Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is at the center of a firestorm over her request that the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice Departments, investigate potential “policies and activities that appear to be the result of influence operations conducted by individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.” This is an entirely legitimate call, as Bachmann abundantly illustrated in a 16-page letter to Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN), laying out the reasons for her concerns. Yet even Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who should know better, has upbraided Bachmann, criticizing her for including Hillary Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, among those she noted for having Brotherhood ties.
McCain declared in a statement on the Senate floor that “recently, it has been alleged that Huma, a Muslim American, is part of a nefarious conspiracy to harm the United States by unduly influencing U.S. foreign policy at the Department of State in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist causes.”
McCain, brimming with righteous indignation, thundered: “These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma’s family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now.”
He explained that the letter Bachmann and several other Representatives sent asking for an investigation into Muslim Brotherhood influence in the government “alleges that three members of Huma’s family are ‘connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.’ Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma’s father, passed away two decades ago.”
However, in her letter to Ellison, Bachmann explained that much more was behind her concern about Abedin than guilt-by-association based on family members: “The concerns about the foreign influence of immediate family members is such a concern to the U.S. Government that it includes these factors as potentially disqualifying conditions for obtaining a security clearance, which undoubtedly Ms. Abedin has had to obtain to function in her position. For us to raise issues about a highly-based U.S. Government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin. In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance.”
And in Abedin’s case, there are ample reasons for raising these questions. Her father, Syed Z. Abedin, was a professor in Saudi Arabia who founded the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs, an organization supported by the Muslim World League, a Brotherhood organization. Her mother, Saleha Mahmoud Abedin, is a member of the Muslim Sisterhood, the Brotherhood’s adjunct organization for women. The Brotherhood itself is in its own words, according to a captured internal document, dedicated to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house.”
All that leaves McCain unmoved, for he goes on to assert that “the letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision, or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government. Nor does either document offer any evidence of a direct impact that Huma may have had on one of the U.S. policies with which the authors of the letter and the producers of the report find fault.”
However, it is odd that McCain would expect Bachmann to produce the outcome of an investigation before any investigation has even taken place. As Bachmann noted, “these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance.” So why should Huma Abedin be exempt? Would an official who had family connections with the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nations be similarly exempt from scrutiny? If not, why should someone with familial connections to a group dedicated to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within”?
As Bachmann pointed out in her letter to Ellison, the Muslim Brotherhood ties of Abedin’s mother, father and brother have never been a secret, and have long been noted in the international press. Abedin herself has never publicly distanced herself from the Brotherhood, or explained how her worldview or her vision of Islam differ from that of her parents or brother. So by what moral calculus can it possibly be “sinister,” as McCain put it, to ask that Abedin be subjected to the same scrutiny that would be focused upon anyone seeking a security clearance that would allow access to sensitive material comparable to that which she enjoys?
What’s more, the Obama administration’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is so obvious that Egyptian demonstrators just days ago pelted Hillary Clinton’s motorcade with tomatoes and shoes for delivering that country up to the rule of the Brotherhood and the imposition of Islamic law that is almost certain to come. Protestors held signs reading “Message to Hillary: Egypt will never be Pakistan”; “To Hillary: Hamas will never rule Egypt” and “If you like the Ikhwan [Brotherhood], take them with you!”
Did Huma Abedin have any influence over the Obama administration’s warm support for the Brotherhood? No one knows. Michele Bachmann doesn’t know, and doesn’t claim otherwise. John McCain, for that matter, doesn’t know that Abedin didn’t have this kind of influence. That is precisely why an investigation should be made.
In Abedin’s defense, McCain recounted: “Some years ago, I had the pleasure, along with my friend, the Senator from South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham, of traveling overseas with our colleague, then-Senator Hillary Clinton. By her side, as always, was Huma, and I had the pleasure of seeing firsthand her hard work and dedicated service on behalf of the former Senator from New York – a service that continues to this day at the Department of State, and bears with it significant personal sacrifice for Huma.”
In this McCain demonstrates a naivete that is astonishing if he really means what he says. That Abedin works hard and has served Clinton with dedication is not at issue. But the lingering question is: To what end? It may be that she is just as patriotic and loyal to American principles and American freedoms as McCain implies. It may also be that her familial loyalties have led her to take a positive stance toward the Muslim Brotherhood that is ultimately inimical to the interests of the United States. There simply isn’t enough to go on to answer that question either way at this point. That’s why there should be an investigation, and why John McCain is wrong, and Michele Bachmann is right.
@ Georg von Starkermann:
You’re overreacting, George. How could I have been referring to you?
