Gulenists Donate Heavily to Members of Congress from Both Sides of the Political Aisle

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proclaimed that Fethullah Gülen is a U.S. agent. There is no formal organization of followers of Fethullah Gülen, a prominemt Muslim preacher living in the the United States. What does exist, however, is an education system, from kindergarten to university in Turkey, the country's largest newspaper "Zaman", TV channel and radio station "Samanyolu", a network of business enterprises, who support the concept of "Hizmet" (mutual aid). It is believed that in the past 20 years, followers of the teachings of peace, tolerance and dialogue among civilizations significantly strengthened their positions in the Turkish state power structures (especially in the police and gendarmerie), economic ministries, and show business. Gülen supporters around the world number between five and seven million people. However, Cemaat does not have a formal structure or membership. The movement is a truly international network structure formed around the spiritual leader, but devoid of the hierarchy of leaders. In Turkey, the popularity of the movement is quite high (previously estimated by experts at 15-20% of the population); however, is not sufficient to fully conquer the minds of the religious voters. Primarily, this is due to the fact that the Islamic electorate has been captured by supporters of Erdogan, who, in turn, is one of the political heirs of the Milli Görüş National Outlook movement. The Cemaat education network “seeks to breed a ‘new generation’ of socially integrated Muslim believers who will eventually achieve high government positions.” The Cemaat movement’s general approach to education is reminiscent of missionary activity practiced by the Roman Catholic Church's “Society of Jesus”, commonly known as the Jesuits. [Source]

Fethullah Gülen’s Movement Secretly Funded 200 Trips to Turkey for US Lawmakers and Staff

October 29, 2015

USA TODAY — Fethullah Gülen’s movement has secretly funded as many as 200 trips to Turkey for members of Congress and staff since 2008, apparently repeatedly violating House rules and possibly federal law, a USA TODAY investigation has found.

The group has been accused by the Turkish government of attempting a coup in that country. Turkish leaders have asked the United States to extradite Gülen from the remote compound in rural Pennsylvania where he has lived for 20 years.

A dozen different Gülen groups have sponsored congressional travel since 2008 and have filed forms with the House certifying that they were paying for the trips. But a USA TODAY investigation found many of those disclosures were apparently false. Some of the Gülenist groups claimed to be certified nonprofits, but they do not appear in state or IRS databases of approved charities. Groups that did register with the IRS filed tax forms indicating that they did not pay for congressional travel. And five of the groups admitted to congressional investigators earlier this year that a Gülenist group in Turkey was secretly covering the costs of travel inside Turkey for lawmakers and staff.

Congressional disclosures show the Gülen-backed trips totaled more than $800,000 in free travel for lawmakers and staff.

In July 2015 Buzzfeed website revealed that the supporters of the ideology of the Gülen movement in Turkey and the U.S.A. in the last 8 years have spent 1.5 million dollars for lobbying against the Armenian Genocide recognition. The following is excerpted from the Buzzfeed article:

Liberal Democrats like Yvette Clarke, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Al Green, and conservative Republicans like Ted Poe and Pete Olson have all benefited from donors affiliated with Gülen in one way or another. Gülen himself reportedly told followers in 2010 that they could only visit him in the Poconos if they donated to their local congressman, according to the Wall Street Journal, though Gülen has denied the comment. Many of New York’s Gülenist donors are based in Sheepshead Bay, a working-class neighborhood on the southern edge of Brooklyn that is home to a tight-knit Turkish community. Several local Gülen sympathizers told BuzzFeed that they feel attracted to the movement because of its tolerant religious ideas and its center-right, pro-business politics. Many of them have donated sums to the same U.S. politicians — including Rep. Yvette Clarke and Rep. Ed Towns, both New York Democrats, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas. Several members of the community said the Gülen movement operates out of the local branch of the Turkish Cultural Center, and that it counts many prosperous business owners as sympathizers. Suleyman Aydogan, the vice president of the Brooklyn branch of the center, said he supports the movement and has personally met Gülen, also said that he has done fundraising for New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and for Sheepshead Bay Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz.

