Though
well known as a terrorist since 1996, one month before 9/11 President George W.
Bush thanked Sami Al-Arian's family for a book they sent him and expressed
"regret" about how their son was treated by the Secret Service. October
29, 2004-Venice,FL.
by Grant
Noah.
Bush
Administration officials repeatedly met with terrorists linked to 9/11 such as
Sami al-Arian and Abdurahman al-Amoudi even after the attack, The
MadCowMorningNews has learned.
For example:
From the
Congressional Testimony of Steve Emerson on March 19, 1996:
"Held in the Washington area from June 19 to 21, 1991, the
conference included… leaders representing nearly every radical fundamentalist
group in the world attended, making the gathering the all-time All-Star
terrorist conference in U.S. history… those present also
decided to support one another in their respective Islamic confrontations
with their non-Islamic hosts."
"In attendance at this spectacular meeting
was
Hamas chieftain Musa Abu Marzuk, Islamic Jihad leaders Ramadan Abdullah
[Shallah] and Sami Al-Arian (the latter is still ensconced
as a professor at the University of South Florida while the former now
runs Islamic Jihad from Damascus), Al-Amoudi, now head of
the American Muslim Council and a chief spokesperson for imprisoned Hamas
chief Marzuk."
Link
Wall Street
Journal contributor and terrorism expert Steve Emerson commented again in
February 1997:
"In late October, 1995, a man named Ramadan
Abdullah Shallah declared in Damascus,
Syria that he was the new head of Islamic Jihad… Since 1991, Shallah
had lived in the United States where he served as a professor at the University
of South Florida at Tampa and also directed a "research centre"- affiliated
with the University of South Florida-called the
the World Islamic Studies Enterprise."
"He worked
closely with Sami Al-Arian,
another professor who was not only the corporate founder of Mr. Shallah's
research facility but also the head of a non-profit charitable organization
called the Islamic Concern Project. Together, both men secretly built
and operated a clandestine command-and-control headquarters for Islamic
Jihad"...

"From
the safety of their Tampa offices, Mr. Shallah
and Mr. Al-Arian operated a terrorist organization, raising funds, recruiting
terrorists and bringing them into the country, devising terrorist strategies,
and actually directing specific terrorist attacks -- all
the while being invited to the U.S. military's intelligence headquarters
at nearby McDlll Air Force Base to give
assessments on the Middle East."
Link
From the Congressional
Testimony of Richard Clarke, October 22, 2003:
"From his
home and office in Tampa Florida, Sami
al-Arian, the indicted North American leader of the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad, allegedly coordinated the movement of fund from the
government of Iran to suicide bombers in West Bank and Gaza… In
Tampa, Florida, Sami al-Arian established
the Islamic Academy of Florida. The February 2003 indictment against al-Arian
says the school was used as a base of support for the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad"…
"On October
9 2003, Soliman Biheiri
was convicted on federal immigration charges in the Eastern District of
Virginia… Biheiri was the President and
founder of BMI, Inc., an investment bank specializing in Islamically
permissible investments. In the 1980's and 90's, BMI offered a series of
financial services to Muslims in America…
BMI
allegedly received a $500,000 investment from Baraka
Group. Baraka
Group, headed by Saleh Kamel,
is reportedly a founder of a Sudanese Islamic bank which housed several
accounts for senior al-Qaida operatives…
Biheiri's
computer reportedly contained contact information for Sami
al-Arian, the indicted North American leader of the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad."
Link
From University
Wire - USF Oracle June 13, 2002:
"[Former
Justice Department prosecutor John] Loftus’s accusations against Al-Arian
go even further than links with Jihad. Loftus said he believes Al-Arian
had a link to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Loftus said Al-Arian was
involved with a group called Baraka
that he alleges laundered money to support the suicide pilots as
they trained at Florida airports."
Link
From University
Wire - USF Oracle July 8, 2002:
“My sources
keep me very current on Al-Arian,” Loftus said. “I had very high
security clearances from all U.S. intelligence and NATO agencies when I
worked for the attorney general… Loftus said he
has evidence to link [Islamic] Jihad and Al-Arian to the al Qaeda
terrorist organization, which has been blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.
