Steve Emerson and The Investigative Project on Terrorism's documentary Jihad in America: The Grand Deception is a powerful film that should be shown across America -in high schools, on college campuses, in our houses of worship, and most importantly, throughout the state and federal governments. It turns the concept of political correctness that has dominated our learning institutions, government bureaucracies, and media and entertainment organizations on its head as the viewer is left in wonderment at the self-induced and resulting indoctrination that has overwhelmed American culture.
Emerson's documentary exposes the stealth war that the Muslim Brotherhood has been conducting behind the scenes in America as its influence has infected academia, Hollywood, journalism, law enforcement, and the highest echelons of government. Throughout the film, undercover video and audio clips are interspersed between interviews with law enforcement officials and MB experts to describe the evolution of an organization that was founded in Egypt in 1928 in order to bring Muslims back to their Islamic values and create an Islamic caliphate across the world. From founder Hassan al-Banna: "It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its laws on all nations and extend its power to the entire planet."
With the MB's migration across the globe, its presence in the U.S. should be no surprise. What is surprising is the film's exposure of the extent to which the MB has infiltrated so many influential aspects of our society. Through the establishment of a complicated network of front groups seemingly legitimate on their face, the group has gained respectability without accountability and successfully camouflaged its true agenda of destroying Western civilization from within.
A disturbing lesson from the film is that the U.S. government -- from the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State to the F.B.I. -- has full knowledge of the MB's intricate network and agenda. In the face of that knowledge, the officials whom we have entrusted with national security and protection of our freedoms and values have either willfully turned a blind eye or been utterly complicit in furthering the nefarious goals of radical Islam.
For instance, the viewer learns of a declassified FBI document that states, "...the IKHWAN (Muslim Brotherhood) in the United States has as its ultimate goal political control of all non-Islamic Governments in the world." And yet, instead of isolating the MB, the government has engaged them and shut down decades-long FBI investigations into their activities. Dr. Mamoun Fandy, a MB expert featured in the film observed, "The West is tremendously naïve about the danger of these various Islamic organizations."
My viewing of the film was particularly timely in light of IPT's recent report on the White House meeting between staff members of the National Security Council and an Islamist cleric who is the vice president of a Hamas-supporting group founded and headed by MB spiritual leader, Yousef Qaradawi (featured prominently in the film stating, "We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword, but through da'wa.") While the MB's infiltration in, and influence over, government institutions did not begin during the Obama administration, it has certainly flourished over the past several years as MB members serve openly in the administration, meet with high-ranking officials, and are labeled "moderates." By granting legitimacy to the various MB organizations that have been established as part of the "tangled web" (an FBI code word for the group's network), the government is abetting the advancement of the "grand deception" that is their "jihad in America."
It is ironic that while Americans seem singularly focused on the illegal immigration and societal integration of Hispanics, few have taken notice of legal Muslim immigrants who are self-described in the film by a leader of the Islamic Society of North America (a MB front group) who states, "Ultimately, we can never be full citizens of this country because there is no way we can be fully committed to the institutions and ideologies of this country." So much for the concept of America as a melting pot.
And while the millions of illegal immigrants are here in order to pursue the American dream, the film illustrates that members of the network of MB institutions are pursuing quite a different dream. Zudhi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, summarizes:
Their dream is the creation of an Islamic state. Their utopia is having the law be Sharia. So their strategy in America, I believe, is to use America's freedoms and liberties in order to achieve that dream.
Nathan Garrett, a former FBI agent and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, expounds:
[There are] so many organizations working on so many fronts to use our very system, the systems that they deplore, our democracy, our Constitution, our rule of law, our tolerance. That's what they use to exploit their message. That's what they use to protect themselves and create a façade around them that would allow them internally to operate and seek to achieve their true and often unstated objectives.
For any doubters of the veracity of those statements, recalling the domestic terrorist attacks of 9/11, Ft. Hood, and the Boston Marathon should serve as a reminder that this film is an honest - and scary - portrayal of a growing threat to our democracy.
But the film makes clear that jihad takes on many forms. While terrorism is but one strategy - it is not the only tool that the jihadists are using to achieve their goals. The film elucidates the various stealth strategies by which the "grand deception" is succeeding including:
- the use of the media (one board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another MB front group, is heard advising his audience that, "It is very important, media in the United States is very gullible.")
- false accusations of racism and Islamaphobia made against critics of radical Islam (for acknowledging the "moral corruption within a certain segment that is using [Islam], hijacking it for a theopoitical movement," Jasser has been labeled a clown, an Uncle Tom Muslim, and a self-hating Muslim)
- political camouflage (an ISNA representative stated, "You don't get involved in politics because it's the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.")
- language manipulation (former Muslim militant Abdur-Rahman Muhammed featured prominently in the film states, "Their type of radical Muslims know that if anyone caught wind of their agenda, they'd be done so they have to hide it. They mask it. Hide it in plain site.")
- portraying the fight as against all Muslims rather than just radical Islam (this is the lie promulgated by Anwar al-Awlaki, aka "the bin Laden of the internet" who has radicalized homegrown terrorists including Maj. Hassan).
Douglas Farah, a former reporter for the Washington Post, acknowledges in the movie just how difficult this information is for people to comprehend, as they label it "crazy talk." But Jasser and Muhammed point out that Americans' tolerance, desire to be fair-minded, and fear of being labeled a bigot actually enable the MB's success. For those of us living in reality, free of guilt and intellectually honest, The Grand Deception is a warning that should be heeded as the MB's infiltration into basic societal institutions moves it closer to its goal of worldwide Islamic domination.
The war we face is one we can win if only the ruling classes dominated by the PC police bring themselves to acknowledge its very existence. One of the more entertaining parts of the film is a clip of Eric Holder testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in 2010. He simply cannot bring himself to use the term "radical Islam" to describe one of the possible causes of terrorism. What a perfect illustration of the government's complicity in moving the MB agenda forward.
The viewer must watch to the very end of the film as its credits are interspersed with clips from another Congressional hearing addressing the homegrown terrorist threat to the country's military communities in the aftermath of the Fort Hood terrorist attack (yes, despite the government's refusal to label the shootings terrorism, sensible humans recognize the tragedy for what it was). Eerily robotic-like, Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Stockton refuses to acknowledge that we are at war with violent, Islamist extremism - or that violent, Islamist extremism is at war with us. In response to pointed questions he repeats, "No sir" like a brainwashed automaton. Were it not such a serious matter, the exchange would be laughable.
Serious matters call for serious dialogue, serious policy, and serious minds. At the moment, this country is lacking on all fronts. The Grand Deception is an important first step in moving the country toward saving itself from institutions, policies, and ideologies that would otherwise lead to the demise of our way of life. It has deservedly won numerous awards including Best Documentary at the 2013 Beverly Hills Film Festival and Myrtle Beach International Film Festival and most recently was given the special award of Best USA Documentary on a Political Subject at the NYC International Film Festival. For a trailer and further information, visit www.granddeception.com.