Islamic subversion alleged by speaker

Original article
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
By Brian Mosely

A former FBI special agent told law enforcement and Homeland Security personnel that a network of Islamic organizations are working to incrementally implement Islamic law in the United States.

During a presentation at the Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, former FBI agent John Guandolo briefed members about groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which he claims is working with other Islamic groups to slowly implement Shariah, also known as Islamic law, which encompasses all areas of life.

Guandolo worked in the FBI since 1996, including nine years as a member of its SWAT team. After 9/11, he worked in the Bureau's Washington Field Office's Counterterrorism Division, developing expertise concerning Al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood organizations and the Islamic movement in the U.S.

He now works with Stephen Coughlin, former Islamic Expert for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to advise leaders at the federal level and also brief local law enforcement about the Islamic threat at home.

Coughlin was fired from his position with the Joint Chiefs following a report revealing opposition to his work by officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, according to a Washington Times report dated Jan. 4, 2008.

Coughlin had run afoul of a key aide to England, Hasham Islam, who accused him of being a Christian zealot or extremist "with a pen," according to defense officials, the report states.

Muslim Brotherhood

Every major Muslim organization is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, the former FBI agent said, which he said was formed to overthrow America and establish Islamic law.

"They're having great success of implementing Shariah law, I could give you a thousand examples," Guandolo said.

He said small concessions like installing foot baths, and colleges forced to have separate swimming times for Islamic men and women so not to offend Muslims, are other parts of the strategy.

But Guandolo said that federal leadership is reluctant to act against these Islamic organizations due to political correctness and the threats of lawsuits.

He said that Muslim groups will demand concessions on matters by saying, "You have to do this; you have to do this or I will be offended."

"The solution to this is you," Guandolo said. "If you are looking to DHS, the FBI and Congress to solve this ... you're going to be woefully disappointed."

He said that FBI agents in the field "are working good cases," but that the FBI leadership "is unwilling to do what the agents are asking them to do, which is to pony up and use some courage and start stepping on these people."

"This is political subversion, this is an insurgency in the United States," he said of the Islamic movement. "Insurgency is thwarted at the local level and the tip of the spear is local police."

Guandolo also said that the group CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is actually a front for the terror group Hamas.

He also said that he was threatened with his job no less than three times by superiors in the FBI "that told me we were creating waves in the Muslim community."

Guandolo also said to watch what is happening in Great Britain, where Islamic radicalism has taken root. He noted that a member of the Danish Parliament was recently denied entry into the United Kingdom for fear that it would offend Muslims.

"They denied him access while at the same time, Islamic law is being instituted on the streets of Great Britain," he said.

Documentary shown

Also presented was a viewing of the documentary "Homegrown Jihad: The Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.", produced by the group Christian Action Network (CAN).

The group describes its purpose as "to protect America's religious and moral heritage through intensive lobbying efforts -- both in the nation's capital and at the grass roots level."

They claim that for the past two years, members have "been on location, deep inside hidden Islamic terrorist training compounds, scattered across the United States."

The terror group is called Jamaat ul-Fuqra, but is known in America as Muslims of America, which CAN alleges is a front organization for Pakistani Islamic cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani.

CAN asserts that one of these compounds is near Dover, in rural Stewart County. The site was the subject of a 2002 Tennessean article about the small Muslim community.

The compound is located on the south side of the Cumberland River, near Cumberland City, where the TVA Cumberland Fossil Plant is located, CAN says.

The sheriff of Stewart County was unavailable for comment about the compound. Personnel at that office referred the T-G to the Tennessee Fusion Center, a partnership of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, which did not return inquiries by press time.

The documentary cites a Justice Department document from 2006 that exposed 35 compounds in the U.S., which the group alleges are used for terrorist training. The document was marked "Dissemination Restricted to Law Enforcement" and was not supposed to be released to the public.

CAN claims that all copies of Sheik Muburak Gilani's terrorist training video, "Soldiers of Allah," had been confiscated and sealed except for a copy the Christian organization obtained.

In the documentary, Gilani is shown saying "We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America."

The alleged training video also shows men taught how to use AK-47s, rocket launchers, and machine guns, as well as how to kidnap and kill Americans, how to conduct sabotage and subversive operations, and instructions on the use mortars and explosives.

CAN also wants to have Jamaat ul-Fuqra placed on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization Watch List, which would shut down the camps.

Guandolo said that "cowardness" has prevented officials from taking action about the camps scattered across the country.

"We see at the local and state level, a lot of anger towards the federal government, and that anger is well placed."

Presenting the video was Wes Campbell, who works with the national intelligence community as chief of intelligence at Arnold Engineering Development Center, and Jonna Bianco with the Center for Security Policy.

EMA director Scott Johnson said in his introduction to the presentation that fundraising and training were important parts of the Islamic movement, not just attacks like 9/11.

"We like to provide awareness to our citizens ... we can't forget about this kind of stuff, it's a long term thing," Johnson said. "We don't want to be paranoid, we just want to be prudent."

"We can't ignore it, it's not going to go away."