US Naval Academy Instructor Now Serving As Research Director For US Muslim Brotherhood Organization.

US Naval Academy Instructor Now Serving As Research Director For US Muslim Brotherhood Organization.HT: GMBR.

Promotional material issued by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) indicates that US Naval Academy instructor Ermin Sinanovic is now serving as the IIIT Research Director. According to an IIIT announcement:

September 12, 2013 The 2nd MACCPAC – TFI Youth Leadership Program was held at the IIIT headquarters during the week of August 12-16, 2013.

MACCPAC’s mission is to promote mutual understanding and engagement in national security, human rights, justice, peace and democracy in the public squares all across the United States, and in other Muslim countries around the world. 

The purpose of the Youth Leadership Program is to create opportunities for Muslim American college and high school senior students interested in civic engagement and quality career development to meet Muslims who are leaders in those fields. Students represented colleges from Yale to George Mason, as well as metro area high schools.

The program began with orientation session that was led by Aktar Hossain, MACCPAC National Director; Dr. Sulayman Nyang; Dr. Ermin Sinanovic, Research Director for IIIT; and Abrar Omeish, MACCPAC Fellow.

Students heard from many speakers on a broad range of topics. These sessions included: ‘Responsibility of Muslim Youth in America,’ ‘Political Education in America,’ ‘Information about the Media,’ ‘College education and career development,’ and many others.

As the week went on, student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Nouran Ghanem, an aspiring doctor, said she walked away with a firm belief on the values of mentorship, ‘If I can reach an exceptional level in my career, then it’s my obligation to help those younger than me, and especially young Muslims just as this program has done for me’.

The program also included visits to local Muslim communities at Dar al-Hijrah, ADAMS, as well as a day trip to Washington, DC, and visits to Capitol Hill, the State Department, and the White House. The program successfully concluded on August 16 with a graduation ceremony which included a graduation speech by Dr. Yaqub Mirza, and certificates award to participating students.

Both Aktar Hossein and Sulayman Nyang are both close to the US Muslim Brotherhood and Abrar Omeish is the daughter of Esam Omeish, a former leader of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a US Muslim Brotherhood organization close to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2007, he resigned from the Virginia State Commission on Immigration following the pubic release of videos showing him condemning Israel and advocating “the jihad way.”

In October 2012, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented Abrar Omeish with a Girl Scout “100th Anniversary” pin during the State Department’s observance of the first International Day of the Girl Child.

According to his IIIT bio, Ermin Sinanovic is:

…an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. He studied for an MA and a PhD in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Prof. Sinanovic obtained two BAs (one in Qur’an and Sunnah Studies, the other in Political Science) and an MA (Islamic Civilization) from the International Islamic University Malaysia. His research interests include transnational Islamic revival, Southeast Asian politics, Islamic movements, Middle East politics, Islamic political thought, and Islam and politics in general. At the Naval Academy, Prof. Sinanovic teaches courses on Southeast Asian politics, Middle East politics, and Islam and politics. He speaks Bosnian, English, Arabic, and Malay. “

Dr. Sinanovic is also one of the founding members of the Bosniak Academy of Sciences and Arts, closely associated with Mustafa Ceric, the former Grand Mufti of Bosnia and an associate of Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. In September 2008, IIIT met with Dr. Ceric to discuss a proposal to a new University in Bosnia with IIIT acting as a consultant.

Dr. Sinanovic has also been featured at other IIIT events and as reported by the GMBDW in May, the IIIT announced that he would be teaching at a summer school from 24 August – 7 September 2013 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. A flyer about the program indicated that the major speaker at the IIIT Bosnian summer school would be Global Muslim Brotherhood figure Tariq Ramadan.

Our report also noted that one of the other instructors at the IIIT summer program would be US Muslim Brotherhood leader Louay Safi who was the subject of a pending criminal inquiry following the shooting at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas on November 5, 2009 in the worst shooting ever to take place on an American military base.

The inquiry followed revelations that the US Defense Department had brought Dr. Safi to Fort Hood as an instructor and that he had been lecturing on Islam to troops in Fort Hood who were about to deploy to Afghanistan. Another instructor at the summer program was to be Jasser Aouda (aka Jasser Auda), a member of the IIIT Academic Council and a close associate of Youssef Qaradawi as well as Tariq Ramadan.

A1991 internal document of the US Muslim Brotherhood, introduced as evidence in the holy Land Foundation trial, included IIIT in “a list of our organizations and organizations of our friends.” IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing of terrorism and both organizations had been under investigation at that time by the U.S. Justice Department until at least mid 2007.

