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Muslim Ex-Bush Official: 'Intern Spy' Hunt Threatens Careers Of Good Americans

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Suhail Khan

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Suhail Khan has seen this happen before. He was working as a senior political appointee for the Bush White House through Sept. 11, 2001, until this past January.

The same crowd of what he calls "professional bigots" -- people, he says, like Frank Gaffney and Dave Gaubatz -- have launched campaigns against specific Muslims working in the government, accusing them of terrorist sympathies.

The only thing different about the call by four House Republicans this week for authorities to investigate alleged "infiltration" of the Hill by Muslim interns, Khan told TPMmuckraker today, is that "they're not going after individuals by name."

"Hill staffers are very attention-adverse. They just want to do their job, just be professionals," says Khan, who worked on the Hill for a Republican lawmaker and then at the Office of Public Liaison and the Department of Transportation under George W. Bush. "So these types of allegations are increasingly stressful and cause otherwise good loyal Americans to worry about their jobs, their potential for advancement.

Indeed, the Muslim Staffers Association told us it would not release a statement on the "intern spy" hunt.

Now the Fellow for Christian-Muslim Understanding at the Institute for Global Engagement, Khan says he thinks the types of charges made by the four Republicans this week could have a chilling effect on young Muslims considering careers in Washington.

And the high-profile charges have an effect on the other side of the job equation, too. "Really what they're trying to do here is to scare otherwise thoughtful members and chiefs of staff from hiring Muslims."

Discussing characters like Gaubatz, Khan is withering. "Their MO is very insidious. They try to either smear Americans by guilt-by-association tactics, as they are in this case. Or they just kind of fear-monger by raising the specter of terrorism and extremism."

But he holds a charitable view of the lawmakers who have launched the "intern spy" campaign.

"Some perfectly well-meaning members -- Myrick, Shadegg, Broun, and Franks, who I've met and are good people -- have been really duped by this Gaubatz character."

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18 comments

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October 16, 2009 5:54 PM   

Professonal Bigots
Professonal Racist
Those who make a living from Hate
The color or race does not matter, the money is good

I would like to know who wrote the TPM that told the news and sports readers to repeat the exact words about Rush Limbaugh's statement about race, without verificaton?

This is the same as the sign in the cafe that says,
" No Colored ".

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October 16, 2009 6:15 PM   

I am fucking sick to death of these reprobates. They hate everybody.

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October 16, 2009 6:27 PM   

"They're MO is very insidious."

Should be "Their MO," shouldn't it?

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mJJ

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October 16, 2009 11:08 PM    in reply to agio

Yes and desrtuctive to tje very core of our Democracy. Although I have been a moderate Republican, this racism that is so prevalent in our party is a shame ot me. I will reregister before the next election cycle. Amazing that anyone thinks this is how the dwindling Republican group can win election after election when they truly only represent the slim margin of people on the far right. They have decided to chase moderates out of the party entirely. Their hate filled speech and their hateful racism is simply too unGodly for me!

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October 17, 2009 9:47 AM    in reply to agio

yes, it should

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October 16, 2009 7:23 PM   

So when do you think we can expect them to instigate an in depth investigation of the infiltration of Congress by radical Jews from organizations like AIPAC or radical Christians from "The Family" or the Christian Coalition?

*crickets*

Oh yeah.

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mJJ

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October 16, 2009 11:11 PM    in reply to DrDick

Racism about Jews is just as despicable as racism against Moslems. End of discussion!

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October 16, 2009 7:49 PM   

I disagree that the representatives he named as being duped by Gaubatz. I don't have high expectations for the GOP now. On the contrary, they're quite low. But I do suspect that they know exactly what they're doing in this case. There is no other way to construe it!

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October 16, 2009 9:04 PM   

Paul David Gaubatz was paid $149k for research by SANE (Society for American National Existence) in 2007, according to SANE's 2007 990.

The officers of SANE are:

David Yerushalmi
Miriam Yerushalmi
Jonathan Rigbi
Robert J. Loewenberg
Gregory Bitterman

As I noted in previous posts, David Gaubatz and his son, Chris, are clearly tied to SANE.

I think it is becoming clear that the Jewish extreme right wing is behind this plot to destroy CAIR.

I think it was just about a year ago when TPM MR posted about an anti-Muslim propaganda video, "Obsession" distributed to thousands of US households via the Sunday paper during the campaign.

While the funding for the distribution of Obsession appeared to come from an extreme right wing Jewish group, The Clarion, there was some evidence that the Endowment for Middle East Truth was involved in the project.

The EMET was primarily funded by Sheldon Adelson.