If you’ll click on the “@ Andy Lewis” tag in red above my blockquote, and then click again on the “@” tag in red above that, it will bring you to the comment I was alluding to; it was after yours — #15.
@ dweller:If you are referring to me, please note that my wife is a Jew and our children are all brought as Jews. I however have chosen to live my life as a German Lutheran and nobleman. The title I hold is Graf or Count in English.
@ Andy Lewis:
More likely it’s just intestinal gas being released.
Gives new meaning to the expression, “he doesn’t know beans.”
@ Dr. Sanford Aranoff: The USA never fought a war or declared war against the Arabs in any fashion. We had Arabs as allies, there was never an Arab Government that was a part of our Axis.
Oye!! Judensau!!
Had another big meal & still waiting on the pic!!
Judensaus are only good for bjs.
@ Dr. Sanford Aranoff:
He likes big govt all right, but to suggest he supported Obama in ’08 is a stretch.
There’s another explanation, more rational.
McCain is his own worst enemy.
He’s got a reservoir of anger in him (possibly from the abuse he got as a POW) that he’s never cleaned out of his system. And my guess is that he’s so terrified of it that the fear of it — the fear of having to behold it in all its ugliness whenever it gets the better of him — simply paralyzed him in the ’08 campaign.
Having to suppress it makes him pull his punches at just the moment when he should strike hardest.
In fact, in ’08 I speculated that if he were to lose that election, that in the end it would have been this one factor that was perhaps most responsible for the loss — regardless of what surface reasons the self-important pundits of the lamestream media (as well as the new, “alternative” media) would point to.
I still believe that about him.
No Laura I’m not naive. I have a company in the DC area that does work for the US government on a regular basis and i am very familiar of the background checks they perform. It’s you that is ignorant of what happens during these checks.
Four years ago, McCain secretly supported Obama, as McCain believes in big government. This is the only rational explanation during the debates.
When Congress declared war on Germany, etc., starting WW II, we fought Germans, Japs (called then Japs, not Japanese), and Arabs, esp the Moslem Brotherhood. Since the MB never signed a peace treaty, America is still legally at war with the MB.
@ Laura:
What you learn from your parents [between birth and age 5] forms your character for life. You have to look no further than our president. Huma Abedin is definitely worthy of investigation. I have lost my respect for McCain, even though I voted for him. I am not crazy about Bachmann, but in this case she is absolutely right! As fo Hilary Clinton, I thought she was just parroting her boss’s agenda, but now I see it goes deeper than that…
Laura Said:
The US government has spent 70 years (and trillions of dollars) on selling and carrying out its policy of ‘liberating’ oppressed nazis (the PLO, KLA, assorted Axis-allied fascists) all over the world. I don’t see the MB as anything other than just another bunch of nazis that it has ‘liberated’ (euphemistic newspeak for funded, foisted, and forced upon foreign people).
One could say that the US government is well intentioned, but it has just been ‘hijacked’ by the bad guys, but this would ignore its long legacy of eugenics, present day melanin tracking policy (which has been bad for blacks), its hatred of Jewish landowners not living as domestic dhimmi, and its penchant for pouring money into Islamist outreach (and funding the spread of Islam in prisons, etc.). I’m unable to detect the good intentions.
