Former FBI Agent John Guandolo: 'We're 5 minutes into the 1st quarter of the football game. The MB is winning 72-0.'
By Ryan Mauro
Prominent
Islamists in America: CAIR's National Communications Director and
Spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper (left), Dalia Mogahed, Obama's advisor on
Muslim affairs and Zaytuna founder and lecturer Zaid Shakir (far right).
Background: federal agents involved in the investigation of the Holy
Land Foundation.
11-13-2013
John Guandolo is the author of Raising a Jihadi Generation: Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in America. He is also the founder of UnderstandingTheThreat.com.
In
1996, Guandolo left the Marines to join the FBI’s Washington Field
Office, focusing mostly on narcotics investigations until 2000. Shortly
after the 9/11 attacks, he began an assignment to the Counterterrorism
Division.
In 2006, Guandolo created and implemented the FBI’s first Counterterrorism Training/Education Program focusing on the Muslim Brotherhood
.
He was designated a “Subject Matter Expert” by the FBI and his program
was praised by the FBI Executive Assistant Director in a brief to the
Vice President’s National Security Staff.
The following is Clarion Project National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro’s interview with John Guandolo:
Ryan
Mauro: In your new book, you estimate that about 2,000 non-profits in
the U.S. are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. How did you come up with
this estimate?
John Guandolo: First,
we must begin by remembering that the Islamic community in America
continues to be led by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) here. The first
national Islamic organization in the U.S., the Muslim Students Association (MSA), was created by the Brotherhood in 1962-1963.
When
the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was indicted in
November 2001, it was the largest Islamic charity in America, and it was
a MB/Hamas entity. Hamas is the MB in Palestine.
In
2004, the FBI raided the residence of a senior Hamas/MB operative,
Ismail Elbarasse, in Annandale, Virginia. In his home, the FBI
discovered the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Much of
the evidence, as you know, was entered into the U.S. v. HLF trial—the
largest terrorism-financing trial ever successfully prosecuted in U.S.
history.
Of
the many documents, records and other items that were discovered, one
was a recording of a senior MB leader—Zeid al-Noman—speaking to a group
of Brothers in Missouri in 1981. This tape and the corresponding
transcript were entered into evidence at the HLF trial and stipulated to
by the defense.
While
there are numerous documents discovered that make my point, this
recorded discussion is, in my opinion, one of three pivotal finds at the
Elbarasse residence. Al-Noman tells the entire story of how the Muslim
Brotherhood came to America.
They first settled in Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, which explains why the MB’s largest organization, the Islamic Society of North America, is headquartered in Plainfield, Indiana. It explains why Detroit and Dearborn are points for significant jihadi activity, and why Chicago is the hub for Hamas in the U.S.
The
MB set up “Usras” about 150 miles apart across the U.S. An Usra
consisted of a few men. Each Usra would grow and establish itself in an
area and as Muslims came from overseas, the Muslims already there would
incorporate them into what was already going on.
As
these small pockets of activity grew, the MB did exactly what their
By-Laws said they would do. They established schools, mosques, clinics,
shelters and the like to expand their influence in the community. By the
early 1980s, nearly all of the Islamic organizations in America were
established by the MB. A powerful beginning.
In
1983, the MB established the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to
be the “nucleus” of their movement and, within the year, about 100
“Islamic Societies” were established across the U.S. In 1991, the
Brotherhood published an "Explanatory Memorandum"—the
strategic plan for North America. Following that, they approved and
published the “Implementation Manual” which put into action the
strategic plan.
When
you track the number of Islamic non-profits created against the years
in which they were created, there is a direct correlation between the MB
strategic actions and the creation of Islamic non-profits.
Prior
to 1983, very few Islamic non-profits were created except those that
were created by the MB. In 1983, there is a spike of about 100, all of
which are subsidiaries of ISNA. In 1992, after the publication of the
strategic plan and Implementation Manual, there is a large spike in the
creation of Islamic non-profits that never comes down again.
From
that time to today, between 60 and 120 Islamic non-profits are created
each year. A large number of those organizations match the organizations
that the MB said it would create.
Here
is an easy snapshop: There are over 2,100 Islamic Centers in the U.S.
today. From investigation and research, we know a large portion of them
are controlled by the MB. Through land ownership by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)—the
bank for the MB—or through known MB leaders at these Centers, we know
that a large percentage of the Islamic Centers belong to MB.
Today,
there are over 600 MSAs on nearly every college and university campus.
There are over 320 Islamic Societies and several hundred chapters of
the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Communities Associations, Islamic Teaching Centers and professional organizations like Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers andAssociation of Muslim Social Scientists.
You see, “2,000” is an extremely conservative number.
Mauro:
How much decentralization is there in the American Islamist networks?
For example, could a CAIR or MAS chapter leader be a non-Islamist who
agrees with the groups’ humanitarian and political work?
Guandolo: No.
While there are people employed by these organizations who have varying
levels of enthusiasm for the MB movement, the leadership of all of
these organizations does not suffer from that problem.
Colleagues
of mine have worked/studied at various military institutions, the
National War College for instance. On several occasions, officers from
Islamic countries have remarked on the significant and
overtly-noticeable control the MB has here in the U.S. over the Muslim
community.
The
State Department has a program where they pay for imams to fly from
overseas to the U.S. to meet with “Islamic leaders” here—almost all of
whom are MB. One imam
from
Indonesia who is not supportive of the MB movement reported back to the
U.S. Ambassador that this program should be shut down because the U.S.
government, in this imam’s opinion, was paying for jihadis overseas to meet with jihadis here in America that have “control” over the Islamic community.
