Hamas brothers continue improving. This letter also appeals for support for the Jihad so that the people will not lose faith in Islam.

As a result of the potentially embarrassing disclosure of Islamic Jihad maintaining a USF-supported quasi-American headquarters, there has been an attempt to down-play the violent reality of the Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization, and even to dilute the true connection between ICP, WISE and Islamic Jihad, though records recently released by the federal government indicate that Tampa wasn't just a convenient "home-away-from-home" for the Damascus-based terrorist group, but an actual command-and-control headquarters. Khalil Shikaki, the brother of gunned-down Islamic Jihad commander and one of the founders of the movement, was also an adjunct professor for the University of South Florida in 1992.

In letters-released by the FBI-between Khalil Shikaki and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, there are references to "Abu Omar," the Hamas nom de guerre of political chief Musa Abu Marzook. In other internal correspondence released by the FBI, there are internal letters between Shallah and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), Hamas' strategic arm in the United States. In the letter Shallah requested, in regard to an ad WISE sent to the UASR, "because of the general situation, we prefer not to publish it or take any steps that gives the idea that both institutions are connected to each other, something that would cause damage to one or both of them *** I wish that the contact and the cooperation remain undisclosed.

Professor Khalil Shikaki possessed such an impassioned voice for moderate political solutions to the Middle Eastern problems that it prompted the USF to finalize its cooperative relationship with WISE. Yet documents seized by federal officials uncovered a wealth of information, including incriminating letters, proving Khalil Shikaki using Shallah as a courier to ferry information, messages and even operational materials to his brother Fathi in Damascus, head of Islamic Jihad. When publicly asked however, Khalil always maintained he had no contact with his broth

er.

THE AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL

Although AMC claims it is against "violence and terrorism," its publications, conferences and internal materials tell a different story. AMC has repeatedly championed and supported Hamas and its leaders, routinely declaring Hamas "is not a terrorist group" and claiming that U.S. efforts to clamp down on terrorist funding in the U.S. are "anti-Islam." Following the 1995 arrest of Hamas terrorist.commander Musa Abu Marzuk, then-executive director Abdulrahman. Alamoudi became Marzuk's primary defender. "I know the man, he is a moderate man on many issues," Mr. Alamoudi was quoted in the Washington Post adding, "This [arrest] is an insult to the Muslim community."55 Soon, Mr. Alamoudi began organizing Marzook's defense fund. In 1996, Alamoudi stated on Arabic television, "I have known Musa Abu Marzook before and I really consider him to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement, Hamas *** I work together with him."56 The AMC has provided office space to the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front, organized press conferences for visiting officials of the Sudanese National Islamic Front (an organization defined as "terrorist" by the State Department Terrorist), lauded the electoral victory of the radical Islamic Turkish Refah Party known for its open anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, championed the radical Iranian-trained antiAmerican mujahideen (holy warriors) in Bosnia, portrayed President Clinton's meeting with Salman Rushdie as an insult to Muslims comparable to the Holocaust against the Jews, and attacked the media for exposing militant Islam's repression of women and their human rights.

CONCLUSION

In December, 1996 and December 1997, the full strength of the radical Islamic groups could be seen once again this time at their unprecedented annual conferences held in various cities: Toledo, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Sumerset, New Jersey; Orlando, Florida; Los Angeles and Ontario, California;

55 Washington Post, July 28, 1995.

56 Interview with Abdulrahman Alamoudi, March 22, 1996 Middle East TV interview with Alamoudi of the American Muslim council. Alamoudi: "Yes, I am honored to be a member of the committee that is defending Musa Abu Marzook in America. That is a mark of distinction on my chest * * * I have known Musa Abu Marzook before and I really consider him to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement Hamas, eh * * * in the Palestinian movement in general, and I work together with him."

In the end, Islamic radicals have used the United States primarily as a safehaven to carry out activities that they would be prohibited from carrying out in their homelands. On the one hand, these groups are fully cognizant of the fact that should they draw too much unwanted and negative attention to their activities in the United States, it might jeopardize their status and relative immunity from overt scrutiny and freedom to operate unimpeded. On the other hand, the very premise of the Islamic groups' ideological identity is a hatred toward the United States, the West and to other "declared enemies of Islam." This delicate balance between the two conflicting emotions-torn between the need to keep the U.S. safe to organize Jihad and the need to carry out Jihad against the U.S.-is the principal determinant of when Islamic terrorism is carried out. When the rage of the fundamentalists exceeds the self-restraint, that's when terrorism is likely to be carried out in the United States.

