1993 World Trade Center bombing: Unindicted Co-Conspirator’s links to it just keep getting stronger

Siraj Wahhaj was long ago identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Among other things, he hosted the mastermind of the bombing – the “Blind Sheikh” in his mosque several times. The evidence against Wahhaj has been strong for years but the recent discovery connecting him to prominent Sudanese leader Hassan al-Turabi links Wahhaj even more closely to a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

First, here is what Andrew McCarthy – the man who prosecuted the “Blind Sheikh” successfully – had to say about the relationship between Turabi and the “Blind Sheikh”:

“Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) was also frequently at the receiving end of Turabi’s hospitality. Like Turabi and bin Laden, Abdel Rahman… perceived great benefit in joint ventures with other extremist fundamentalist groups, including Shiites. And like bin Laden, Abdel Rahman has been the beneficiary of generous Sudanese patronage. Thanks to the broad investigations surrounding Rahman’s trial in the World Trade Center bombing, we have extraordinarily detailed knowledge of the Sudanese assistance to Abdel Rahman’s terrorist operations in the United States and abroad.” – Andrew McCarthy, The Sudan Connection, 11/2/98

There is perhaps no one with stronger connections to both World Trade Center attacks (1993 and 2001) than Sudan’s Turabi. As we’ve reported, he worked hand in glove with the “Blind Sheikh” and was extremely instrumental in Osama bin Laden getting safe harbor there in the 90’s. Now it’s been learned that Turabi and Wahhaj may be more than simply ideological colleagues.

At this point, keep two organizations in mind – the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) and the Quba Institute.

Via Ryan Mauro at FrontPage Magazine:

Wahhaj is the Amir of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA). Two of its Shura Council members have served on the board of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia. The Interfaith Center boasts that in 2010 it “served nearly 10,000 individuals, partnered with more than 150 local religious congregations and institutions and two dozen civic and service organizations…”

MANA Shura Council member Anwar Muhaimin is on the Interfaith Center’s board of directors and is one of its founders. He is also a member of the Interfaith Center’s Religious Leaders Council of Philadelphia, which organized the inaugural prayer services for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Muhaimin currently leads the Quba Institute, previously called the International Muslim Brotherhood.

Although Muhaimin was educated in Saudi Arabia, he says he is not a Salafist and that his group is not affiliated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. However, its website has said that it’s been long partnered with the Muslim Students Association, a group that a 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo lists as one of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” More alarmingly, the Quba Institute’s former website said that Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood cleric Hasan al-Turabi was “instrumental in contributing instruction.” Al-Turabi has been called the “The Pope of Terrorism.”

While Mauro provides a hyperlink to the archive page that shows Turabi’s role with Quba, it too appears to have been taken down. However, on the Speeches and Essays page of MANA’s website is an article written by Altaf Husain, in which he heaps praise on Turabi for “spearhead(ing) the call to establish Islamic movements”. As we’ve reported, Turabi is also credited with founding the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO) for which President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, works as an Executive Secretary. Further bolstering our findings in this regard is that the ‘call to establish Islamic movements’ (quote from MANA website) is EXACTLY what the IDO is all about.

Here is a screenshot from the MANA website in which Turabi is essentially applauded for his work in founding the IDO. Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Bana is included as well:

MANA_Turabi

As Mauro points out, Wahhaj and Muhaimin are linked through MANA; Wahhaj is featured quite prominently on the group’s website (far right in photo):

MANA_Wahhaj

Ok, now let’s go back to the Quba Institute; Muhaimin heads that organization as Director. This is where we begin to see the Wahhaj-Muhaimin-Turabi loop begin to close.

For more than five years (June, 2003 – August, 2008), the homepage of the Quba Institute’s website included an introduction that boasted of al-Turabi’s role as an “educational and political luminar(y)” while also identifying him as the “former President of the Sudan”. It should be noted that in 1993, Sudan was identified as a State Sponsor of Terrorism by the U.S. State Department, largely because of Sudan’s role in the 1993 WTC bombing. Turabi was a key player in that designation as he was instrumental in the 1989 coup that installed the government he led for a time; he worked closely with the “Blind Sheikh” prior to that bombing.

Quba_Turabi

Even today (first photo above), Turabi is highly regarded on MANA’s website, which means that from 2003 – present, a man who provided safe harbor to the masterminds of both WTC attacks has not only been publicly revered by an unindicted co-conspirator in the first attack but appears to have had a direct and lasting influence on both Quba Institute and MANA, which Wahhaj leads.

Wahhaj is also roaming free in New York. The mosque he founded in Brooklyn – Masjid Al-Taqwa – has grown exponentially since he founded it in 1981, largely because of both its notorious history as well as his relationship with the “Blind Sheikh”, who has become a hero in the Middle East. Perhaps “roaming free” isn’t sufficient. In the days after the Fort Hood shootings in 2009, Wahhaj was invited to attend a roundtable meeting with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

At first, Bloomberg attempted to deny Wahhaj was even in the meeting and had to ultimately admit otherwise.

Via New York Post:

As he was leaving, a Channel 2 reporter asked the mayor if he was uncomfortable about Wahhaj’s presence.

“I don’t know. He’s not here,” the mayor responded. When told that Wahhaj was in fact in the meeting, Bloomberg reversed course.

“That one. Yes. We have to talk to everybody,” he said. “That’s what dialogue is all about. That’s how you prevent tragedies.”

In 2007, Beila Rabinowitz and William A. Mayer reported that Quba Institute held an “interfaith event” (da’wa – spread of Islam), with the Gratz Jewish College. Knowing what we now know about Quba’s affinity for Turabi – the founder of the IDO – the sheer notion of interfaith outreach by these Muslim groups is beyond laughable.

Via Militant Islam:

Gratz College professor “Rabbi” Carol Harris-Shapiro, a board member of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia which helped organize the event enthused, saying that “students form friendships that would not occur normally” and adding that the year-long program allows the time for “real bonds to develop…and all of the components reinforce each other…they are learning about each other as they are learning about the world…”

Those who revere Turabi have no interest in such things.

Speaking of reverence for Turabi, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also participated in the aforementioned interfaith event, along with Quba:

The Mitzvah Pantry’s “Peace Shelter” meal program also afforded the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] – a Saudi funded front group for Hamas – the chance to pursue its cultural jihadist agenda through the participation of Muhammed Aziz.

Aziz is the Imam and president of the Islamic Society of Valley Forge [ISVF] who spoke to the participants about “hospitality in the Muslim tradition.” In addition to running the Islamist ISVF, Aziz is also a board member of CAIR. His step daughter Adeeba Al Zaman runs the CAIR Philadelphia office.

CAIR and Quba pushing the same agenda at an interfaith event, huh?

How much evidence does America need in order to identify its enemies?

Perhaps the better question is: Why don’t Americans have the will to do so?

Evidence is not the problem.

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