President Bush’s domestic agenda of promoting “faith” could be jeopardizing our strategy and chances of victory in the war on terror. By mindlessly backing “faith-based groups,” Bush and his advisors might be playing right into the hands of Islamic fanatics and their sympathizers.
The danger of basing national security policies on faith can be seen by what’s going on at one of our most secure military facilities: the terrorist holding pen at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Bush Administration was so anxious to cater to the “spiritual needs” of violent fanatics locked up for committing terrorist atrocities that it may have allowed an enemy spy who was working as an Islamic Chaplain access to the facility and the prisoners locked up there. The chaplain, Army Captain James Yee, was allowed into the facility even though he had lived in a hostile country named as a sponsor of terrorism, Syria, for four years.
How was this guy able to pass a security clearance and get into G-Mo? The answer may lie not in Cuba or Syria but in Washington. Some media reports have connected Yee (now under arrest), to Abudrahman Muhamad Alamoudi, an organizer of Islamic groups, arrested on Sept. 28 by the FBI on “terrorism-related charges” (see Top U.S. Islamic Organizer Arrested, Front Page Magazine, Sept. 30, 2003). On Sept. 25, The Washington Post reported that Yee was associated with an organization called the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council which was financed by Alamoudi.
Alamoudi has been linked to presidential advisor Karl Rove. The Washington Post reported that Alamoudi and members of his organization met with Rove in June, 2001. To make matters worse Alamoudi, who has publicly supported the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, provided seed money to help an associate of Rove, Grover Norquist, start a group called the Islamic Institute which was designed to get Moslems to join the Republican Party. The question arises: did Alamoudi, Norquist, Rove or some other figure use their political influence to get Yee a security clearance so he could get into G-Mo and near the imprisoned leaders of Al Queada?
The frightening thing is that the Yee case may only be the tip of the iceberg. One of Alamoudi’s groups, the American Muslim Foundation, helped set up the Islamic chaplain program for the US Armed Forces. How many more Islamic chaplains are working within our military and turning its secrets over to our enemies? This could be the biggest hole in our national security since Soviet spies stole the atomic bomb secrets in the 1940s.
In its rush to promote “faith,” the Bush Administration has solicited money and political support from some of the same organizations that its own Justice Department is trying to shut down because they promote terrorism. These organizations may have even been able to use their political influence to get around security procedures.
And if this nightmare scenario weren’t bad enough, the Islamic organizations being shut down by the Justice Department for supporting terrorism are faith-based charities. Under Bush’s faith-based initiative, some of these groups which his own Justice Department is trying to shut down would be eligible to receive tax dollars to continue their good work!
The question arises which is more important to President Bush and his administration, faith or national security and the safety of Americans?