The organization appeared to have withdrawn from public view following the 2002 raids but seems to be enjoying a renaissance of late. The IIIT Council of Scholars includes a number of important individuals from the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood such as Ingrid Mattson, the former President of ISNA. IIIT has a network of affiliates located in Europe, Africa, the MIddle East, and Asia and is heavily involved with publishing and promoting publications by Global Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Youssef Qaradawi who, according to one source, serves as an IIIT trustee. As noted when we first reported Dr. Sinanovic’s relationship with IIIT:

While there is no evidence to date suggesting any improper behavior on the part of Professor Sinanovic, the GMBDW wonders about the propriety of an instructor for the US military being so closely associated with an organization that is intimately tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and to its putative global leader Youssef Qaradawi, a virulent anti-Semite and the head of an organization declared a terrorist entity by the US government who has called for attacks on US troops and civilians in Iraq and for the collapse of the US itself. Teaching alongside Louay Safi, depending on the state of the criminal inquiry into his activities, may also be a serious issue.Please read the full story and many interesting links connected to this story here at the GlobalMuslimBrotherhoodReport.

Muslim Brotherhood member Louay Safi Is Syrian Opposition Leader; We Told You About him Two years Ago.

Muslim Brotherhood member Louay Safi Is Syrian Opposition Leader; We Told You About him Two years Ago.HT:TheGlobalMuslimBrotherhoodReport.

Flashback Sept 2011: U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Leader Central Figure In Newly Formed Syrian Opposition Council

U.S. media is reporting that U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader Louay Safi is a leading member of a newly formed council of Syrian opposition leaders. According to a Washington Post report:

A group of Syrian opposition activists announced Thursday the creation of a council designed to present a united front against President Bashar Assad’s regime, which has waged a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters during the past six months. The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with often differing ideologies, including Islamists and secularists, and there have been many meetings of dissidents who say they represent the opposition. 

But activists said the new “Syrian National Council,” formed during a meeting in Turkey, is the most serious initiative aimed at bringing revolutionary forces together. It groups some 140 opposition figures, including exiled opponents and 70 dissidents inside Syria, said Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based academic. Kodmani added that the council “categorically opposes” any foreign intervention or military operations to bring down Assad’s regime….. Louay Safi, a U.S.-based academic, said the council is broad-based and includes Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Kurds and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is “open to everyone unless they are against democracy,” he said

An AFP news photo shows Dr. Safi at the center of the group of council members who announced the formation of the council at a press conference in Turkey.
Dr. Safi was born and educated in Damascus and came to the U.S. sometime during the early 1980′s, likely around the time of the infamous “Hama Rebellion” when then Syrian President Hafez al-Assad brutally crushed an uprising in the city of Hama and many members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood fled abroad. Following the awarding of his PH.D in the U.S., Dr. Safi reports that in May 1992, he became an associate professor of political science at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), closely associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood, and later became a Deputy Dean and then Dean of the Research Centre and College of Islamic Knowledge and Human Sciences.

U.S. court records indicate that in 1995, Dr. Safi was in phone contact with convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al- Arian. According to a transcript of the intercepted conversation, the two discussed President Clinton’s new executive order banning financial transactions with terrorist groups including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 1998, Dr. Safi was a member of the advisory council of a journal published by the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), a part of the Palestine Committee of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood which was closely tied to Hamas.

In January 1999, Dr. Safi reports that he became the Research Director for the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), an important part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.

Also in January 1999, Dr. Safi says he was a founding member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) whose other founding members included several individuals associated with IIIT.

CSID is also part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and has close relations with the U.S. State Department.
In January 2000, Dr. Safi says he became editor of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, the publication of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), headquartered at IIIT. From January 2001 to January 2003, Dr. Safi says he was also AMSS President. In January 2003, Dr. Safi says he ended his position at IIIT and in January 2004 became Executive Director of the Leadership Development Center of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), another important part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.

In November 2005, Dr. Safi became Chairman of the newly established Syrian American Congress, described on its website as …a grassroots organization devoted to promoting educational, civic, economic, and human development, as well as advancing civil liberties and human dignity in Syria.” In January 2005, local media report indicates that Dr. Safi was identified as Unindicted Co-Conspirator Four in the indictment against Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian.

The report notes that Dr. Safi was the research director at IIIT which provided Al-Arian’s think tank with the bulk of its financial support.In September 2009, Dr. Safi became the ISNA Communications Director. Dr. Safi has been perhaps the leading voice at ISNA in complaining that criticism of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood is a form of “Muslim bashing.”

A previous post discussed Dr. Safi’s suspension as a lecturer for the U.S. military pending a criminal inquiry.

Another post discussed leaked diplomatic cables showing that the U.S. State Department secretly financed Syrian opposition groups and related projects, including a satellite TV station whose news director may have a brother with ties to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported on moves by the U.S. Government to reach closer relations with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

Flashback 2011: Former White House Syrian Intermediary And Muslim Brotherhood Supporter Appears At CAIR Event With State Department Official

The GMBDW had exposed most of this same information in a post from September 2011.

For more info on Louay Safi, go here.

Anti-Terror Authorities Question Where Money Goes From Group With Special License From Obama Administration.