Frank Gaffney, Peter Leitner, Daniel Pipes, James Woolsey etc etc etc. Same old, same old provocateurs.

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October 18, 2009 3:59 PM    in reply to Mrs Panstreppon

Sure enough, Chris Gaubatz linked to the "Third Jihad", the sequel to "Obesession" on his blog on 10/10/08.

(Correction: 28 million copies of "Obesession" were distributed to households last fall.)

I can't find the original TPM Muckraker post about "Obsession" but I included information about it in several posts about the Republican National Trust last year.

Someone needs to put together a roster of individuals and organizations linked to this systematic, well-financed anti-Muslim campaign.

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October 18, 2009 5:07 PM    in reply to Mrs Panstreppon

Here's a good example of how these organizations are all linked.

Peter Leitner is treasurer of the National Republican Trust PAC which was one of the first organizations to question Obama's citizenship during last year's campaign. The NRT sponsored the most offensive ads of the campaign including one that featured Obama's photo juxtaposed with Mohammed Atta's.

Leitner is a member of the military advisory committee of Frank Gaffney's Center For Security Policy. He also is a founder of the Citizens For National Security which puts on seminars in Boca Raton, teaching ordinary citizens how to identify a terrorist. (Just what we need - the oldsters in Boca rooting out terrorism.)

Advisors to CNS include Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum and Walid Phares of the Foundation For the Defense of Democracies.

Scott Wheeler, executive director of the National Republican Trust PAC, is an "investigative reporter" who worked for the Rev. Moon's Insight magazine which has a content-sharing agreement with World Net Daily. Wheeler is best known for promoting Clinton conspiracy theories including the Vince Foster "murder" and the Mena "coverup".

David Yerushalmi, of course, is the founder and president of SANE and legal counsel for Gaffney's Center For Natonal Security. He is also chairman of the Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies and is its legal advisor.

The Endowment For Middle East Truth advisors include Frank Gaffney, Daniel Pipes and James Woolsey.

The EMET, in collaboration with Aish Hatorah and the Clarion Fund, financed the distribution of more than 28 million copies of the anti-Muslim video, "Obsession" during last year's campaign.

During the summer of 2008, EMET organized a seminar series on Capital Hill in collaboration with American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the right-leaning Freedom's Watch advocacy group and the Republican Jewish Coalition.

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October 17, 2009 8:55 AM   

"Some perfectly well-meaning members -- Myrick, Shadegg, Broun, and Franks, who I've met and are good people -- have been really duped by this Gaubatz character."

Myrick et al., are either stupid or sleazy opportunists. My bet is on the latter.

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October 17, 2009 11:39 AM   

Suhail Kahn is a Republican so he will be very cautious about what he says about the right wing. Surely he knows about the racist crap espoused by the likes of David Yerushalmi and Paul David Gaubatz.

The SANE website is now paid subscription access only and for good reason. Gaubatz and Yerushalmi doesn't want the masses to find out what their real agenda is now that they have a shot at attracting a mainstream audience.

But there is enough evidence left on the internet to get an understanding about how corrupt the beliefs held by Yerushalmi and Gaubatz are.

From an essay written by David Yerushalmi and Col. Tom Snodgrass published on the Intellectual Conservative website in August 2007:

If Bush embarks on a bombing campaign of Iran that is based on the restrictive "gradualism" to send his own version of the Vietnam-era diplomatic message, patriotic (AKA “right-wing”) Americans will be happy after the initial attacks, but when Iran then escalates its attacks against the US in retaliation, the appeasers (AKA “left-wing”) Americans will say: "You see, bombing never works; it only encourages Jihad and makes matters worse."

And in a sense, they will be correct, unless, that is, we bomb to completely destroy Iran's capability to make Jihadi war against us. Restricted and gradual "tit-for-tat" bombing will have the same result that it had in Vietnam: Iran will understand our self-imposed limited war approach and ratchet up the ante knowing our domestic limitations. And, almost as if in concert, the anti-war appeasement movement will immediately scream: "This bombing is inhumane! Disproportionate!" Never mind the inhumanity in what Ahmadinejad promises for the US and Israel and in what Ahmadinejad has already accomplished, killing hundreds of GIs with IFPs/IEDs in Iraq while successfully fueling the violence of the Shia militias, further confounding the efforts for an Iraqi political resolution.

And it is this call of “inhumanity,” or put affirmatively, the demand for universal “human rights,” that effectively ends war for the West. The Islam of the Jihadists of course recognizes no such “humanity” except as it serves Allah’s will as expressed in his perfect (perfectly murderous) law known as Shari’a. But if those of us in the West, especially the US, cannot recognize that OUR humanity is more important than our enemies’, on what basis can we war? How can we ever justify the violence inherent in war?