Certainly it is reasonable to question the appointment especially in light of the muslim brotherhood rise to international power under the Clinton state dept and obama white house. Weiner is irrelevant as a reference as there are thousands of jewish kapos. The real question is what is the reason for supporting the muslim brotherhood rise to power? I suspect it is related to the Saudis who have a political compact with Wahhabis,cum taliban, cum Al Qaeda, etc. and have used Al Qaeda as a repository for channeling the religious fervor which is the necessary outcome of their wahhabi indoctrination. The islamic cult maintains power and produces usable cannon fodder. The wahabbis(clerics) keep the population ignorant for the saud rulers but such cults need an outlet and the best outlet for all concerned is war in the interest of the continued power and profit of all parties. The ignorant must become cannon fodder. It is increasingly obvious that the US relation with Jihadis, through Saudi Arabia, in 1980’s Afghanistan never actually ended as this relationship is again active in Libya and now Syria. The question increasingly arises regarding Al qaeda operations in Iraq against americans, as well as shiites, and 9-11. Are they trying to say that the current situation where Al qaeda and US appear to be on the same side was in hiatus during the 1990’s, through 9-11, the iraq war, etc.??? The appearance appears to scream, with this apparent renewed relationship, that it never actually ended. The US state dept and Saudi relationship appears to be a fountain of corruption which has directly caused an enormous loss of american lives through the gulf wars, 9-11, the iraq war beginning with GHWB though Dubya and now picked up by the Saudi financed into Harvard BHO. The Saudis may have taught the US that the best way of controlling huge ignorant, hungry populations is through the mind control cult of Islam. What could be better than keeping ignorant males in ignorance giving them only religious education and giving them an outlet for their insane drives in foreign wars, where they can conveniently die in furtherance of rulers interests while at the same time removing them as a danger to the same rulers. What could be a better solution to handling this massive ignorant population which sits on oil? The alternative is educating the massively expanding masses of ignorant mouths needing feeding to have democratic elections which usher in enlightened govts who become successful at feeding these dangerous ignorant mouths. I say that process is too long and too unreliable in its outcomes and that the Saud’s approach has been accepted as being the most likely to maintain stability, hence US support to install MB. What do you think is the likely choice: a democratic arab spring or a muslim brotherhood result presumably springing from a democratic process. Israel is the fly in the ointment because the anti jew rhetoric his reaching uncontrollable proportions just like the ignorant mouths needing feeding has reached uncontrollable proportions. They are opting for saudi solutions to the Jewish problem, as being presented by the Sauds, but the real saudi solution is a massacre of the jews and israel as required by wahabbis and all other forms of Islam supported by Saudis. How can they uneducated the indoctrinated masses to a different tune. Israel must assume a posture that the “friends” and “allies” are now under the control of the jew killing enemy who has purchased all parties (romney, israels “friend”, seeks to appoin james baker the saudi jew killers point man). The wagons of the jew killers are now encircling the jews of israel and the diaspora. All jews may again become partners in the next holocaust now envisioned(sacrifice the jews for world stability); the only approach will be in unity and recognition of danger, the preparation for massive sampson option threats, and the preparation for the seizure of the Oilfields which lie at the heart of the impending holocaust and are the seed for a paradigm shift. Israel can change everything ONLY with the seizure of the OIlfields which are now financing this massive array against the Jews. Look everywhere and the effect of the saudi oil money can be easily seen in every corner of the globe and up to the US govt. seizing this oil is the solution to all problems, it is not impossible, it is doable and the moment it occurs all the forces against israel will lose their funding and power.
@ Bill:
Bill, you are extremely naive. We have a government which practices political correctness. To properly vet Huma Abadine would have been “islamophobic”. For example, everyone knew the Fort Hood jihadist was a danger but nobody said a word because of the fear they would be repremanded as “islamophobic”, even as he openly preached that it was justified for muslims to kill American soldiers. Yet he remained in the military.
Furthermore this government does not see the muslim brotherhood as being anything bad. This administration has in fact aided and abetted the muslim brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt, Libya and now Syria. So the fact that Huma Abedine’s family is directly involved with the muslim brotherhood would raise no alarm bells in the Arabist State Department.
I think its the other way around. The US government is the ventriloquist dummy with the mb operating the brainless and lifeless being.
Being a ‘loyal American’ has no meaning. One is either loyal to the government (a big-lie spewing Judeophobic, Christianphobic, secularphobic, Islamophilic organization), or loyal to the best interests of American citizens. The two cannot be interchanged.
Huma has undoubtedly been fully vetted, and there can be no doubt that her full loyalty is to the US government. The MB is best thought of as a ventriloquist dummy, with the State Department and its allies being the ones operating this otherwise brainless and lifeless being.
Wow. The ignorance on this board is amazing. To think that her and her family’s backgrounds have not been toughly checked out by the star department by now is pure ignorance . You can’t change a light bulb in a government building or airport I this town with out having a background check and a security clearance.
If Huma were truly a patriotic and loyal American, wouldn’t her Muslim Brotherhood/Sisterhood relatives publicly disown her? Wouldn’t other MB officials publicly denounce her, even threaten her with death, for her marriage to a Jewish man? The only reason why you don’t hear a peep from the MB and her relatives is that they know she is working for their interests behind enemy lines. Islam allows for deception to advance the spread, and dominance, of Islam.
The fact that the U.S. has consistently promoted a pro-MB foreign policy during Hilary’s time as Sec. of State raises serious suspicions about Huma. There is no way that a believing MB-type Muslim could ever be loyal to the U.S. If Huma rejected the beliefs and political aims of her parents and the MB, she would likely warn everyone she could of the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood, not work in support of a pro-MB foreign policy. Defectors from the former Soviet Union wanted to inform Americans about the evils of communism, not promote, or work in support of, a pro-communist foreign policy. I know it is possible that she is a loyal American who rejects the MB and the religious/political philosophy of her family, but it is not very likely when you really think about it.