Followers Of A Mysterious Turkish Islamic Cleric Have Donated Heavily To Hillary’s Campaign And Family Charity

November 22, 2015

The Daily Caller - Members of a secretive Turkish Islamic movement that is at the center of a congressional ethics committee investigation have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and to her family’s charity, a Daily Caller investigation has found.

Longstanding Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan Transitioned from Head of Government (Prime Minister) to Head of State (President) in 2014

After his Strasbourg EU visit, the pope moves on to EU-aspirant Turkey. Turkey’s President and former Primer Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a Fethullah Gulen disciple.

Erdogan hosts people's pope, in plush new palace

November 28, 2014

AFP/Reuters - Pope Francis, in his Alitalia jet, arrived in Turkey on November 25, 2014, his first visit to the country. The austere Argentine will be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's guest of honor in Ankara's controversial new, 1,000-room presidential palace. 

On Pope Francis' first of his three day in the country,  his mission was to strengthen ties with Muslim leaders while condemning violence against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. Francis held talks with then-President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mehmet Gormez, the top cleric in the Muslim-majority secular country.

The visit came as the self-styled "Islamic State" laid claim to large parts of Iraq and Syria, just across Turkey's southern border. At the time, Turkey was sheltering over 1 million refugees from Syria, thousands of them Christians.

The 77-year-old Argentine, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, moved on to Istanbul with a visit to the Hagia Sophia — the great Byzantine church that was turned into a mosque in 1453 and now serves as a museum — one of the highlights on his itinerary.

Some 2,700 police supervised the visit in Turkey's capital, Ankara, with more than 7,000 officers ready for Francis' Istanbul appointments.

A palace fit for a … president

Francis became by far the highest profile guest ever to visit Turkey's new presidential palace, inaugurated in October 2014 to coincide with longstanding Prime Minister Erdogan's transition from head of government to head of state.

The building is by no means universally popular. The lavish, 1,000-room palace cost just over 500 million euros (well over $600 million) so far, with a major mosque complex and other extensions still reportedly planned.

The presidential palace, tentatively called Ak Saray ("White Palace") was built under controversial circumstances, in a wooded area within the Ataturk Forest Farm in Ankara. The construction went ahead despite environmental concerns and court orders, prompting its critics to instead call it Kacak Saray ("Illegal Palace").

CIA Gives Refuge to Multi-billionaire Fethullah Gulen, the 'Most Dangerous Islamist' in the World, and Even Provides High Level Officials to Attest for Him

Fethullah Gulen has been called the “most dangerous Islamist” in the world. He has amassed a fortune—thanks, in part, to the CIA—of $25 billion. The Turkish government remains controlled by Gulen, and Gulen has wielded political allegiances in Washington that have resulted in the placement of Turkish Muslims in the CIA, NSA, FBI, and other national security organizations. He has created well-heeled lobbies to promote the cause of Islam and to develop Islamic candidates for political office. He has formed close friendships with Bill and Hillary Clinton, former Secretaries of State James Baker and Madeleine Albright, and George W. Bush. Gulen has also established thousands of schools throughout the world, where students are indoctrinated in the tenets of political Islam. More than 100 of these schools, funded by American taxpayers, are located in the United States. He lives in his fortress in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. - Paul L. Williams, Ph.D., The Last Crusade, Mounting Crisis Between Turkey and Israel Created in Pennsylvania, June 1, 2010


Gulen wields an astonishing and completely undemocratic and unaccountable influence in Turkey: The good jobs, the better pay, the promotion prospects all are dependent on your dedication to a shadowy Islamic network with its headquarters based in Pennsylvania. [Source]

The Tale of Uncle Tsarnaev, CIA Chief Graham Fuller and a Turkish Islamist Who Lives in USA

April 27, 2013

The Progressive Press - What could be the connection between the Boston Marathon bombing suspects’ uncle Ruslan, an ex-CIA Fuller and a Turkish Imam named Fethullah Gulen?

