The enemy within: Gaffney warns of Islamist influence operation in the U.S.

"The article you are about to read is the most disturbing that we at frontpagemag.com have ever published." With these words, David Horowitz introduces an article by Center for Security Policy President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. that is featured today on his popular "e-zine."

The article appears under the headline "A Troubling Influence." It describes in considerable detail the danger posed by radical Muslim or "Islamist" organizations in the United States. This danger has been considerably magnified by the immense sums Saudi Arabia has invested in these groups’ creation and activities. According to this week’s U.S. News and World Report cover story, the Saudis have invested some $70 billion, much of it to promote their virulently intolerant and anti-Western Wahhabi brand of Islamism around the world – including in the United States.

Gaffney’s article warns that the problem arising from the activities of Saudi-backed organizations and individuals (notably, such pro-Islamist activists as Sami al-Arian and Abdurahman Alamoudi – both of whom have been arrested and charged with terrorism-related crimes) has been further compounded by a sophisticated political influence operation aimed at the Bush Administration. What David Horowitz and many others find particularly "disturbing" is the prominent role played by conservative activist Grover Norquist in facilitating Islamist penetration of Republican circles and the White House.

The following are among the topics addressed in the Gaffney article:

Grover Norquist’s connections to terrorist-sympathizers and -supporters;

the role this influence operation has been playing in mainstreaming such Islamists;

Norquist’s contribution to advancing key Islamist agenda items;

the implications such legitimation has for government policy in the War on Terror and for homeland insecurity; and

the effect conferring high-level political access and influence could have in increasing the Islamists’ sway over the Muslim community in America and worldwide.

David Horowitz, a one-time radical Leftist who has become widely admired as a conservative leader for his courage and moral compass, concludes his introduction with the following powerful indictment:

Many have been reluctant to support these charges or to make them public because they involve a prominent conservative. I am familiar with these attitudes from my years on the Left. Loyalty is an important political value, but there comes a point where loyalty to friends or to parties comes into conflict with loyalty to fundamental principles and ultimately to one’s country. Grover’s activities have reached that point.