The very fact that the top terrorist leaders of both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad radical groups were found to have been living in the United States should disabuse anyone of the notion that militant Islamic organizations are not using the United States for safe haven. FBI director Louis Freeh testified for the first time on the record that Hamas raises "substantial cash funds from the United States to areas in the Mid-East where we could show Hamas receipt and even expenditure of those funds".57 Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have not only raised considerable amounts of funds in the United States but have also set up operational headquarters in the U.S. where terrorist attacks and military strategies have been orchestrated. In turn, both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have succeeded, in large part, in establishing their support infrastructure because both groups have networked together with other militant Islamic groups.

The culmination of this pan-Islamic militant partnership may have been seen in the World Trade Center bombing: Rather than being an attack dominated by the militant Islamic Jama from Egypt, evidence now shows that the bombing was the product of collaboration from five different radical Islamic organizations, including the Gama Islamiya, Islamic Jihad, al-Fuqra, Sudanese National Islamic Front and Hamas. The scope and breadth of these militant Islamic groups should demonstrate unambiguously that while not coordinated formally on an operational level, the militant Islamic groups network with one another in a sort of terrorist "Internet". At virtually every place on the globe today-Paris, Rome, Dallas, New York or Manila, Peshawar, Gaza, Beirut and Khartoum-militant Islamic groups can network with one another in receiving or providing assistance, obtaining safe haven, and generating mutual support for all of their activities.

The absence of a traditional hierarchy within these terrorist groups has now created a new terrorist paradigm. In 1995 (April 6) testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, then-acting director Admiral William Studdman stated that the "[Islamic] groups are even more dangerous in some ways than the traditional groups because they do not have a well-established organizational identity and they tend to decentralize and compartment their activities. They are also capable of producing more sophisticated conventional weapons as well as chemical and biological agents. They are less restrained by state sponsors or other benefactors that are the traditional groups. These new groups appear to be disinclined to negotiate, but instead seek to take revenge on the United States and Western countries by inflicting heavy civilian casualties. The World Trade Center bombers are prime examples of this new breed of radical, transnational, Islamic terrorist."

ATTACHMENT 1.-THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR): A CASE STUDY OF DECEPTION: A MILITANT ISLAMIC GROUP IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING CAIR officials and AMC have engaged in repeated campaigns to defame journalists and slander writers and officials who speak out against militant Islamic terrorism and fundamentalist violence. It is clear from a review of CAIR's statements and activities that one of its goals is to further the agenda of radical Islamic terrorist groups by providing political support. By masquerading as a mainstream public affairs organization, CAIR has taken the lead in trying to mislead the public about the terrorist underpinnings of militant Islamic movements, in particular Hamas. CAIR has defended the terrorist regime of the Sudan (which is engaged is a genocidal holy war against Christians), the Hamas terrorist organization and its leader Musa Marzouk, and coordinated and sponsored visits of known international radical fundamentalists, including those that have called for the killing of Jews.

57 Testimony of FBI Director Louis Freeh, March 12, 1996 Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

CAIR has sponsored visits of Islamic extremists in the United States. For example, the September 1994 issue of CAIR News reports that CAIR coordinated a series of meetings for Bassam Alamoush, a Jordanian Islamic militant, with U.S. government officials. At the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) conference in Chicago in December 1994, Alamoush called for the killing of Jews. According to a video of Alamoush's speech, he said, "Somebody approached me at the Mosque [in Amman] and asked me, if I see a Jew in the street, should I kill him?" After pausing a moment with a dumbfounded face, Alamoush answered the question to a laughing crowd: "Don't ask me. After you kill him, come and tell me. What do you want from me, a fatwa [legal ruling]? Really, a good deed does not require one." Later in the speech, Alamoush was interrupted by an aide with a note "good news ✦✦✦ there has been a suicide operation in Jerusalem" killing three people. Thunderous applause followed his statement.

