Bill Hemmer: A stunning new documentary now revealing the rising influence it believes of the Muslim Brotherhood not in Cairo, Egypt but here in the United States. It's called Jihad in America: The Grand Deception. It describes the Islamic group's real mission they believe here in the U.S. Here is a clip discussing a secret document found by the FBI. Watch it and you'll hear from the producer of this film.
Film Narrator: It was titled "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America." It's dated May 22, 1991.
Jeff Breinholt [Dept. of Justice Deputy Chief, Counterterrorism 2002-2007]: "The process of settlement is a civilization-jihadist process with all the word means. The Ikhwan, which is what the Brotherhood uses to describe themselves, must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." That's pretty clear as to how they viewed their own objective. And this is, they're talking about the United States here.
Hemmer: Wow. Steve Emerson is the film maker. Jihad in America: The Grand Deception. He is my guest now out of Washington. Steve, good morning to you. You're gonna get a lot of attention for this film. I think you know that and I think you know it's coming. Why did you make the film, first off?
Steve Emerson: Well my organization, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, has been investigating the whole network and infrastructure of radical Islamic groups in the United States, but not necessarily those that preach jihad openly or on television. Those that do it behind closed doors but pretend to be civil rights groups. So what we have and we've discovered is a massive deception perpetrated by these groups. It would be like David Duke parading himself as a civil rights organization and getting accepted and legitimized by the White House, by Hollywood, by the elite media, by Congress. And so I think this is a real corrosive effect on our democracy, on –
Hemmer: I want you to back up some of these claims, ok? Take them one at a time, you said a lot in your first answer there. Inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood they enjoy considerable influence in the United States. How and where?
Emerson: They operate under fake names or false names. They don't call themselves the Muslim Brotherhood. And this was all laid out in various documents or even secret tape recordings that we actually portray in the film, or we reveal in the film. The document that viewers just saw talked about their ulterior agenda of infiltrating and destroying the U.S. from within. So all these groups, and I'm not exaggerating to say that there are scores of radical Islamic groups hiding under the pretension of being civil rights organization or simply a religious organization, but in fact have an ulterior agenda. And the film itself actually portrays what goes on behind closed doors with these organizations, whether it's Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, whether it's Hizballah. All of these groups have organizations in the U.S. and they portray themselves as simple, innocent civil rights organizations –
Hemmer: You take it a step further. They're deceiving American leaders, deceiving law enforcement, media, universities across the country. That again is a big claim.
Emerson: Well unfortunately it's true and don't take my word for it, look at the film. The film can be purchased on Amazon or its being shown in New York this next week. Or go to the web site www.granddeception.com. Look and listen to a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who appears in the film for the first time and renounces his membership and talks about the deception. Look at the clip of a major imam who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, appears before Congress giving the invocation. Look at the way Hollywood –
Hemmer: Let me pause you right there because you brought it up. I think it hits at the 13 or 14 minute mark in the 70 minute film. I'll ask you to explain this next. Watch.
Siraj Wahhaj before Congress: "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful, guide the leaders of this nation who have been given a great responsibility in worldly affairs. Guide them, and grant them righteousness and wisdom."
Narrator: Siraj Wahhaj, a sometime leader and prominent speaker at events hosted by American groups connected with the Muslim Brotherhood, was chosen to give the first Muslim invocation before Congress in 1991. Here he is after his Congressional appearance.
Wahhaj: They want to defend this country. You know what this country is? It's a garbage can, filthy, filthy and sick.
Hemmer: Who is he and why was he invited to speak on the floor of the House?
Emerson: Well I can't tell you why he was invited because I wasn't around in 1991 when he was invited, but I assume it was in the spirit of ecumenical outreach. What the congressman who invited him didn't do was the due diligence, was to show exactly what he says behind closed doors in contrast to what he says openly. What he says behind closed doors is what we captured in the film, along with many other groups who say preach peace and preach non-violence openly in front of TV cameras and say they condemn terrorism, but when you ask them will they condemn Hamas or Hizballah they don't consider them terrorist groups. And behind closed doors they actually promote these organizations or tell their constituents like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which the FBI itself called a Hamas front, is routinely interviewed in major newspapers, the Associated Press, appears on television - just appeared the other day on network television as if they were a legitimate civil rights group.
Hemmer: But Muslim Brotherhood would say hey we're here to help promote our religion, we're here to help promote communities, we're here to help promote education. In the thirty seconds I have left, can you prove that they've had success doing the things that you just described to us over the past several minutes, Steve?
Emerson: I think I can and I think I would let the viewers watch the film. But I think to the extent that they've been able to infiltrate law enforcement, to stop the FBI from actually circulating materials on the Muslim Brotherhood because "it was offensive to Islam." It wasn't offensive to Islam, it was offensive to the Muslim Brotherhood. And the same thing goes on in terms at the Department of Justice, where prosecutions have been quashed into terrorist financing because it might be considered offensive. And I think we need to get beyond this because we want to empower genuine moderates in the Islamic community, Bill.
Hemmer: It's called The Grand Deception: Jihad in America. Steve Emerson is its producer. Steve, thank you.