Editor’s note: Are you ready for the Second American Revolution? Joseph Farah’s new book, “Taking America Back” exposes the weaknesses in America’s current system and offers practical solutions – solutions that are real and doable, solutions that can revive freedom, morality and justice in our nation. Order your copy now in WorldNetDaily’s online store, ShopNetDaily!
Attorney General John Ashcroft says the arrest of University of South Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian on terrorist connections was made possible by the USA Patriot Act’s provisions allowing the sharing of information between U.S. intelligence agencies.
Nonsense.
Long before the U.S. government got the backbone to pursue Sami Al-Arian, journalists were doing it – including journalists at WorldNetDaily. Journalists don’t have the benefit of the resources of U.S. intelligence agencies and can rarely get cooperation from federal law enforcement on such matters.
Yet, there was enough on the public record about Sami Al-Arian to make him suspect.
Less than a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, WorldNetDaily columnist Debbie Schlussel exposed the fact that, less than four months earlier, Al-Arian was invited to the White House.
Now, forgive me, but there is a big difference between prosecuting a man for support of terrorism and inviting him to the White House. Sami Al-Arian’s activities prior to and after Sept. 11 were well known. Yet, the Secret Service cleared him to meet with the president by invitation in the summer of 2001 even though he was already reportedly under investigation by federal agents.
Now, Al-Arian, born in Kuwait, is under indictment by a federal grand jury on 50 counts of terrorist-related charges involving 14 years of activities on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group responsible for numerous suicide murders in Israel – including some that resulted in the killing of America citizens.
Before the White House session, during the 2000 campaign, Al-Arian was even photographed with George W. Bush at a fund-raiser.
Why should the Bush camp have known better than to let Al-Arian close to the candidate way back in 2000?
Two years earlier, as a guest speaker at the convention of the American Muslim Council, Al-Arian, mimicking the Quran, spoke of Jews as “monkeys and pigs,” adding “Muhammad is leader. The Quran is our constitution. Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death of Israel. Revolution! Revolution! Until victory! Rolling, rolling to Jerusalem!”
Federal agents had copies of that speech – yet the Secret Service repeatedly allowed this man to come within a handshake of George W. Bush, the candidate and, later, the president.
Surely there was no need for a USA Patriot Act for those federal agents who had this information to pass it on to the Secret Service to protect a presidential candidate and, later, a president. Was that information passed on? The White House isn’t talking. If not, why not? If so, why did the White House or the Bush campaign ignore the warnings?
These are questions that need answers, as we conduct this war on terror.
I don’t buy Ashcroft’s public relations on behalf of the USA Patriot Act. The government had plenty of information on Al-Arian for the last five years – at least enough to keep him away from the White House. It did not. Now are we to believe that this information was somehow bottled up by laws designed to protect the civil rights of Americans? Do I need to remind the attorney general of the United States that Al-Arian is a foreign national, and not subject to those same protections? Not then and not now.
Clearly, the Bush campaign was eager for campaign cash in 2000 – so eager that it overlooked the security threat posed by Al-Arian. It overlooked his bigotry. It overlooked his professed extremism. The Bush campaign should be very embarrassed about all that now.
Then, just as clearly, in the White House’s efforts to appear all-inclusive, tolerant, open-minded and multi-cultural, it overlooked the security threat posed by Al-Arian in 2001. It overlooked his bigotry. It overlooked his professed extremism. It overlooked his support of terrorism – which was already well-known. The White House should be more than embarrassed. It owes the American people an explanation.
And John Ashcroft’s statement about the USA Patriot Act making all the difference is no explanation at all. It’s baloney.
WATCH: Tucker Carlson: No new updates on Trump’s assassination attempts. This should make you nervous
Tucker Carlson