In addition, Loftus said evidence suggests Al-Arian may have personally
played a part in the execution of the attacks.
"It is
a matter of record that an organization known as the Baraka
group laundered the money to the
skyjackers of Sept. 11. Sami
Al-Arian incorporated Baraka
in the state of Florida, which was dissolved on Sept. 28, 2001."
Link
From University
Wire - USF Oracle April 9, 2002:
"Had the government thrown Al-Arian in
jail, Loftus said, many acts of terrorism could have been prevented, even
the most notorious of them all: the attacks on America...
"Al-Arian
is connected to al-Qaida,
Loftus said, because the same Saudi groups that donated money to WISE and
ICP — the same groups which were raided by the FBI last month — also had
connection to Mohammed Atta, the suspected
leader of the Sept. 11 hijackings."
Link
The busy
Mr. al-Arian had contacts not only with Mohamed Atta and al-Qaeda, but
also with Karl Rove and the Bush Administration.
From The
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) March 11, 2003:
"The rumpled,
balding figure was spotted darting into the offices of Republican power
broker Grover Norquist last July... Sami
Al-Arian emerged more than two hours later... Al-Arian was visiting the
Islamic Institute, a Muslim outreach group cofounded
by Norquist and housed within his office
suite."
"In June
2001, Al-Arian was among members of the American Muslim Council invited
to the White House complex for a briefing
by Bush political adviser Karl Rove. The next month, the National
Coalition to Protect Political Freedom - a civil liberties group headed
by Al-Arian - gave Norquist an award for
his work to abolish the use of secret intelligence evidence in terrorism
cases, a position Bush had adopted in the 2000 campaign."
Link
From The
Washington Post February 22, 2003:
"Al-Arian's
appearance at the White House came… as part of the administration's outreach
to Muslims, officials said... The group that included Al-Arian was
scheduled to be briefed by Vice President Cheney, but Cheney canceled.
That morning, the Jerusalem Post had run a front-page article headlined,
"Cheney to host pro-terrorist Muslim group."
"Rove,
according to Al-Arian and other attendees, used the meeting to talk of
White House efforts to embrace the Muslim community. Al-Arian said he sat
in the front row. A White House official was unable to say who else spoke
to the group. Records showed that Al-Arian was admitted to the White House
at least once during the Clinton administration, the official
said"…
"The [al-Arian] family said that Bush
gave their lanky son, Abdullah, the nickname "Big Dude."'…
"Six days
after Al-Arian's meeting with Rove, a delegation of Muslim community activists
stormed out of the White House complex after the Secret Service ejected
Al-Arian's son, an intern for then-Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.).
The Secret Service sent the son an apology on Aug. 13, 2001"...
"Bush signed an Aug. 2, 2001, letter to
Al-Arian's wife, thanking her for a book she sent him and expressing "regret"
about how her son was treated. "I have been assured that everything possible is
being done to ensure that nothing like this happens again," Bush wrote."
Link
From
The
Boston Globe, February 27, 2003:
"Al-Arian
is not the only Islamist zealot who has gained access to Bush
and his inner circle. Consider, for example, Abdurahman Alamoudi,
the founder of the American Muslim Council… In
October 2000, he was cheered at a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington,
D.C., when he declared: "We are all supporters of Hamas.
. . I am also a supporter of Hezbollah." Three months later he was
in Beirut for a terrorist summit, along with leaders of Hamas,
Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda."
 Link
From Salon.com, June 22, 2004:
“A close
Alamoudi friend and political ally, former University of South Florida
professor Sami Al-Arian… were part of a broader political Islamic
movement in the United States that connects sympathizers of Hamas, Islamic Jihad
and al-Qaida”…
“In 1998… the
Islamic Institute [Norquist], the AMC [al-Amoudi] and Al-Arian were all working
together.”
Link
From MSNBC
Oct. 24, 2003:
"Abdurahman Alamoudi,
a consultant to the Pentagon on the chaplain program for more than a decade,
is now accused of helping Osama bin Laden
and Hamas. Court documents filed late Wednesday
night claim Alamoudi has provided “financial
support to Hamas” and “financial support
to fronts for al-Qaida.” One
of the groups allegedly tied to Alamoudi
is a charity that gave a Virginia post office as its address. Alamoudi
was the charity’s vice president."