In
my professional opinion, this aspect of the threat cannot be
overstated. Prominent Muslim Dr. Zuhdi Jasser commented a few years ago
that the MB controlled the access to the Iftar dinners at the White
House and kept him out for several years.
Mauro:
Is it possible that the Brotherhood-linked groups have evolved and
become moderate over time? Some of their officials have admitted that
Brotherhood ideologues set them up, but claim that they have since gone
their own way.
Guandolo: This
is utter rubbish. There is not one shred of evidence that they have
slowed down their movement at all. All of the evidence points to a rapid
acceleration of their plans. The influence of easily identifiable MB
leaders inside our national security apparatus is evidence enough of
their massive influence.
Men
like Sayyid Syeed, Muzammil Siddiqi, Ishan Bagby, Mohammed al-Hanooti,
Iqbal Unus, Ahmad Totonji, Hisham al-Talib, Yaqub Mirza and the children
of the first-generation MB leaders (e.g. Suhail Khan and Zainab Alwani)
are all heavily involved in the most prominent Islamic organizations in
North America.
The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood is more powerful today than it has ever been.
Mauro:
There is a quote in your book that I took note of. It’s from Islamist
scholar Shamim Siddiqi in 1989. He said, “The revolutionary aspect of
Islam is rarely brought before the new converts.” Can you explain what
this means?
Guandolo: There
is actually a lot of meat behind this. In short, he explains that
non-Muslims are brought to Islam without being told of the obligation to
wage jihad
. They only need to be told enough to say the Shahada
with reverence and they become a Muslim. Over time, all of the teachings are given to the individual.
The
concept of “abrogation” or “progressive revelation” needs to be
understood. The prophet Mohammed had 23 years to bring the world of Jahaliyyah (gross
ignorance and unbelief) to Islam. For 13 years in Mecca, he moved
slowly. According to Islamic sources, in the first six or seven years,
only a handful of people converted to Islam.
In the entire first 13 years, approximately 200 people converted to Islam. During this time, there was no mention of jihad. When Mohammed made the trip (hijrah) to Medina, he became a political leader and a military commander. We first see defensive jihad, then offensive jihad for a limited number of reasons.
There is no disagreement among Islamic scholars that jihad is obligatory for all Muslims until the entire world is subordinated to Islamic law (shariaShariaGlossary Item
). 100% of published Islamic law says this.
So,
when Shamim Siddiqi says the revolutionary aspect of Islam is not
explained to the new convert, he is simply restating doctrine.
Mauro:
In June 2011, you gave a presentation about the MB to over 100 national
security professionals. An FBI counterterrorism supervisor said that he
had never heard the information you provided. No one else did either,
except those that took your class.
Why are most national security personnel unaware?
Guandolo: The MB is doing their jobs well. The enemy in the war we are fighting clearly state they are Muslims fighting jihad in the Cause of Allah
in order to impose sharia on the world. Period.
We
need to take the enemy at their word and then begin assessing the
threat from there. This would necessarily require us to look at sharia Law. If we did, we would see that Al-Qaeda is not “perverting” sharia. They are accurately citing it.
We have MB figures advising our senior leaders that there isn’t really any sharia that is written down. I always respond to the first comment by asking the person to show me just one book ofsharia Law that says what he is telling me it says. So far, no takers.
This is because the mysterious “other version” of sharia does not exist. Those that say sharia isn’t
written down only need to go to Amazon.com, type in “Islamic Law,” and
order 10 or 20 books. Most are in English by the way, because many of
the largest Islamic countries in the world were once under British rule
and the legal language was English.
Having
said all that, I am still amazed at how this enemy has truly rendered
our national security apparatus witless and unable to identify and name
our enemy twelve years after 9/11. All of this is the intentional
outcome of the MB’s 50+ year movement here.
Mauro:
Do you believe the Islamists are capable of taking over the U.S. or
soon will be? If not, then what is the threat this network poses?
Guandolo: It
is clear they believe they have already won. They are waiting for the
game clock to run out. Part of the problem in getting Americans to see
the imminent threat is that they, like the U.S. security services, are
completely focused on the kinetic stuff—bombings, shootings, etc. We
need to worry about these, but it isn’t how they intend to defeat us.
The MB strategic plan says they are waging “Civilization Jihad”
to destroy our civilization and that they will use our leaders to do
their work for them (“by their hands and the hands of the believers”).
When the U.S. wrote constitutions in Iraq and Afghanistan imposing sharia and created two Islamic Republics; that is civilization jihad by our hands.
When
the MB launches a revolution, overthrows numerous governments and kills
scores of people, our government calls it a “freedom movement”
organized by “students on Twitter” and then proceeds to financially and
materially support the MB in Egypt, and then Al-Qaeda/MB in Libya and
Syria. That is “civilization jihad” by our hands.
When
the Hamas and MB entities in America tell the White House they are
“offended” over training about this movement and its doctrinal basis in sharia law and that training is shut down and replaced by training from MB organizations, that is “civilization jihad” by our hands.
I
could go on, but I think your readers will get the point. As I see it,
we’re five minutes into the first quarter of the football game. The MB
is out on the field and they are winning 72-0. We are on the sidelines
in baseball outfits wondering what inning it is.
The
MB has a strategic plan and an operational plan to implement it. They
are well-organized, well-funded and disciplined. They have thousands of
organizations working daily to overthrow our governmental system and
erode our society of the basic founding principles.
We
cannot even speak about the threat for fear of offending our MB and
Hamas advisers. Who do you think is going to win this war if it
continues this way?
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