FBI bust prompts question: Who brought the Islamic Jihad leader to the White House?

The FBI’s arrest of Sami Al-Arian for alleged terrorist-related crimes underscores a recurring concern of many terrorist-watchers, who have worried aloud that someone has exploited President George W. Bush’s outreach to Muslims for ends damaging to the president and to U.S. strategic interests.

Al-Arian was one of those portrayed as a mainstreamer deserving of White House attention. A federal grand jury in Tampa thinks otherwise, handing down a 50-count indictment against Al-Arian and seven of his confederates. Attorney General John Ashcroft describes Al-Arian as "the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad." The attorney general added, "Al-Arian is not only the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in North America, but he also served as the Secretary of the ‘Shura Council’ — the worldwide governing group of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The indictment states: ‘In his capacity as a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, he directed the audit of all moneys and property of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad throughout the world…’"

So who in the White House invited Al-Arian to attend a June 20, 2001 briefing by senior political advisor Karl Rove, as reported in the July 28, 2002 Washington Post? Somebody told Rove that Al-Arian delivered the votes to win Florida for President Bush’s election.

Was it the Islamic Institute, the Saudi-funded group that has tried to bring radical Muslim groups into the Republican Party mainstream? Was it Khaled Saffuri, the present Islamic Institute chairman (formerly of the pro-Hezbollah American Muslim Council) whom the Bush 2000 campaign named its National Advisor on Arab and Muslim Affairs?

Who credentialized Saffuri to the Bush campaign? Was it Grover Norquist, who co-founded the Islamic Institute with Saffuri and served as its first chairman? Why can’t Norquist come straight about his ties to Al-Arian or to other extremists whom he has been parading around Washington as mainstream Muslims?

Shortly after the June 2001 White House briefing, the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF), of which Al-Arian is president, gave Norquist an award for his work in fighting against the use of classified evidence in prosecuting terrorists. After initially claiming not to remember whether he had received the award from Al-Arian’s group, Norquist, when challenged, declared he was "proud."

The Center for Security Policy has been warning for nearly two years that supposed friends of President Bush were exposing him to dangerous, extremist groups with established records of justifying, supporting – and in some cases, funding – terrorism. It has warned specifically and repeatedly about Al-Arian.

However, Norquist, a major figure in the conservative movement who has been promoting those groups – and exploiting his ties to the president and trusted political advisers like Rove – has launched a jihad of his own against the Center and other critics, questioning motives and branding them as "racists and bigots." Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney addressed Norquist’s jihad last week in an open letter.

American Conservative Union President David Keene has referred to the problem in a recent column. So has syndicated columnist Mona Charen, and political reporter Ralph Hallow of the Washington Times.

Still, the question must be asked: Who put the White House and President Bush in this embarrassing and potentially dangerous situation?