The Wahhabi Lobby Loses

The primary defeat on Tuesday of Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney marks the latest in a series of serious setbacks to what has become known as the Wahhabi Lobby.

The Wahhabi Lobby is a far-flung network of organizations associated with the agenda of the radical Wahhabist sect of Islam and largely financed, directly or indirectly, by the Saudi Arabian government and its proxies.

In the course of McKinney’s campaign, it came to light that the veteran Congresswoman’s often vitriolic criticism of President Bush, his conduct of the war on terrorism and his support for Israel had earned her support from individuals closely associated with various controversial and Saudi-backed organizations. She had the singular misfortune to have received on Sept. 11 checks from a number of people who had ties to entities under investigation for fund-raising for and/or financing terrorists.

An article by Center President Frank Gaffney on FoxNews.com exposes how the Bush administration has begun to terminate the access it previously gave to prominent representatives of the Wahhabi Lobby.

The voters of New Hampshire will shortly determine whether to make Rep. John Sununu or Sen. Bob Smith the Republican candidate this Fall against popular Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. As with the races in Alabama and Georgia, Rep. Sununu’s support from many of the same radical Arab Americans and others associated with the Wahhabi Lobby — some of whom, in a reversal of the McKinney case, are crossing over from their normal, liberal Democratic column — is hardly the only issue in the election.

Yet if he winds up joining Hilliard and McKinney in retirement this fall, the ability of Mr. Sununu’s most controversial backers to misrepresent themselves as "mainstream" Muslims –and, thereby exercise an insidious and potentially dangerous influence within the U.S.– is certain to continue to nosedive.