...If we bomb Iran, and indeed we should, we had better embark on this venture with the intent of making the rubble bounce. As the old military adage goes, “More rumble, less trouble.”

From a comment by Yerushalmi in the comments section to the essay:

...We have also carefully spelled out what it is we would do to defend ourselves against the Jihad now being waged in the name and under the long-standing (1000 years) authority of Shari'a:

"…we need not target all or even any substantial number of the world’s Muslims. Instead, we target their leadership, their command-and-control centers, and their infrastructure. Will many of them be killed in the war? Of course, and it is intended to be so. Otherwise we can never expect to be victorious. Muslims will certainly never abandon historical and traditional Shari’a easily. But given sustained and determined separate-quarantine-search-and-destroy operations, Muslims will have the choice: either reform your own societies or forever be rebuilding them while burying your dead." From: http://www.saneworks.us/War-Manifesto-The-War-Against-Islam-article-343-1.htm...."

From a September 10, 2007 post on the Ethnic Ashkenazim blog:

...David Yerushalmi informs us:

"There is a reason the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote."

The article "On Race: A Tentative Discussion, Part II"
(http://www.saneworks.us/On-Race-A-Tentative-Discussion-Part-II-article-64-25.htm) contains many similar gems.

Another SANE article states:

Is there something unique about the Black American (or, at least the Black New Yorker) that leads him to murder so disproportionately and to most often kill and victimize his own? Do we see patterns of Black culture that arise out of Africa and the wanton murder of blacks by blacks there? Why have the colonized blacks of the African continent, after having acquired their freedom and independence, so willingly slaughtered their own and live in despicable disease and squalor despite a land of enormous riches while Indians of the Indian sub-continent have successfully moved from British rule to democracy and relative civility even in a country that still maintains social inequalities as a fact of their culture?

According to Richard Silverstein at the Tikun Olam blog, David Yerushalim issues this proclamation on the SANE website:

WHEREAS Islam requires all Muslims to actively and passively support the replacement of America’s constitutional republic with a political system based upon Shari’a.

Whereas, adherence to Islam as a Muslim is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the US Government through the abrogation, destruction, or violation of the US Constitution and the imposition of Shari’a on the American People.

HEREFORE, IT IS RESOLVED THAT: It shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Shari’a.

The Congress of the United States of America shall declare the US at war with the Muslim Nation.

Do Myrick, Shadegg, Broun, and Franks really want to be associated with the hate-mongering and racism promoted by David Gaubatz and David Yerushalmi?

Perhaps Rep. Myrick can convince Gaubatz and Yerushalmi to open up the SANE archives so we can gain a better understanding of SANE's philosophy?

For that matter, let's get the Gaubatzes on record as having unequivocal support for the organization that funded their little project.

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October 17, 2009 12:00 PM   

As it turns out, Suhaik Khan knows perfectly well who David Yerushalmi is because he brought his name up in a debate with Frank Gaffney in 2008.

Yerushalmi's response to Khan's remarks during the debate are posted at Jihad Watch here.

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October 17, 2009 5:42 PM   

Link to SANE's 11/08 press release on CAIR racketeering lawuit here.

The defendants were served with the complaint and summons to appear while attending the CAIR 14th Annual Dinner Sunday night in Arlington, Virginia. Congressman Ellison (D-Minn) was a guest speaker at this affair.

... "The evidence has long suggested that CAIR is a criminal organization set up by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to further its aims of stealth Jihad in the U.S.," Mr. Yerushalmi said referring to the fact that CAIR has been named by the federal government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial.

"But our investigation and this complaint make clear that CAIR's criminal activities know no bounds," Yerushalmi continued.

...The four plaintiffs contacted their attorney David Yerushalmi only after they had spoken to Dave Gaubatz, a private researcher who had been investigating CAIR for its connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and its ties to global jihad. Had Gaubatz not informed the plaintiffs of the fraud, they would still be under the impression that Days was a competent attorney representing their legal interests in various lawsuits and administrative proceedings.

I wonder what how much money Yerushalmi guaranteed the plaintiffs for filing the suit.

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AJM

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October 17, 2009 8:11 PM   

Rep Myrick is in violation of her oath to support the Constitutio which provides: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

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October 18, 2009 12:45 PM   

Now we are investigating people based on religious beliefs? If these idiots read about Islam, they would find some truly inspiring information.

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October 18, 2009 1:17 PM   

Scott Horton interviews Glenn Geenwald about "The Muslim Mafia" and the campaign to destroy CAIR here.

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