...One other network that deserves to be mentioned is that of Jamaat al-Fuqra. This is a Pakistan-based terrorist group run by Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, a blatantly anti-Semitic extremist who does us the favor of not hiding his true colors. In 1979, he began creating large compounds in the U.S., using the front group he established called "The Muslims of America." It's uncontestable that this is a front-one compound at Red House, Virginia even named a street after Sheikh Gilani, and a video obtained by the Christian Action Network shows Gilani personally engaged in terrorist training, where he instructs those interested in receiving training to contact his group through the various compounds he made in the U.S. Although a number of members of this group have committed terrorism or other criminal acts, it is still not listed as a terrorist group.

The Christian Action Network is releasing a new documentary about this group called "Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around U.S.," which can be pre-ordered at ChristianAction.org. The film is premiering on February 11 at Landmark Theater in Washington DC at 7:30 PM, and it is free to attend.

FP: Tell us about more groups and if the federal government is aware of them.

Mauro: Well, the government should be aware of them, since several of them have been consulted by various government agencies and sometimes have been used for "sensitivity training" of FBI personnel and law enforcement. But let me first state that not all members of the following groups are extremists, but it is clear the leadership is not moderate, and the groups were founded by, and part of, Muslim Brotherhood.

Luckily, the Holy Land Foundation case proves the government is aware of this group's links to the Muslim Brotherhood and helps us to identify many of them, although there are too many to name and discuss here. The Holy Land Foundation was shut down by the government for financing Hamas, and its officials have been found guilty. Using the foundation's own documents, the government showed that HLF was set up by the Muslim Brotherhood as part of a "Palestine Committee" to support Hamas and to spread awareness about what they called "the savagery of the Jews." The memo said that among the members of the Palestine Committee were the heads of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a group that was shut down for supporting Hamas. Top officials from IAP also founded the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The FBI wiretapped a meeting of Hamas members and supporters in Philadelphia in 1993 where two of the future founders of CAIR discussed how to disguise their agenda by sounding moderate and non-threatening. They said they needed to form a new political activist group, and CAIR was born the following year...

...The government has confirmed that the Muslim American Society was "founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States" and it is the one most obviously connected to the group. Their Executive-Director, Mahdi Bray, visited Egypt in February 2008 to express his support for Muslim Brotherhood. Bray also once was the political director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The government, FBI memos and internal Muslim Brotherhood documents have specifically identified the International Institute for Islamic Thought, Muslim Students Association, Islamic Circle of North America, Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Students Association, and North American Islamic Trust as Muslim Brotherhood groups, among many others.

It is worthy to note that these groups have not been kind to their moderate Muslim competitors who more accurately represent America's Muslims. Several CAIR officials have been served with a summons by counter-terrorism expert Dave Gaubatz and his associates due to allegations from clients, including Muslims, that the organization had engaged in fraud and racketeering. CAIR has also rallied against anti-extremist conferences organized by the Free Muslims Coalition and American-Islamic Congress, for example. No wonder CAIR has lost 90% of its membership since 2001.

FP: How extensive has the Saudi and Muslim Brotherhood effort in the U.S. been?

Mauro: It's so large and impressive that any attempt to accurately describe it sounds like conspiracy theory or alarmist propaganda, but there is overwhelming documentation of these networks...

FP: So why do we keep hearing that the Saudis are our allies and that they are fighting Al-Qaeda? How do you respond to that?

Mauro: Again, this comes from the narrow definition of what an ally is. Being an ally against terrorism is more than fighting Al-Qaeda. The majority of terrorists continue to be Saudis. The vast majority of terrorist fronts, especially in the U.S., are Saudi-funded. The vast majority of extremist literature and preaching comes from Saudi Arabia. This isn't a coincidence. And they can not be trusted to change their ways-after repeated promises to reform their education system...

...Keep in mind, the only reason Saudi Arabia is fighting Al-Qaeda within its borders is because the terrorist group began actively targeting the Royal Family in 2003. Prior to that, very few observers would say Saudi Arabia was a partner in fighting the group. By promoting radical Islam, though, the Saudis still create the pool from which Al-Qaeda recruits come from, and again, Al-Qaeda is just one small part of the enemy. Look at the Mumbai attacks. One of Lashkar-e-Taiba's schools was funded by the Saudis, and that's almost certainly the tip of the iceberg.

The lengths to which some people go to buy the line that the Saudis are a true ally boggles my mind...