Anne Patterson, the woman who served as U.S. Ambassador to Egypt during the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi last year recently gave the keynote address at an event sponsored by a country that is a chief supporter and financier of Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum is co-sponsored by the Nation State of Qatar and the left-leaning Brookings Institute. The forum was held in Doha, Qatar this past June.
In her speech, Patterson lauded Qatar for harboring the five terrorist leaders released in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl; called for better relations between the U.S. and Iran; and expressed a desire for more Qatari investment in the U.S.
Anne Patterson delivers Keynote speech at U.S.-IWF
As to Qatar’s bonafides as a Hamas supporter, even TIME Magazine concedes the point:
Hamas has two clear allies, according to Middle East experts: Qatar and Turkey. Both have given Hamas their public support and financial assistance estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Qatar also hosts Hamas’ political bureau which includes Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal,” says Shashank Joshi, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. “Qatar has a long history of providing shelter to Islamist groups, amongst them the Muslim Brotherhood and the Taliban.”
Patterson is believed by many Egyptians to have been directly involved in facilitating the unrest that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. She also clearly represented an Obama administration that was vehemently opposed to the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi as President last year.
Being the keynote speaker at an event sponsored by an unofficially designated but blatantly obvious State Sponsor of Terrorism certainly doesn’t help Patterson make an opposing case. In fact, as Shoebat.com reported, Patterson was actually promoted from Ambassador to Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs by Obama last year. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another individual who was curiously adamant that Brotherhood prisoners be released in Egypt after Mursi’s ouster, signed off on that promotion.
As Shoebat.com reported last year in the weeks after Mursi’s removal, several complaints were filed with Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat that accused the U.S. Embassy under Patterson of gifting huge sums of money (bribes) to Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
Qatar Document indicates Bribes in U.S. Dollars
While no document showing U.S. “gifts” to Muslim Brotherhood leaders has been produced, there was such a document that appeared to show similar gifts to said leaders – denominated in U.S. dollars – from Qatar. Here is that document:
Here is the full Patterson keynote speech:
Other Speakers
Speakers at the U.S.-IWF this year included Mouaz Moustafa and Mouaz al-Khatib. Both of these individuals have been extremely active in supporting the Syrian opposition against Bashar al-Assad. That opposition is being revealed as ISIS.
Al-Khatib used to be the head of the Obama administration-supported National Coalition for the Syrian Opposition. As Shoebat.com has reported, al-Khatib is a Muslim Brotherhood supporter with a checkered past to say the least. Among other things, he’s been arrested several times for rabble rousing; he expressed solidarity with Osama bin Laden; once referred to the Jewish faith as enemies to Allah; and once boasted about thousands of female martyrs and prisoners.
Shockingly, as Shoebat.com reported, in the weeks after the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi by Muslim Brotherhood-inspired jihadists, U.S. Ambassador to Syria – Robert S. Ford – aggressively backed al-Khatib.
Elizabeth O’Bagy
Moustafa is the Executive Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group which found controversy when its former Political Director Elizabeth O’Bagy was found to have a significant conflict of interest. O’Bagy promoted herself as an objective voice over the issue of support for Syrian rebels while also being an SETF’s political director. SETF is a 501(c)(3) organization that raises funds to help the Syrian opposition (think ISIS).
After Senator John McCain pointed to O’Bagy’s Op-ed during a Senate hearing last year to make his case for the opposition, O’Bagy found herself in the glare of some unwanted spotlight. Strangely, after leaving the SETF – likely as a result of the controversy – O’Bagy was hired by McCain.
As Shoebat.com has reported, the SETF backed al-Khatib as well.
A key figure linked to both Moustafa and al-Khatib is Bassam Estwani, who serves on the Board of the SETF. Estwani was once the Chairman of the very notorious Dar al-Hijrah mosque and is quite cozy with Turkey’s leaders.
SETF Executive Director Mouaz Moustafa (far left), al-Khatib (second from left) and Estwani (far right) in Cairo.
Estwani is clearly above both al-Khatib and Moustafa in the pecking order. Who is above Estwani? As Shoebat.com has reported previously, the photo below demonstrates Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi is. It was taken inside Dar al-Hijrah some time prior to 1999. Qaradawi has called Qatar home for decades. He also has his own program on Al-Jazeera, the Muslim Brotherhood’s propaganda network based in… Doha… Qatar.
Qaradawi (L) and Estwani (seated on floor) at Dar al-Hijrah prior to 1999.
Also in attendance at this year’s U.S.-IWF was Rashad Hussain, a Muslim who is Barack Obama’s envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The Investigative Project on Terrorism has identified Hussain as a Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator of the U.S. Government:
Stealth Muslim Brotherhood agents in U.S.
As Shoebat.com has reported, Hussain is very involved in the Istanbul Process, which is a series of meetings in which the agenda is to find ways to ultimately criminalize all criticism of Islam. It is believed this was one of the goals of the infamous Innocence of Muslims video.
Qatar and Turkey both State Sponsors of Terrorism
In the world of foreign policy, a significant difference between Qatar and nations like Iran, Cuba, Sudan, and Syria is that Qatar is not on the official State Department list of terror states. If it were, annual events like the U.S.-Islamic World Forum would be a nearly impossible to pull off.
As politically untenable as it may seem, Turkey should also be on the list but would first have to be booted from NATO. Both Turkey and Qatar support Hamas and seek the destruction of Israel.
To demonstrate just how out of phase things are, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are expressing more support for Israel than is the U.S.