Turkish preacher named Fethullah Gülen has been living in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania since 1999. Despite not having an education goes beyond the 5^th grade, he has several hundred educational organizations such as K–12 schools, universities, and language schools (mostly English) that have been established around the world, mainly Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, and including U.S.A.

How did he receive his US residency status while he was ‘wanted’ by the –then- Turkish Government, is still a mystery. Now, this man owns and operates charter schools in USA –through various foundations– despite the fact his Madrasas were outlawed in countries like Russia and Uzbekistan. His schools were under investigation in the Netherlands. Plus, the origin of his immense wealth, which he used to open and operate these schools all over the world, is unclear.

A former CIA station chief in Kabul and the author of “The Future of Political Islam,” Graham Fuller was one of Gulen’s official references in Gulen’s Green Card application, along with another ex-CIA George Fidas and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Morton Abromovitz, after Gulen rushed to U.S.A. from Turkey in 1999. It is curious how and why an Imam from Turkey had this sort of connections in U.S.A.

Ex-CIA Graham Fuller who served 15 years as an intelligence officer in various countries of the Middle East and Asia, wrote a book about Turkey, titled “The New Turkish Republic: Turkey as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World”, published in 2008. In his book, he fervently promotes the idea of “Moderate Islam”. The problem is, the man he helped escape to U.S.A. by providing references, Fethullah Gulen, was anything but a “moderate.”

Fuller was deeply involved in Afghanistan in the 1980s, encouraged the Reagan administration to begin arming Iran against Iraq during their slugfest, and suggested to the Clinton administration that it should use Muslims to further US interests in Central Asia.

As a side note here, I wanted to mention that Muller’s daughter Samantha A. Fuller was married to Ruslan Tsarnaev. Yes, the uncle of the two Chechen brothers who are suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon. The couple divorced sometime before 2004. Interestingly, Ruslan worked for companies connected to Halliburton, the multinational juggernaut run by Dick Cheney before he became Vice President of the United States. He was also a “consultant” for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. Russia barred USAID from its soil in late 2012, alleging USAID together with CIA was attempting to influence the internal political processes in the country.

Morton Abramowitz, the other reference for Gulen’s Green Card, was also deeply involved with Afghan mujahedin and Kosovo rebels. Currently, he is a Council Member (Senior Fellow) of US Asia Pacific Council.

Gulen was a staunch enemy of secularism in Turkey. He pushed for an authoritarian Islamic state. In fact, a Wikileaks wire reveals how Istanbul Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva tried to warn USA of this man’s activities, saying he is a “radical Islamist” whose moderate message cloaks a more sinister and radical agenda.

In 2010, a retired Turkish Intelligence Chief, Osman Nuri Gundes, published his memoir titled “Close Witness to Revolutions and Anarchy” where he claimed Fethullah Gulen’s worldwide Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s, and that in the 90s, the movement “sheltered 130 CIA agents” at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone.

Central Asia’s Islamisation has started with Turkey; Gulen having deep ties with the current Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdoğan was elected in 2003, despite having been banned from holding office for his anti-secular, Islamist views and actions in Turkey. Gulen openly and financially supported Erdogan’s election. 

 Today, Turkey has over 85,000 active mosques, one for every 880 citizens—compared to one hospital for every 54,000 citizens— ( 1389 hospitals) the highest number per capita in the world with 90,000 imams. And Erdogan enjoys his reign over the country since 2003 with the US’s blessings.

Why would USA give refuge to this Islamist and even provide high level officials to attest for him?

Turkey vs. Greece Istanbul Fans Boo Moment of Silence for Paris and Chant 'Allahu Akbar'

FBI Muslim Patsy Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Admits to Guilt in 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings and is Sentenced to Death by Lethal Injection for Crimes He Didn't Commit

Tsarnaev speaks: 'I am sorry for the lives I have taken'

June 24, 2015

Yahoo News - Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest, telling a packed courtroom at his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he was sorry for his role in the 2013 attacks that that killed three people and injured nearly 300.

"I would like to now apologize to victims and survivors," Tsarnaev said. "Immediately after the bombing that I am guilty of... I learned of some of the victims, their names, their faces, their age. And throughout this trial, more of those victims were given names, more of those victims had faces, and they had burdened souls."

