI investigators and officials are quoted on the record, including: Tim Pitchford, John Guandolo, Lara Burns, John Vincent, Ben Furman, Robert Wright, and George Sadler, among others. Federal prosecutors are quoted as well, including assistant U.S. Attorneys Gordon Kromberg and Jim Jacks.
In addition to more than twelve thousand pages of exclusive documents and other material, the conclusions and allegations in this book are based on more than one hundred interviews, spanning several years, conducted with more than a dozen FBI agents and officials; half a dozen police detectives working with the JTTFs in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, and other major cities; as well as Pentagon officials and consultants, Homeland Security officials, congressional investigators and members of Congress, and professional counterterrorism analysts and other experts.
Though numerous quotes from a particular interview may be used throughout a chapter, the interview will be cited in the notes only once to avoid repetitious citations.
PREFACE
1
Sarwat Husain, who in 2005 chaired CAIR’s San Antonio chapter, worked with Gaubatz Arabic and Counterterrorism Lecture Services training Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. Also, Saffia Meek of CAIR’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter often lectured for Gaubatz’s company.
2
“Talking Points” memo, 2006; CAIR internal email, from Corey Saylor to Nihad Awad, 3 January 2007; “CAIR Executive Staff Meeting” memo, 3 January 2007. Also see Appendix. Beck now hosts a hit program on Fox News.
3
CAIR “Talking Points” memo, 2006.
4
CAIR email, Saylor to Awad, 3 January 2007.
INTRODUCTION
1
CAIR board meeting minutes, 5-6 January 2002, CAIR headquarters, Washington DC, 1.
2
http://umarlee.com/2009/01/22/clarification-on-the-controversy-of-my-statements-regarding-sahabah-and-jihad/
3
Ibid.
CHAPTER ONE: MUSLIMS VICTIMIZING MUSLIMS
1
CAIR Civil Rights Department, “Status Report,” Joshua Salaam, 27 June 2002, 1.
2
Email from Iqbal to Awad, et al., 11 February 2008. Also, hand-written phone message to Iqbal, 15 February 2008.
3
Undated internal CAIR ledger (computer-generated spreadsheet) listing 28 complainants and their individual claims of the “amount taken” from them by CAIR, totaling “$23,235 “so far,” 1.
4
Hand-written phone message (undated) to Iqbal describing Muslim woman’s demand that CAIR pay back “all the money” taken from her.
5
“What course of action to take – Issue with Br. Jamil and Ahmad Obaid family,” email from Iqbal to Awad, et al., 8 February 2008.
6
“Request permission to work from CAIR MD VA for the next few weeks,” email from Iqbal to Tahra Goraya, Parvez Ahmed, and Awad, et al., 11 February 2008.
7
“What course of action to take – Issue with Br. Jamil and Ahmad Obaid family.”
8
Days, who recently died of an illness, last decade served time as an inmate in Philadelphia jails. In 2001 and 2002, he pleaded guilty to DWI and other criminal offenses in Virginia. See: “CAIR ‘Lawyer’ Has Own Legal History,” IPT News, 3 December 2008. Moreover, Days signed an internal CAIR statement in March 2008 confessing: “I misrepresented to the public that I was an attorney licensed to practice law.” See also: Rene Arturo Lopez, et al., v. Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network Inc., et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, October 2008, 17. To wit: “Days was not and is not a lawyer. He never attended law school nor was he licensed as an attorney to practice law in any jurisdiction in the United States.” CAIR’s lawyers did not refute this statement when they filed a “motion to dismiss” the class-action lawsuit on Jan. 15, 2009.
9
CAIR ledger, 1.
10
“What course of action to take – Issue with Br. Jamil and Ahmad Obaid family.” Also, “Request permission to work from CAIR MD VA for the next few weeks.”
11
“Closing of CAIR MD VA Checklist,” undated CAIR spreadsheet, 1, 2.
12
Email from Iqbal to Awad, et al., 11 February 2008.
13
CAIR ledger, 1. Plus attached page of handwritten notes.
14
“Voluntary Agreement and Release of Claims,” 2.
15
“Anti-Hate: CAIR Refutes Racist Group’s ‘Smears,’” CAIR press release, 9 September 2008.
16
“Subject: Termination Notification,” CAIR letter to Days signed by Iqbal, 10 February 2008, 1.
17
“Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss,” Rene Arturo Lopez, et al., v. Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network Inc., et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, January 2009, 11.
18
Council on American-Islamic Relations MD/VA Chapter newsletter, March/April 2007, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1.
19
“Subject: Termination Notification,” 1. CAIR finally terminated Days on Feb. 10, 2008, following a written warning on Feb. 6, 2008. However, Days was also “informed” he was violating official policy way back on Oct. 1, 2007. He joined CAIR in June 2006. It’s not clear how many Muslim immigrants Days and CAIR helped shepherd through to citizenship over the course of his employment, or whether the Department of Homeland Security has reviewed any of those cases for possible application fraud.