"Who founded
it? Abdullah bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s
nephew. Also ringing alarms: Alamoudi’s
Palm Pilot, which the government claims included the names and numbers
of six designated global terrorists.
The government
also alleges Alamoudi had a Swiss bank account
and $2.2 million"…
"In an
audiotape of a conversation obtained by NBC News, Alamoudi
seems to embrace violence and suggests al-Qaida
should choose better targets: (Translated) “I prefer to hit a Zionist target
in America or Europe or elsewhere.”'
Link
From The
Washington Times Magazine, March 4, 2003:
'"I think
if we were outside this country, we can say, 'Oh, Allah, destroy
America,' but once we are here, our mission in this country is
to change it. There is no way for Muslims to be violent in America, no
way. We have other means to do it. You can be violent anywhere else but in
America" (Alamoudi to Islamic Association of
Palestine, Chicago, Dec. 29, 1996)"...
'"Hamas
is not a terrorist group... I have followed the good work
of Hamas. ... They have a wing that
is a violent wing. They had to resort to some kind of violence" (Alamoudi,
National Press Club, Nov. 22, 1994)"…
"[Al-Amoudi] on
Abu Marzook,
deported from the United States and now Hamas leader in Syria: "Yes, I am honored to be a member of the committee that
is defending Musa Abu Marzook
[Hamas leader] in America. This a
mark of distinction on my chest... I have
known Musa Abu Marzook before
and I really consider him to be from among the best people in the
Islamic movement, Hamas -- in the
Palestinian movement in general -- and I work together with him" (Alamoudi,
Middle East TV, March 26, 1996)."
Link
From Newsweek
October 1, 2003:
"The Muslim
activist, Abdurahman Muhammed Alamoudi, president
of the American Muslim Foundation, played a key role in the chaplain program,
publicly boasting to reporters that he was first person authorized by the U.S.
military to recruit Islamic clerics"…
"Evidence
recently obtained by prosecutors from German police files show[s]... that Alamoudi
also had meetings in the fall of 2000 with Mohammed Belfas,
an elder from the Islamic community in Hamburg who had multiple ties to
key figures in the September 11 terror attacks. Belfas—who
once shared an apartment with Ramzi bin
al-Shibh, one of the orchestrators
of the September 11 attacks—had come to the United States in the fall of
2000 along with a young Muslim acquaintance from Hamburg… Agus Budiman"…
"After
the September 11 attacks, German police raided Belfas’s
Hamburg apartment and... discovered multiple connections between the
two men and several leaders of the September 11 plot, including
bin al-Shibh and Mohamed Atta, the
ringleader of the hijackers"...
"[Belfas’]
recently discovered dealings with Alamoudi
are likely to get new attention. Among the evidence seized from Belfas’s
apartment is a picture showing Belfas
and Budiman meeting with Alamoudi
at his office in Arlington… Alamoudi
wrote a letter on personal letterhead recommending Belfas
to an Islamic editor in Munich."
Link

'New attention' was not forthcoming. This
Newsweek article is the press's sole mention of the connection between
al-Amoudi, Belfas and Budiman. Once the backgrounds of Belfas and Budiman
are examined, it is easy to see why.
From The New York Sun October 3, 2003:
"One terrorism
expert, Lorenzo Vidino of The Investigative
Group, said the contact with Mr. Belfas
raises a red flag… Mr. Vidino says. "Contact
with him can be seen as contact with the organization [al-Qaeda]."
Link
From The
New York Post, January 13, 2002:
"Belfas
claims he doesn't know bin Laden but told Tempo [Indonesian magazine],
"Clearly he [bin Laden] has good intentions for Islam."