The 21-year-old, who declined to testify on his own behalf during his trial, was given the opportunity to speak before he was formally sentenced to death. He spoke with a soft voice and a slight accent to a courtroom full of family members and survivors that seemed stunned to finally hear his voice more than two years after his arrest.

"If there is any lingering doubt, I did it, along with my brother," Tsarnaev said, choking up as he spoke. "I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering I have caused you, and for the damage I have done, the irreparable damage."

The courtoom remained silent as Tsarnaev spoke. Many of the jurors who convicted him and sentenced him to death in May were seated in the jury box, and some cried as he offered his apology to the victims. 

Tsarnaev offered no explanation of why he did what he did--only that he was guilty and that he was sorry  for the suffering he had caused.

At several moments, Tsarnaev, who was criticized for showing little emotion during his trial, seemed to be on the brink of tears. His voice became choked, and at several points, he paused to clear his throat and regain control. He did not look back at the victims who sat behind him in court as he addressed them.

"I pray to Allah to bestow his mercy on you," Tsarnaev said. "I pray for your relief, for your healing, for your well-being, for your strength."

He concluded by asking "Allah to have mercy upon me, my brother and my family" and for those "present here today."

Earlier, bombing survivors and family members of those killed or injured in the bombings delivered victim impact statements, directly addressing Tsarnaev about the suffering and loss he caused.

“I don’t know what to say to you," Patricia Campbell, mother of bombing victim Krystle Campbell, told Tsarnaev. “What you did to my daughter was disgusting.’’

Later, Judge George O’Toole addressed Tsarnaev before handing down a sentence of death by lethal injection.

"When people remember you, they will remember only the evil you have done," O'Toole said. "No one will remember that your teachers were fond of you, that you were funny, a good athlete. What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed innocent people."

Tsarnaev was then cuffed and led out of the courtroom by U.S. Marshals.

His attorneys looked grim and victims stared, but he didn't look back.

Boston Marathon Bombings - Dress Rehearsal for a Nationwide Lockdown and Martial Law

The implementation of martial law was successful. It was a graduation of our police state status.

Victims Of Boston Bombing Police State Lockdown Speak Out


Published on May 3, 2013

Ron Paul called the manhunt and door-to-door searches in Watertown Mass a Martial Law exercise.

Boston Marathon bomber's college pal gets 6 years in prison

June 2, 2015

AP - A college friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison after he apologized to the victims and their families for not calling police when he recognized photos of Tsarnaev as a suspect.

The $450 an Hour Terror Industry Expert at Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Doesn’t Speak Arabic

The prosecution in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial called as an expert witness, Matthew Levitt. On cross examination, he replied "Yes" to the question, "Is you main focus on Middle East?" When Tsarnaev's attorney pointed out that the main language is Arabic, which Levitt doesn't speak, he replied, "Correct." When Tsarnaev's attorney pointed out that Levitt wasn't an an expert on Islam, he replied:  "Correct...I don't consider myself an expert in religion or Islam in particular."

In direct contrast, on May 5, 2015, the defense called as a witness Michael Reynolds, a Princeton University associate professor who specializes in Russian studies, the Middle East, and Near-Eastern studies, with a particular interest in the Caucuses (the area from which the Tsarnaev brothers, who are of Chechen descent, immigrated and where the majority of their family currently lives). Reynolds said he has his PhD, speaks Russian, has studied Arabic, and knows a lot about Islam. This was his first time as a witness.

The $450 an Hour Terror Industry Echo Chamber

March 24, 2015

emptywheel - Matthew Levitt, a prominent figure in the Terror Industry, has been testifying in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial. He’s one of a number of noted figures who gets presented as experts at trials who doesn’t speak Arabic, who hasn’t bothered to learn Arabic over the course of years of this work.

Yesterday, Levitt spent several hours explaining how the explanation Dzhokhar wrote on a boat in Watertown had to have come from Anwar al-Awlaki’s propaganda.

