Successors at MSA Board Huma served on at GWU include al-Qaeda terrorist, IIRO leader

Things are getting interesting with respect to the history of the George Washington University (GWU) chapter of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) - in particular, the 1997 - 2002 timeframe.

Earlier this week, we reported that Huma Abedin served on the Board of GWU's chapter of the MSA in 1997 and left some time before early 1999. Andrew McCarthy then rightfully pointed out that none other than notorious al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki served on the same Board, though after Abedin left; al-Awlaki served as a "Chaplain" on GWU's MSA Board from late 2001 - 2002.

That leads us to another "Chaplain" who served on the same MSA Board alongside al-Awlaki - and for a much longer period of time. Mohamed S. Omeish served as "Chaplain" from at least October, 1999 - April, 2002. During the time when both men served on the MSA Board at GWU, they were the only two listed as Chaplains.

If one has a difficult time finding it significant that while Huma and al-Awlaki served on the Board but never together, perhaps the significance of al-Awlaki and Omeish serving on the Board together - and in the same capacity - will not be lost on them. Omeish is a rather big fish when it comes to the nexus between the Muslim World League and the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, if one believes that al-Qaeda leadership is expendable while leaders of organizations that have been known to finance them are not, the fates of both al-Awlaki and Omeish may just serve as the perfect microcosm.

In his 2005 book, Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington, Paul Sperry identified Mohamed S. Omeish as the president of the U.S. Branch of a very powerful Muslim organization, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). Sperry made reference to this in a 2007 article at Front Page Magazine:

Mohamed Omeish headed the U.S. branch of one of bin Laden's favorite Saudi charities, the International Islamic Relief Organization, which was raided after 9/11. Tax records I've obtained show Omeish shared an office with Alamoudi, the convicted al-Qaida-tied terrorist and godfather of the Muslim mafia in America. This is the same "moderate" Muslim leader who federal prosecutors caught on tape complaining bin Laden hadn't killed enough Americans.

The IIRO was formed under the Muslim World League (MWL), again, a large Saudi Arabian umbrella group whose Secretary General from 1983 - 1993 was none other than Abdullah Omar Naseef. It's important to remember at this point that from 1996 - 2003, both Naseef and Huma Abedin served on the Board of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Huma served on the IMMA Board as Assistant Editor from 1996 - 2008 while also serving on the same MSA Board in 1997 that would later welcome Omeish and al-Awlaki as Muslim "Chaplain(s)". As the leader of IIRO in the United States, Omeish led a group created with the help of Naseef's MWL.

Incidentally, two IIRO branch offices - in the Philippines and Indonesia - were listed as terrorist entities by the United Nations as recently as May of 2011.

Click here for a chart that explains Naseef's role with and ties to MWL and IIRO.

Moreover, according to Sperry, Omeish shared an office with none other than Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was convicted of charges related to terrorism in 2004. The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report provides a bit more detail on the relationship between Mohamed Omeish and Alamoudi:

According to the sworn statement of a US federal law enforcement officer as well as various public records, Mohamed Omeish is also an officer of the American Muslim Foundation and the Success Foundation both located at the same address as the MAS headquarters in Virginia. The former President of the American Muslim Foundation and Secretary of the Success Foundation was Abdul Rahman Alamoudi, convicted in a plot to murder Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on behalf of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Both organizations received donations from the SAAR Foundation where Mr. Alamoudi was employed as an executive Assistant during the 1990s’.

So even if one ignores Huma Abedin's time at IMMA, the MSA charter at GWU raises more red flags. Ms. Abedin served on the Board of an organization whose future Board members had direct ties with or included Anwar al-Awlaki and Abdurahman Alamoudi.

Let's take a look at another Omeish - Mohamed's brother, Esam. In Sperry's 2007 article, he identified Esam as the head of the Muslim American Society (MAS) who hired the man who served as a Chaplain alongside Esam's brother:

Esam S. Omeish also sits on the board of the 9/11-tied mosque in Washington that helped the hijackers get licenses and housing, and whose imam prepared them for martyrdom operations in private closed-door sessions. Omeish personally hired the imam, Anwar Aulaqi, who fled the country on a Saudi jet about a year after 9/11...

A few months prior to the Fort Hood shootings, before which shooter Nidal Malik Hasan is known to have corresponded with al-Awlaki several times via email, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited Esam onto a conference call, which he attended. When the State Department was asked if it was aware of Esam's background, the question apparently fell on deaf ears.