CAIR has routinely exaggerated or fabricated "hate crimes" against Muslims. CAIR citicizes "stereotyping" of Muslims but its definitions of stereotyping includes all articles that expose or detail Islamic extremism, discuss terrorism and cite other issues deemed "offensive" to CAIR. Thus, in the past four years, CAIR officials have attacked as "anti-Muslim" The New Republic, U.S. News and World Report, The Atlantic Monthly (it had an article about the militant Islamic rule and oppression in the Sudan) the Dallas Morning News (it exposed the Hamas infrastructure in Texas), the Reader's Digest (it published an article exposing the repression of Christians by Communist regime and Islamic extremists) the Tampa Tribune (it exposed the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in Tampa), the Weekly Reader's Current Events (its transgression was a story about international terrorism), The Journal of American Medical Association (its transgression was an article about the victims of terrorism), the travel writer Paul Thereux (he attacked the fatwa on Salman Rushdie), Vice President Albert Gore (he used the word Jihad), the Wiesenthal Center (it showcased Ayatollah Khoumeni's call for the death of Jews), Father Richard John Neuhaus (he favorably reviewed a book that documented militant Islamic repression of Christians and Jews), and New York Times columnist Abe Rosenthal (he praised the documentary “Jihad in America.”)

To substantiate its claims about “hate crimes,” CAIR publishes annual reports on alleged hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims. Upon closer scrutiny, a large proportion of the complaints have been found to be fabricated, manufactured, distorted or outside standard definitions of hate crimes. The most egregious example of this is the fact that CAIR classified the arrest of Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk and the conviction of World Trade Center bombing conspiracy ringleader Sheik Omar Abdul-Rahman in its annual survey of "hate and bias crimes" against Muslims.

CAIR's 1997 report on "hate crimes" goes even further, labelling the death of Ahmed Abdel Hameed Hamida as a "hate crime." Hamida drove his car into a crowd of Israelis at a Jerusalem bus stop on February 26, 1996, the day after one suicide bombing and six days before another. Hamida killed one woman and injured twentythree other Israelis. He attempted to escape on foot but was shot to death by Israeli civilians. He shouted "Allahu Akbar," (God is Great!) as his car struck the crowd. There was literature from the Islamic Jihad extremist group in the car, and subsequent Israeli investigation determined that he had previously made a statement affirming his intent to kill Jews. Hamida was a terrorist; CAIR classified his death as a "hate crime."

CAIR's head, Nihad Awad has expressed his tacit support for Hamas' military operations, including suicide bombings. In an interview on 60 Minutes (November 13, 1994), he was asked whether he supported the "military undertakings of Hamas." Awad responded, "Well, I think that's-that's for people to judge there." Wallace persisted, "I'm asking you." Awad finally responded, "The the United Nations Charter grants people who are under occupation to defend themselves against illegal occupation."

At a symposium at Barry University (Florida) on March 22, 1994, Awad stated, "I am in support of the Hamas movement." (Video, Conference at Barry University) CAIR's founders have close institutional ties to Islamic extremist groups. Nihad Awad, CAIR's executive director, was formerly editor of the Muslim World Monitor, the English language newspaper of the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), an organization identified by law enforcement officials as a Hams front. He was listed in the December 1995 edition of the Arab American University Graduate (AAUG) News as representing IAP at the AAUG's 1995 annual conference, a year after he joined CAIR.

Rafeeq Jabar, a founding director of CAIR, is the president of Islamic Association of Palestine in Chicago. Mohammed Nimer, director of CAIR's research center, was a director of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR) in 1992.

UASR has been described as a component of Hamas. A terrorist operative, arrested and convicted by Israeli authorities, called UASR "the political command of Hamas in the United States." (New York Times, "Israel Says That a Prisoner's Tale Links Arabs in U.S. to Terrorism," February 17, 1993). Musa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas' political bureau who was deported from the U.S. in 1997, was the president of UASR from 1987 through 1992.

The Islamic Association for Palestine (LAP) where Awad served, has close ties to Hamas. IAP has distributed Hamas communiqués calling for the killing of Jews, produced training videos for Hamas operatives and recruited for Hamas in the United States. Oliver Revell, former Associate Deputy Director of the FBI, has publicly called the IAP a "Hamas front."

CAIR attacked the 1995 Executive Order Freezing Assets of Groups Linked to Terrorism as directed specifically at Muslim groups: "We've been fearing something like this for a long time," said Ibrahim Hooper, "because there have been some elements in the pro-Israeli lobby accusing Muslim groups of raising money for these kinds of purposes with no evidence whatsoever of diversion of funds. ("Clinton Freezes Assets of Mideast Groups Linked to Terrorism," Washington Post, January 25, 1995).

