The Neocon Smell's Grover Norquist's Hand in Port Affair

Eleven years ago I was invited to one of Grover Norquist's Wednesday morning pow-wow’s in Washington. At the time I was the Campaign Manager for Proposition 209, an initiative to outlaw racial preferences in California (which ultimately won at the ballot box). Many conservative activists sat around the table and each discussed the details of his or her endeavor to further the cause of conservatism. At one point the Pakistani Ambassador entered the room, Norquist introduced her and asked her to speak. At the time, the US had just cancelled the sale of F16’s to Pakistan because of their nuclear activity and the Ambassador asked for the assistance of the group to allow the sale to go forward or to reimburse her country.

I remember at the time thinking, why the hell did Grover Norquist invite the Pakistani Ambassador to a closed door meeting of conservatives to request that we lobby against the actions of the US Government? A few years later I got my answer: Norquist is basically the front-man for Wahabi Islamists and radical Arab interests in the United States. He established the Islamic Institute, married a Palestinian “activist” and has been quietly pushing for Islamists access to the White House and other corridors of power in Washington for years, including organizations with known terrorist ties such as the Hollyland Foundation, a Hamas fundraising front group shut down by the FBI. It’s really a remarkable tale.

Now Grover Norquist has come out swinging for the Dubai Port deal, calling all those who oppose it “registered bigots.” As you will see below, this man has a long record using these types of lowly tactics. It will be very interesting to learn what roll if any Norquist played in facilitating this port deal.

A few years ago, Norquist was involved in a spat with well respected national security expert Frank gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. Mr. Gaffney’s observations about Norquist are very revealing and deserve a second look in light of this port deal and who the supporters and possible movers on this deal are. Gaffney was the first to declare Norquist a "grave threat" to the Bush Presidency, Could it be that his declaration is now proving acurate.
Joe Gelman



Frank Gaffney warns Islamist 'enabler' Norquist threatens 'grave harm to Bush presidency,


Norquist's group took seed money from an avowed supporter of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that killed 241 US Marines in a 1983 Beirut bombing.
A prominent conservative leader who allegedly has used undeclared foreign money and top political connections to promote terrorist sympathizers is an 'enabler' who threatens 'to do grave harm to the Bush presidency.'

Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney issued the warning in a letter to Grover Norquist, founding chairman of the Islamic Institute, after Norquist publicly accused Gaffney of 'racism and bigotry' and banished him from a weekly strategy group. Norquist's actions came in response to Gaffney's criticism of a White House official who allowed pro-terrorist Muslim groups access to the White House complex on January 16.

'People who afford terrorist-supporters or -apologists and their organizations entree into the White House deserve to be both challenged and criticized,' Gaffney wrote in response. Norquist, an anti-tax activist and Washington networker who often purports to speak in the name of President Bush, told Gaffney in a widely distributed letter that the Center for Security Policy leader was guilty of 'racial prejudice, religous bigotry or ethnic hatred' because the criticized official is a Muslim.

In response, Gaffney and American Conservative Union leader David Keene slammed Norquist for 'employing "Stalinist tactics" against those who disagree with Mr. Norquist's role in brokering access to the Bush White House,' the Washington Times reported on February 7.

Norquist has been criticized for promoting what is called the Wahhabi lobby, a Saudi-funded network designed to dominate and radicalize Islam in America, at the expense of other Muslim groups whose stand against terrorism is unequivocal.

'Why have you gone to such lengths to defend - to say nothing of legitimize and advance the agendas of - terrorist sympathizers and others hostile to everything for which American conservatives stand?' Gaffney asked Norquist in a responding letter. Gaffney listed his concerns:

* The Islamic Institute, which Norquist co-founded and houses in his Americans for Tax Reform office, received seed money from an avowed supporter of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that killed 241 US Marines in a 1983 suicide bomb attack.

* The Islamic Institute reportedly is 'predominantly funded by foreign governments, shady Saudi sources, and US-based groups raided by the Treasury Department-led Operation Green Quest Task Force for allegedly funding suicide bombers, al Qaeda and other terrorists' activities.'

* Norquist led conservative opposition to parts of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism legislation, without disclosing that his Islamic group was dependent on such funds.

* Norquist has affiliated himself with the radical National Committee to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF), from which he received an award shortly before the September 11, 2001 attacks, despite the group's thirty-year public track record of promoting domestic and international terrorism.

* Norquist reportedly introduced Sami Al-Arian, whom federal law enforcement officials say is a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to then-candidate George W. Bush during the 2000 campaign. Televised videotape shows Al-Arian raising money in the US for terrorists.

Center's Gaffney urges rejection of U.A.E. management of U.S. ports