Link
From The
Washington Post, November 27, 2001:
"The FBI
Monday outlined a series of connections between an Alexandria, Va., man
[Budiman] and al Qaida
terrorists linked to the Sept. 11 attacks… Budiman,
an Indonesian citizen, lived and studied in Hamburg before coming to the
United States in October 2000… Associates of Budiman’s
acknowledge that he knew Atta and others blamed
for the attacks"…
"Gomez
testified that Budiman knew Atta
and Marwan Al-Shehhi,
who flew planes into the World Trade Center, and Ramsi Binalshibh,
a Muslim cleric living in Hamburg. FBI Director Robert Mueller identified Binalshibh as the 20th hijacker who was supposed to be
aboard the plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
Atta,
the leader of the plot, and Binalshibh
were roommates, and Budiman helped them
move from one apartment into another, [FBI Special Agent] Gomez said. Gomez
also testified that Binalshibh twice
used Budiman’s Washington area address to
try to enter the United States, presumably to take part in the
plot. Binalshibh also told Budiman
that he wanted to take part in the jihad, or holy war."
Link
From CBS
News, November 30, 2001:
"[FBI Special
Agent] Gomez testified that hijacker Ziad Samir Jarrah
used Budiman's name to get into the United
States…"
Link
From The
Associated Press, November 30, 2001:
"Both Budiman
and Belfas are among 370 names included
on a detailed FBI list of people sought for questioning in the investigation
of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The list was released last
month by Finnish banking authorities.
Budiman
is identified on the list as a U.S. contact person for Atta,
the presumed ringleader of the 19 hijackers. Belfas
is identified as a contact person for bin Laden, the prime U.S.
suspect in the attacks."
Link
Al-Amoudi
aided and funded al-Qaida; he also had several
meetings
with key figures of the 9/11 plot… and took
pictures. So how did he gain access to Bush’s inner circle?’

From MSNBC
October 23, 2003:
"John
Loftus, ex-DOJ official: About a
year-and-a-half ago, people in the intelligence community came and said-guys
like Alamoudi and Sami al-Arian and other terrorists weren’t being touched
because they’d been ordered not to investigate the cases, not to
prosecute them."
"But, who was it that fixed the cases?... the
answer is coming out in a very strange place. What Alamoudi and al-Arian have in
common is a guy named Grover Norquist… He is the guy that was hired by
Alamoudi to head up the Islamic institute and he’s the registered agent for
Alamoudi, personally, and for the Islamic Institute. Grover Norquist’s best
friend is Karl Rove, the White House chief of staff, and apparently Norquist
was able to fix things."...
"Think of the Muslim chaplain’s program that he set
up as a spy service for al-Qaeda."
Link
From MSNBC
October 24, 2003:
"Over the
years, Alamoudi has been a familiar face
in Washington. The Pentagon chose him to help select Muslim chaplains.
He met with President Clinton. Made six trips to
Muslim nations as a goodwill ambassador for the State Department.Met
with presidential candidate George W. Bush. Last year, FBI Director
Robert Mueller even spoke to an organization founded by Alamoudi,
over the objections of some agents."
Link
From The National
Review, June 11, 2004:
"Alamoudi
was a frequent visitor to the Clinton White House. The State Department
paid him to represent the United States on six overseas speaking tours
between 1997 and 2001. (His topic: religious tolerance.) The Clinton-era
Pentagon selected Alamoudi to nominate the
armed forces' first Muslim chaplains."
Link
From The
Boston Globe, February 27, 2003:
"Alamoudi
attended the Rove briefing in the White House in [June] 2001; a year earlier,
he was one of several Muslims invited to meet with candidate Bush in Austin,
Texas..."
Link
From The
Washington Times Magazine October 5, 2001:
Fox News
was the first to report that three days after the [9/11] attack Abdurahaman Alamoudi,
president of the American Muslim Council, was invited to a prayer
service with the president…"
Link

Read
more about the al-Arian / al-Amoudi terrorist cadre in 'Welcome
to Terrorland: Mohamed Atta and the 9-11 Cover-up in Florida', Daniel
Hopsicker's multi-year investigation into the 9/11 plot. 'Terrorland' exposes
the 9/11 hijackers unreported movements around South Florida... including
their contact with a wealthy sponsor from the Tampa area. Order 'Welcome
to Terrorland' now!
Link |