20
Email from Iqbal to Awad, et al., 11 February 2008.
21
“Anti-Hate: CAIR Refutes Racist Group’s ‘Smears.’”
CHAPTER TWO: TERRORIST TURNSTILE
1
Author (Sperry) interview by phone, 1 May 2008.
2
“’Virginia Jihad’ Member Convicted of Perjury, Obstruction,” press release regarding Sabri Benkahla, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, 2.
3
U.S. v. Masoud Khan, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 4 March 2004. Also, “Two Defendants in Virginia Jihad Case Plead Guilty to Weapons Charges, Will Cooperate with Ongoing Investigation,” press release, Department of Justice, 16 January 2004, 2. CAIR’s employment records for Royer, details of which are revealed here for the first time, indicate he was first hired in July 1997 before resigning April 9, 1999, to join the jihad overseas. Then, within two months of firing live rounds at Indian targets with al-Qaida-tied terrorists in Pakistan, he was rehired by CAIR on July 10, 2000. CAIR’s national operations director Khalid Iqbal accepted his resignation letter on Oct. 1, 2001, whereby he joined the jihad against his own country. Prosecutors say Royer called LeT officials on or just before Aug. 21, 2000, to help another local Virginia terrorist join a training camp in Pakistan. They also say Royer helped other terrorists gain entry to the LeT terror-training camp following a meeting in Virginia on Sept. 16, 2001. In both instances, Royer was gainfully employed by CAIR. According to prosecutors: “Royer said that anyone who wanted to fight [with the Taliban and al-Qaida against Americans] in Afghanistan would first need to participate in military training, that the LeT camps in Pakistan were a good place to receive that training, and that Royer could facilitate their entry to the LeT camps.” Despite CAIR’s repeated denials, its former senior staffer was in fact aiding the enemy and engaging in jihadist activities while on the payroll at CAIR’s national headquarters.
4
“CAIR Executive Staff Meeting,” tasks memo, 15 May 2007, 1. CAIR executive Ibrahim Hooper was the point of contact for the lawyer and family of Royer, his longtime protégé.
5
Videotaped conversation between Chris Gaubatz (posing as David Marshall) and Quasem, 5 August 2008 (Part 3 of video, starting at 54:42).
6
CAIR National visitors register, 22 April 2004. Entry reads as follows: “Name: Omar Abu Ali. Company: SAUDI EMBASSY. To See: Br. Nihad. Time Arrive: 12:00.” See Appendix.
7
Author (Sperry) interview by email, 11 February 2009.
8
Author (Sperry) interview by phone, 1 May 2008.
9
Steve Emerson, “Paper of CAIR,”
National Review Online
, 8 February 2008.
10
Farah Stockman, “Iraqi Sunnis plan lobbying operation in Washington,”
Boston Globe
, 18 March 2007. Also, “Another Ex-CAIR Official in Legal Trouble,”
IPT News
, 27 March 2008.
11
Federal Election Commission records, 2000.
12
“List of Unindicted Co-conspirators and/or Joint Venturers,” Attachment A, U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation, et. al., 6. See Appendix.
13
FEC records, 2002.
14
Affidavit in Support of Application for Search Warrant, “In the Matter of Searches Involving 555 Grove Street, Herndon, Virginia, and Related Locations,” U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, unsealed October 2003, 39.
15
“List of Unindicted Co-conspirators,” 6.
16
FEC records, 2002.
17
“List of Unindicted Co-conspirators,” 5.
18
Government Exhibit 004-0001, U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation, et al., 4. See Appendix.
19
Author (Paul Sperry) interview in person, 12 February 2009. The special agent noted that politics had previously throttled the investigation of Awad thanks to an official photo he managed to have taken with President Bush at the National Cathedral after 9/11.
20
“List of Unindicted Co-conspirators,” 6.
21
Government Exhibit, Ashqar Wiretap-1, 3:04-CR-240-G, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2, 6 (recorded 13 September 1993). Also, Government Exhibit, 016-0047, 3:04-CR-240-G, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 11.
22
Joel Mowbray, “Boxer’s stand; Why she repudiated a Muslim group,” the
Washington Times,
11 January 2007, A21. Addressing a youth session at the 1999 IAP annual convention in Chicago, Ahmad also said, “Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam,” according to a transcript provided by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
23
Author (Sperry) interview by phone, 6 March 2009. Ahmad’s address was 215 Monroe St., Santa Clara, Calif. 95050, Apt. 11. The Blind Sheik reception took place in 1990. Hyslop recalls Ahmad taking the
New York Times
. He also recalls Ahmad’s then-infant son, Osama, wearing a green T-shirt with the word “Intifada” emblazoned across the front. Ahmad left the apartment with no forwarding address. Public records show he has maintained four P.O. boxes in Santa Clara since then.
24
Paul Sperry,
Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington
, (Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson Current, 2005), xi.