Just before Levitt testified yesterday, he RTed an article describing him as the expert that would testify at Dzhokhar’s trial. As soon as he got done, he RTed several more articles about his own testimony, describing himself as an “expert” “decoding” the boat. And then, for good measure, he RTed a livetweet from his own testimony.

Today, on cross, it became clear the Awlaki propaganda on Dzhokhar’s computer was all Levitt got from prosectors. He didn’t know how long it had been on Dzhokhar’s computer. Nor did he know what else Dzhokhar has read. He also doesn’t know much about Chechnya, except in the context of Jihad. And though Levitt testified yesterday that there always must be a “radicalizer,” he did not know, nor was he asked, to identify the “radicalizer” in Dzhokhar’s life.

Levitt also did not, apparently, recognize some of what Dzhokhar had written as the boat as having come from the Quran.

He did, however, reveal that he gets paid $450 an hour to do this work.

When called on his RTing of his own testimony by the defense, Levitt admitted he “should have been wiser” about having done so.

I wonder, though, if Levitt was worried that the mystique of his expertise might not hold up if he didn’t constantly reinforce it with his own echo chamber?

Glenn Greenwald on How to Be a Terror "Expert": Ignore Facts, Blame Muslims, Trumpet U.S. Propaganda (Video)

January 13, 2015

Democracy Now - Who are the so-called terrorism experts? In the wake of the Paris attacks, the corporate media has once again flooded its news programs with pundits claiming authority on terrorism, foreign policy and world events. We discuss the growing and questionable field of "terrorism experts" with three guests: Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept; Lisa Stampnitzky, social studies lecturer at Harvard University and author of "Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented 'Terrorism'"; and Luc Mathieu, foreign affairs reporter for the French newspaper Libération.

Transcript (video at link above):

Before He Was Murdered by Law Enforcement Employees, Boston Marathon Bombing Muslim Patsy, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Shouted, "We Didn't Do It," and His Brother, U.S. Citizen Dzhokhar, While Hiding in a Boat from the Government Manhunt, Wrote: "US Government is Killing Our Innocent Civilians"

After the bombings, the FBI stated that both of the marathon pressure-cooker bombs (two 6-quart, Fagor Elites, sold at Macy's) were in black vinyl backpacks. Dzhokhar's backpack was white, and Tamerlan's was dark gray with light gray trim.

Remarkably, the FBI, the attorneys for both sides, prosecution witnesses, and the press continue to ignore the fact that the backpack Dzhokhar carried at the marathon was white. This is all you need to prove that the Tsarnaevs were setup.

This is What a Police State Looks Like in America

Published on April 20, 2013

http://www.policestateusa.com

WATERTOWN, MA - On Friday, April 19, 2013, during a manhunt for a bombing suspect, police and federal agents spent the day storming people's homes and performing illegal searches. While it was unclear initially if the home searches were voluntary, it is now crystal clear that they were absolutely NOT voluntary. Police were filmed ripping people from their homes at gunpoint, marching the residents out with their hands raised in submission, and then storming the homes to perform their illegal searches.

This was part of a larger operation that involved total lockdown of the suburban neighbor to Boston. Roads were barricaded and vehicle traffic was prohibited. A No-Fly Zone was declared over the town. People were "ordered" to stay indoors. Businesses were told not to open. National Guard soldiers helped with the lockdown, and were photographed checking IDs of pedestrians on the streets. All the while, police were performing these disgusting house-to-house searches.



After Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed on April 19, 2013, "authorities" in Boston suspended all mass transit and warned close to one million people in the entire city and some of its suburbs to stay indoors as the hunt for his brother, Dzhokhar, went on. Businesses were asked not to open. People waiting at bus and subway stops were told to go home. From Watertown to Cambridge, police SWAT teams, sharpshooters and FBI agents with armored vehicles surrounded various buildings as police helicopters buzzed overhead. [Source]

Who Are the Real Boston Marathon Bombers?

The content of this blog post has been moved to:

Who are the Real Boston Marathon Bombers? Part 1

Who are the Real Boston Marathon Bombers? Part 2