Via Fox News:

The State Department has not replied to questions as to whether it was aware of Omeish's past comments when he was selected as one of approximately 100-200 invitees to participate in the conference, which included academics and Muslim leaders.

Aside from it being the State Department's job to know such things, it was also asked this question at a time when Huma Abedin was still Clinton's closest advisor. Are we to believe Huma knew nothing of Essam's background? Wouldn't it have been easy for her to reach out the MSA chapter at GWU, where she once served as a Board member, to find out?

The Fox article quoted Esam Omeish from the conference call as well:

In the conference call with Clinton last week, which was advertised as a forum to discuss how to bridge the divide between the United States and the Muslim community, Omeish expressed support for President Obama and offered that Muslim-Americans needed to get more involved in politics.

In 2007, Esam had to resign as a member of Virginia's Commission of Immigration after video of him in December of 2000 surfaced. Ironically, that video was shot just outside the White House, which was still occupied by the Clintons at the time. Here is an excerpt from that video:



Discover the Networks reports that Esam also resigned his post at MAS after the video surfaced. Again, are we to believe, based on the State Department's silence, coupled with its inclusion of Esam on the 2009 conference call, that they were unaware of Esam's history?

Another video from 2006 captured Esam calling for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment comes at the 3:00 mark, when Esam calls on George W. Bush to "stop calling Islam 'Islamic fascism'".



Unfortunately for Esam, that's not what Bush said and by alleging that he did, Esam entered dangerous territory. Peaceful practitioners of Islam should have agreed with Bush's word choice. Those who didn't warrant increased suspicion.

Here is video of George W. Bush referring to America's enemies as 'Islamic fascists'. It would be the first and last time he used that term.



The subject of Huma Abedin's Form 86 has come up in the past. Should we not also learn about her time at the MSA and if she had any connections with Board members who succeeded her, especially since a few of them have turned out to be either notorious and/or suspicious?

Ben Barrack is a talk show host and author of the book, Unsung Davids

Allen West saying to Obama what Romney should be saying to Obama

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is now calling for Obama to release the Fast and Furious documents that have been subpoenaed by Congress in response to the campaign's demand for Romney to release multiple years of tax returns. This is such a blatantly obvious response to Obama's tactics that it makes Romney look politically weak not to do so. Thank goodness West is out there doing it for him (somebody has to do it).

Via The Hill:

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) set high stakes in an offered “deal” with President Obama on Friday.

Obama’s campaign isn’t backing down on requests to see Mitt Romney’s tax returns — on Friday, campaign manager Jim Messina offered to stop asking if he releases five years' worth — but the freshman Florida congressman had a counteroffer for Obama.

“Show us your sealed college records and Operation Fast and Furious White House memos, and we will all show you our tax returns,” West wrote on his Facebook page Friday.

The Hill goes on to say this is not new, that Trump has called on Obama to release his college transcripts. The problem is that demanding the release of the Fast and Furious documents is a much more salient argument because it goes to the very heart of many of the Obama campaign's claims about what Romney is guilty of doing / not doing.

The collective charges against Romney represent the penultimate example of projection.

Regular readers to this blog know that I have been calling on Romney to hit back at the Obama campaign by demanding Obama release the Fast and Furious documents. Romney has had countless opportunities to do so.

1. When Obama granted amnesty to illegals and attempted to portray himself as someone who cared for the welfare of Mexicans, Romney should have pointed to Fast and Furious, an operation that led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans.
2. When David Axelrod compared Mitt Romney to Richard Nixon for being too secretive, Romney should have pointed to the fact that Obama more closely mirrors Nixon by asserting Executive Privilege to prevent Congressionally subpoenaed documents from being released.
3. When the Obama campaign raised cain about when Romney left Bain and said that Romney might be a 'felon', Romney should have pointed to Fast and Furious. If anything is felonious, it's that operation, which included the involvement of officials at the highest levels of Obama's Justice Department.
4. When an Obama Super PAC ad implied that Mitt Romney is responsible for the death of a woman who got cancer, Romney should have brought up Fast and Furious, an operation that the Obama administration is ultimately responsible for. Hundreds of people are dead as a direct result of it, including Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
5. When the Obama campaign demands that Romney release his tax returns, Romney should demand that Obama release the documents over Fast and Furious that he asserted Executive Privilege over as Eric Holder was being found in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress.