In the October 1997 issue of First Things, the journal's editor, Father Richard John Neuhaus, favorably reviewed The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude" by Bat Ye'or. The book chronicled the formal second class citizenship and discrimination against Christians and Jews living under Islamic rule during the past 1000 years. Father Richard John Neuhaus also expressed his concern about the rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism, CATIR issued a press release calling upon the Catholic Church to investigate Fr. Neuhaus because he "portrayed Islam as a permanent threat to Western society, used racial and ethnic slurs against Arabs, offered inaccurate and offensive information about the spread of Islam *** and suggested that Christian-Muslim dialogue might be a 'delusion.'" (CAIR Press Release, October 16, 1997).

After the CAIR press release, Father Neuhaus received a flood of hostile communications which used terms like "venomous diatribe," "hateful xenophobia,” “agitating for a new Crusade," and "obviously mentally ill." Father Neuhaus commented that "the attack initiated by CAIR produced dozens and dozens of letters * * * some of them accompanied by hundreds of signatures of Muslims who claimed to be deeply offended by the review. * * * The campaign obviously had the aim of intimidating into silence anyone who dares to say anything less than complimentary about things Muslim" (Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, "Islamic Encounters," First Things, February 1998).

On August 23, 1996 and December 27, 1997, Washington Post columnist Nat Hentoff, a consistent and determined spokesman for human rights, published columns criticizing Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson, among others, for failing to speak out against the enslavement of black Christians and animists in the Sudan and Mauritania. CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper responded that Jackson and others were silent "out of reluctance to indulge in politically and religiously motivated sensationalism that plays on and amplifies existing Islamophobic tendencies in Western society" and accuses Hentoff of "unacknowledged political or religious agendas, antiMuslim stereotyping or cultural bias" (Letter to the editor, Washington Post, January 17, 1998).

CAIR has sponsored visits of radical Islamic leaders who have issued racist remarks. At a May 18, 1997 CAIR fundraiser at Buena Park, California, CAIR featured former West German ambassador to Algeria and Morocco (who had converted to Islam). According to a tape of his comments, Hoffman stated:

*

"[C]entury old prejudices against Islam ** are still being reinforced almost daily through certain media. * * * During all this time of defamation of Islam, as a religion, our Prophet Muhammad in particular (pbuh) (peace be upon him, the common Muslim honorific for Muhammad] has been defamed like no other world personality before him or after him, far worse than people like Stalin or Hitler. And when Salman Rushdie published his blasphemies against Muhammad, he simply continued this tradition. And the Western legal system continue [sic] to treat Muhammad as an outlaw."

Hoffman went on to blame Zionism:

***

"Today, the defamation of Islam and Muslims serves a political purpose, because Israel, and the Zionist lobbies, and media around the world believe that Israel will fare better, the worse Islam fares. And as long as this is so, and so long as the most powerful country in the world seems to act like a dog wagged by its tail, that is Tel Aviv, our public relations efforts will remain an uphill battle."

CAIR's public statements support the goals of Islamic terrorist groups by characterizing terrorist acts against Israel as legitimate self-defense or acts of desperation

and despair. As such, these statements serve as the psychological warfare component of the terrorist campaign. CAIR disseminates disinformation by denying the ideological basis of terrorist actions, and the reality of Islamic extremism.

CAIR denies that Islam includes a concept of holy war and that Islamic extremists advocate violence. CAIR has claimed publicly that: "Jihad' does not mean 'holy war' *** It is a central and broad concept that includes struggle against evil inclination within oneself. * * * There is no such thing as 'holy war' in Islam." (CAIR Publication).

CAIR's Board of Advisors and Directors and featured speakers include known militants and anti-Semites. Imam Siraj Wahaj, a member of CAIR's board of advisors, was listed by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as an "unindicted person who may be alleged as [a]conspirator" in the World Trade Center bombing conspiracy. Hamza Yousef, who serves on CAIR's Board of Advisors, spoke at an Islamic convention in 1995: "the Jews would have us believe that God has this bias to this little small tribe in the Middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that this is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that's why it is a most racist religion." (Speech of Hamza Yusuf, Islamic Society of North America, 1995).

Yusuf Islam, who was the featured main speaker at a CAIR fundraiser in Virginia on November 11, 1996. Islam has previously expressed his views about Jews in a pamphlet published by the Islamic Association for Palestine: "The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his Creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be "God's Chosen People." (Yusuf Islam, Eyewitness, Islamic Association for Palestine, 1988).