@ Rick Schvance:
Try holding back your vomit until you explode. Love to see stuffed pig exploding.
Someone has obviously been repeatedly rejected by Jewish women.
@ yamit82:
I remember.
Time to dump the nazi trash.
@ Laura:
Let’s not overlook or forget Hillary’s pro-Jewish bona fides:
@ Georg von Starkermann:
That is exactly the point of conducting an investigation, which is what McCain and her other defenders want to prevent.
@ Rick Schwag:
Did someone just post, or did the website take a dump?
Post your pic Laura. I ate too much and I need to vomit!
Judensau!!
I don’t know if Huma Abedin is a member of the Moslem Brotherhood or not. Nor do I care if any of her relatives are or not. After all my Father was a well known Nazi and I was never a member of the Nazi Party. Just a member of the Hitler Youth, and that doesn’t really mean much these days.So what. I will assume that was vetted to get to that position. As far as her marriage to Wiener. That’s her mistake and no one else’s. Whether he is Jewish or not is meaningless. Most American Jews are so reformed that you cannot tell if they are liberal Christians or Liberal Jews. Really both are in the same boat. So let’s get our facts straight about Ms. Abedin before we throw her to the wolves.
@ Michael Ejercito:
What happened to Ron and Rand Paul? Stabbed you fools in the back huh? 🙂
@ BlandOatmeal:
Some might say better late than never but I would never say such a thing. Damage already inflicted.
You should ask yourself, if you were wrong about McCain, who and what else have you been wrong about?
@ James B – Montreal:
There have been rumors about the two of them which would explain why Hillary chose her.
Because no respectable Jewish woman would marry a pervert.
@ Michael Ejercito:
Huma Abedin is not a fellow American and we are not ignorant of what she stands for. And what she stands for is the muslim brotherhood, which is against everything America stands for. How is it ethical for a United States senator to be defending someone with ties to the muslim brotherhood? McCain is not ethical and he is not acting in the best interests of America. He’s another politically correct tool and useful idiot sitting in our government. Michelle Bachmann is ethical and she is a heroine.
Why did you bother to return, you were not missed.
Commenters #6 and #7 should be removed. Those who sympathize with our enemies do not belong on Israpundit.
She’s really hot. I can see why Weiner didn’t marry a yenta!
John McCain is an ethics hero.
This is no different than those smears directed against Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
John McCain: I had the pleasure of seeing firsthand her hard work and dedicated service on behalf of the former Senator from New York – a service that continues to this day at the Department of State, and bears with it significant personal sacrifice for Huma”.
Pleasure? John, to what degree did those horrible years wasted in a vietnamese jail affect you? This is pleasure for you? skip it
significant personal sacrifice? is this volunteer work? How much is her gross salary? What is the real value of her benefits?
I echo everyone’s thoughts. This is truly bizarre. Of all the females presented or listed and shown to Hitlery, this is what she chose? Someone with a blood link with significant persons in the MB?
Where was the blessed US media on this? Has Spencer, Emerson or Pipes ever blogged this fact?
The US ruling class collaborated with the 3rd Reich, absorbed its criminals after WWII, and have been infatuated with it and its romanticized ‘Arabist’ mythology for at least 90-100 years. This article is just presenting a theatrical account of how this love of Islam ‘snuck’ in there, how US leaders were ‘bamboozled’.
I say, ‘nonsense’. Imperialistic (and Judeophobic) warmongers and Islam go hand in hand.
Anyone who doesn’t see a problem with the fact that the aid to the Secretary of State has direct family ties to the muslim brotherhood, a sworn enemy of America, is himself not fit to serve in the United States Senate.
I unfortunately supported McCain in his 2008 election bid. Little did I know, that I was merely supporting the older of two Democratic Left-wing Radical candidates. I’ve lost my respect for John McCain.
McCain is not just naive, he is either ignorant or already “convinced” that Islam is the religion of peace and the Muslims in the West are the victims of society. Hillary should be investigated for her long term relationship with Huma Abedin. If she, Huma, is a true Muslim she could not have been married to a Jew (Anthony Weiner)under Sharia. If she is an apostate she should have been known as such. There is a short list of apostates V.I.P. but she was never included. The WH open friendship with the American Muslim community started under the Clinton administration when the first, out of many to come afterwards, Iftar dinners was held at the WH. Bill Clinton also “officiated” Huma and Anthony’s non-denominational wedding ceremony. Unless there are “unknown unknowns” in the equation, Michelle Bachmann is entitled to try to clear the air.