Anti-Terror Authorities Question Where Money Goes From Group With Special License From Obama Administration.(CJR).By Patrick Poole: In July, the Obama State Department approved an extraordinary license for a newly formed U.S.-based organization, the Syrian Support Group, to raise money for Syrian rebels – overriding the administration’s own sanctions and Obama’s Executive Order against such activity. To some counterterrorism and terror finance authorities in Washington D.C., this extremely rare privilege raises considerable concerns. This is especially true because two related figures with the organization, Louay Safi and Mazen Asbahi, have previously been tied to terror fundraising efforts by Islamic organizations identified by the U.S. government in federal court as fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood. One U.S. Treasury official specializing in terror finance said: This license sets a dangerous precedent because it gives complete and perfect cover to virtually all of their activities. They can honestly say, “I can’t be fundraising for terror because I have a license from the State Department.” But we have absolutely no idea where that money is going once it leaves the United States.
And as the Supreme Court recognized in a court case a few years ago, money raised for terrorist groups is fungible. The situation in Syria is so fluid, we don’t have the slightest idea who is actually benefiting from this money being raised here, and anybody from the administration who says that they do is bald-faced lying. The Syrian Support Group was incorporated in April 2012, according to records obtained from the District of Columbia Corporations Division.
On May 24, the group sent a letter to the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and on July 23 that same office issued the license – a copy of which was obtained by The Blaze – allowing them to “export, reexport, sell, or supply to the Free Syrian Army (‘FSA’) financial, communications, logistical, and other services otherwise prohibited by Executive Order 13582 in order to support the FSA.” The Free Syrian Army is affiliated with the Syrian National Council governed by that group’s military bureau, which is overwhelming dominated by Islamist groups, including the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. The SNC’s political director, Louay Safi, used to be one of the top Islamic advisers to the Pentagon and was only one of two officials authorized to certify Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military services.
The attorney who actually incorporated the Syrian Support Group and applied for the State Department OFAC license was a Chicago attorney, Mazen Asbahi. When running for president in 2008, Barack Obama appointed Asbahi to head Muslim outreach for his campaign – a position he held for only a short period of time.
After his appointment, several media outlets noted that Asbahi had previously served as a board member of the Allied Assets Advisors Fund, a division of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). NAIT was identified by federal prosecutors as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2007 and 2008 and named unindicted co-conspirator in the case. Prosecutors entered into evidence hundreds of wire transfers showing that NAIT was actually the conduit used by the Holy Land Foundation to transmit millions of dollars to the terrorist group Hamas. Also joining Asbahi on the board of Allied Assets Advisors was Jamal Said, a Chicago-area imam who was personally named unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial.
A February 2004 article on the front page of the Chicago Tribune reports on Imam Said raising $50,000 in one night for Sami al-Arian, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in North America. Asbahi came under fire when news of his leadership role with NAIT, his affiliation with Jamal Said, and his connections with other Muslim Brotherhood front groups was noted by several media outlets. While he claimed that he only served for several weeks with the NAIT organization (a claim he never provided evidence for) he nonetheless resigned his position with the Obama campaign, though he continued to work “unofficially” in support of Obama’s election.
Re-enter Louay Safi, the onetime Islamic adviser to the U.S. government and current political director of the Syrian National Council based in Doha, Qatar. Safi’s relationship with the Pentagon ended in 2010 after it was revealed in media reports that he was teaching classes on Islamic theology to deploying troops headed for Afghanistan.
What concerned some observers was Safi’s ties to terrorism, which included his being named unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami Al-Arian terrorism support trial, being caught on federal wiretaps in conversations with top terror officials, and having his office raided in 2002 by U.S. Customs in a wide-spread terror finance investigation.
Those revelations prompted 13 members of Congress to send a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates demanding an end to the use of Safi as an approved instructor. By year’s end, Safi’s role with the Pentagon had come to an end.
Less than two years later, though, Safi reappeared as the head of the Syrian National Council at a press conference held in Istanbul. Which brings us back to the Syrian Support Group.
The fundraising efforts of the Syrian Support Group, incorporated by Mazen Asbahi, are directed exclusively to the Free Syrian Army, which is affiliated with the Syrian National Council, whose political director is Louay.
Safi.Asbahi and Safi showed up together at the same White House meeting on June 29, 2011, according to White House visitor logs, just a few weeks prior to Safi appearing in Istanbul announcing the formation of the Syrian National Council?
(Safi would visit the White House one more time before jetting off to Doha and Istanbul.) And Asbahi would visit the White House again this past April, just days after the Syrian Support Group was incorporated. The meeting itself was scheduled after the group’s incorporation papers had been filed and just one day before they were approved by the District of Columbia. 
That the Obama administration has turned to people and groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood to arm the Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow Assad is problematic on its face. But other questions are also raised about the State Department giving the Syrian Support Group a carte blanche to raise funds without any substantive oversight of where those monies are going. Especially when at least two of the individuals involved have already been tied to terror finance support.Read the full story here.