If you're in the camp of those who believe Romney needs to fight, harping on Obama's actions in response to his Attorney General being held in criminal and civil contempt of Congress - bipartisan in both cases - going after the president over Fast and Furious is a no-brainer.

West shouldn't be saying what Romney should be saying; Romney should.

Family Research Council shooting and Southern Poverty Law Center's 'Hate Map'

The shooting that took place inside the Family Research Council (FRC) is beginning to look more and more political in nature. FRC, headed by Anthony Perkins, is a socially conservative organization that supports the traditional definition of marriage and opposes gay marriage. One could say that FRC and Chick-fil-A are on the same page.

Floyd Lee Corkins was taken into custody after shooting a security guard in FRC's lobby. It turns out that Corkins has done extensive volunteer work at a gay rights organization and was carrying several Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his backpack at the time of the shooting. Oh, and one more thing; the FBI has reported that Corkins made a political statement prior to the shooting.

Via CNS News:

On Wednesday, 28-year-old Floyd Lee Corkins of Herndon, Va., allegedly entered the lobby of the Family Research Council and shot the security guard.  According to the FBI, Corkins had a 9mm handgun, two magazines of ammunition, 50 rounds of additional ammo and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his backpack. According to the FBI, he  “stated words to the effect of ‘I don’t like your politics...’”

...The suspect, Floyd Corkins, had been volunteering for the last six months at The DC Center for the LGBT Community. The DC Center released a statement condemning the violence, which was signed by 40 other local and national LGBT groups.

That leads us to the very left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), primarily because of the standard set by the left-wing media, pundits, and movement. The SPLC actually has a 'Hate Map' that identifies entities and individuals it views as being hateful. The FRC is on that map and listed as being 'Anti-Gay'.

First, some context and why SPLC's map is relevant.

Within hours of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting on January 8, 2011, New York Times writer Paul Krugman blamed Sarah Palin for using a map that showed 'crosshair' targets on districts in the country that were held by vulnerable Democrats prior to the 2010 elections; Giffords' district was one that had a target on it and Krugman pounced:

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list.

Instead of being fired for journalistic malpractice, Krugman remained a hero to the left. A consequence was that a new, very low standard had been set. Using Krugman's standard, perpetrators of acts of violence could not only escape 100% accountability for their actions but that people who had nothing to do with it could be blamed. In this case, Krugman implied that Jared Loughner shot Giffords because Sarah Palin released a map that was clearly intended to identify vulnerable Democrats to be targeted... for DEFEAT AT THE BALLOT BOX.

Making matters worse for Krugman, as usual, were facts. Not only did Palin's map have absolutely nothing to do with the Tucson shootings but if Loughner was political at all, he was a leftist (he identified the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf as two of his favorite books).

Now, back to Corkins and the FRC shooting. Unlike Palin's map - intended to generate voter enthusiasm in certain districts - the SPLC's 'Hate Map' is quite plainly intended to identify groups with which it disagrees as being legitimate targets of hatred themselves based on their political views.

Via CNS News:

At a press conference on Thursday outside the FRC headquarters in downtown Washington, FRC President Perkins said, “I want to express my appreciation to the groups and organizations that we do not agree with on many public policy issues who have also expressed their outrage at what took place here yesterday. For that, I appreciate it. I appreciate them making those statements.”

“But I would ask them to go a step further and to join us in calling for an end to the reckless rhetoric that I believe led to yesterday’s incident that took place right behind me,” he said.

“And that does bring me to my final point,” said Perkins.  “Let me be clear, that Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shot yesterday that wounded one of our colleagues and our friend Leo Johnson.  But Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.”

“And I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology that is leading to the intimidation and what the FBI here has categorized as an act of domestic terrorism,” he said.  “There’s no room for that in a society such as ours that works through differences that we have on issues in public policy through a peaceful means.”

It is probably not advisable for Perkins to say that SPLC gave Corkins a 'license to shoot' because that can take away from his contention that Corkins was solely responsible for the shooting. However, when applying the standard set by the likes of Krugman, it's a valid point.

The FRC shooting appears to be much more politically motivated than the Giffords shooting was. Let's see, the shooter works for a gay rights group, carries 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his backpack, proceeds to walk into the lobby of a socially conservative organization, and says openly that he doesn't like the politics of that organization while shooting people.

Yet, Krugman and his left-wing media colleagues are silent.

h/t WZ