MOSLEM WITH TIES TO “CONTROVERSIAL” GROUP LECTURED AT FORT HOOD
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2009/December/Controversial-Speaker-Welcomed-at-Ft-Hood/
Controversial Islamic Speaker Welcomed at Ft. Hood
By Erick Stakelbeck
CBN News Terrorism Analyst
December 08, 2009
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is facing criticism for bringing a controversial Islamic speaker to Fort Hood.
The criticism comes just one month after a radical Muslim’s shooting spree at the fort that killed 13 soldiers.
Dr. Louay Safi lectured on Islam last week to U.S. troops about to deploy to Afghanistan. He is a top official for the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA.
In 2007, the group was named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history. Evidence introduced at that trial showed that ISNA is closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. The brotherhood is a global Islamic jihadist movement that laid the foundation for groups like al Qaeda and Hamas.
Dr. Safi has also worked for a Saudi-funded organization called the International Institute of Islamic Thought. The group has been on the radar screen of federal investigators for years. But Safi’s radical ties don’t end there.
In 1995, he was recorded on an FBI wiretap talking to convicted Palestinian terrorist Sami al-Arian.
So how was Safi chosen to lecture at Fort Hood? A spokesman for the Army base told CBN News that “Safi was one of the faculty members during a seminar about Islam for the Army’s 135th expeditionary unit. He said speakers are invited based on learning objectives, audience experience, and availability. The spokesman added that “organizers of the seminar were not aware of Safi’s alleged association, but have had no issues or concerns over his presentations nor has any unit raised any.”
However, those associations are not just alleged. They are concrete and all of them are readily available to the public just by doing a simple Google search on the Internet.
CBN News Terrorism Analyst Erick Stakelbeck appeared on Tuesday’s “The 700 Club” to explain why people are upset about the Islamic speaker’s lecture at Fort Hood. Click play to watch the interview.
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